Stadium public funding takes another step toward oblivion in St. Louis MLS vote

The window of opportunity for professional sport entertainment teams to utilize public funding for stadium construction/renovation projects is starting to close, as demonstrated by the failure of a ballot initiative in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Add the St. Louis MLS vote to a growing list of public referendums that would have put tax dollars toward stadium projects that got resoundingly defeated. On Tuesday, voters in the city rejected the measure despite the fact that it wouldn’t have raised any taxes.

This comes just months after a similar ballot measure in the city of San Diego was rejected by voters. In both of these cases, the potential effects of the ballot measures being defeated were obvious. In San Diego’s case, it meant the probable loss of the Chargers to Los Angeles. In St. Louis, it most likely means that the city won’t be getting an MLS expansion franchise unless private donors to replace the $60 million that the city would have provided had the measure succeeded can be found.

This is about more than just whether or not St. Louis gets an MLS team in the near future, however. It’s a sign of the evolution of public opinion on the question of whether tax dollars should be used to fund facilities that will primarily be used for sporting events.

The conventional wisdom that had been used to sell these projects successfully in the past is that sporting events like MLS matches draw crowds. Those crowds need somewhere to eat and drink, to stay, and to shop. The funding isn’t a gift to these sports teams, but rather the surrounding community giving itself an advance on revenues it would make up many times over for years after the new facilities were completed.

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That sales pitch sounds good, but the actual research that has been done on the subject paints a very different picture. A Harvard study found that the surrounding communities in these situations did not see an economic boom on par with the investment that municipalities have made. In fact, the actual economics of these situations are so poor, that two years ago President Barack Obama considered a budget measure that would have made using tax-exempts bonds to pay for stadium projects illegal.

Voters in St. Louis have witnessed the possible negative effects that facilities controlled by professional sports teams can have firsthand. The St. Louis Cardinals-owned Ballpark Village has driven out local businesses that existed before it. It’s possible that the voters in St. Louis didn’t want to see more of the same. It’s also possible that the voters already felt burdened enough. Their tax dollars are still going to pay off bonds used to build the Edward Jones Dome, which currently has no anchor tenant.

Public opinion on funding stadium projects with tax dollars has turned, and for good reason. There is ample evidence that such measures are nothing more than government subsidies for billionaires.