Writing at The Huffington Post, the Cato Institute’s
Ilya Shapiro and Nick Mosvick explain how the deal recently struck
by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to build a new publicly-subsidized
stadium for the Minnesota Vikings will leave taxpayers “stuck with
the check.” They write:

The stadium costs $975 million on paper, with over half coming
from public funds, $348 million from the state and $150 million
from Minneapolis — not through parking taxes or other
stadium-related user fees, but with a new city sales tax. In
return, the public gets an annual $13 million fee and the right to
rent out the stadium on non-game-days….

The reality of the Vikings deal is that the owners will gain the
most, not taxpayers or fans. Taxpayers will bear most of the risk,
while the expected increase in the franchise’s value will accrue
wholly to the owners — who will also be free from
facility-financing costs. The owners will also have new revenue
opportunities in the form of higher ticket prices, club seats,
stadium-naming rights, and advertising. With all these luxury
goodies, the only fans who will be able to actually attend the
games are those with luxury incomes, many of whom will surely be
writing the cost off their taxes as a business expense.

Read the rest
here. For more on why stadium welfare is such a lousy deal for
taxpayers, check out Reason.tv’s “Take Us Out of the Ballgame: Are
sports subsidies worth it?”