126th Morrison Congress

2nd Session

H.R. 126-056

Title of the Bill: Government Money on Stadium Act

Main Author(s): Rep. Edward Chou (D-Fl) and Rep. Liberty Hsiung (D-MD)

Co-Sponsor(s):

BE IT ENACTED BY THE MORRISON CONGRESS

1 SECTION 1: Findings
2 Congress makes the following findings:
3 1) Its no secret that private, professional sports stadiums are increasingly built
4 with taxpayer dollars. Different experts have estimated the total stadium bill
5 from $10 billion to $12 billion in recent years.(1)
6 2) The decision to build or renovate stadiums is not one that cities make on their
7 own. The NFL can and does apply pressure for stadiums to be upgraded if
8 theyre not seen as up to par. (2)
9 3) The federal government is responsible for a lot of important functions, but
10 financing sports stadiums for multimillionsometimes billiondollar
11 franchises is definitely not one of them. Using billions of federal taxpayer
12 dollars for the subsidization of private stadiums when we have real
infrastructure needs in our country is not a good way to prioritize a limited
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amount of funds. (3)
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SECTION 2: Purpose
16 To ban the building and renovation of stadiums with tax money.
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18 SECTION 3: General Provisions
19 Stadiums have been built using tax money. Building the stadiums have cost
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about 10~12 billion USD. The investment of stadiums using taxpayers
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money is inappropriate. There are a lot of citizens who do not have the
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money to put food on the table. Yet, our government is investing billions of
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24 dollars into building stadiums. The usage of stadium is for sports teams
25 like the NFL. Logically, NFL teams should build their own stadiums at their
26 own expense. NFL, a private company, should not have the right to
27 pressure or ask the government to renovate or build stadiums. This is an
28 improper usage of tax money as it is for the benefit of private owners. With
29 a limited funds, building a stadium is not a functional infrastructure that
30 citizens need. 10~12 billion dollars is a enormous fund for citizens that are
31 living at and under the poverty line.
32 There are a lot of welfare programs that need extra fund. Stadiums should not
33 be built or renovated using tax money.
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35 SECTION 4: Definitions
36 Welfare program:includes government programs to support low-income
37 Americans.
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Works Cited:
1) https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2016/09/09/top-10-biggest-federal-
subsidies-for-pro-stadiums-hint-the-yankees-are-1/
2) https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/09/the-never-ending-stadium-
boondoggle/403666/
3) http://dailysignal.com/2017/09/26/heres-much-money-nfl-rakes-taxpayers/