Let the Teams Walk - Kansas City Will Be Fine
Not a single city that has lost a major professional team has gone into an economic death spiral.
A legislator reached out with thoughtful feedback on my recent post, Missouri Doesn’t Need Stadium Subsidies. It Needs a Free Market.
They asked a fair question:
“Shouldn’t we be tracking economic data to prove whether cities actually prosper after losing professional sports teams? And what happened to the cities that already lost theirs?”
It’s a smart question but it assumes we haven't already seen what happens.
We have.
The historical record is clear. Not a single city that has lost a major professional team has gone into an economic death spiral.
On the contrary, many have prospered. And just as importantly, the economic data shows that keeping teams via public subsidies doesn't produce meaningful returns for taxpayers.
Let’s walk through the numbers.