TCS: DC Stadium Fiasco

My latest Tech Central Station piece, "Applying Free Market Logic to an Unfree Market," tackles the D.C. stadium fiasco.

The upshot:

While libertarians rightly bemoan the notion of forcing taxpayers to subsidize wealthy team owners, they should understand that the market works both ways. If sports leagues have the leverage to demand public financing of stadia as a precondition for moving a franchise to a city, they would be foolish not to use it.

Luring a professional sports team is difficult and generally not economically smart. It is rather galling that the vast majority of a town's residents who will never attend a game are forced to pay for the privilege of added traffic congestion. Nonetheless, there are plenty of cities out there begging for a team. Public subsidies for arenas are the cost of playing.

Lots of linkage and analysis in the piece.

via OTB