Professional sports team owners often justify asks of hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for new or revamped stadiums with estimates of huge economic returns for communities. This free webinar will empower you to use academic research to interrogate claims that these projects mean big bucks for communities. There will be time at the end for audience questions. Presented by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Attendees will learn:
• How sports stadiums and arenas are financed and who pays for them.
• Key economic concepts, such as public goods and opportunity costs.
• How journalists can interrogate economic impact statements to determine whether team owners asking for public funds are a good investment.
• Potential benefits, such as infrastructure improvements.
• How to find sources who can help reporters provide comprehensive coverage of sports stadium financing.
Co-hosts: Clark Merrefield, senior editor for economics and legal systems at The Journalist’s Resource Michael Klein, William L. Clayton Professor of International Economic Affairs at Tufts University and founder and executive editor of Econofact
Panelists: Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor Emeritus of Economics at Smith College Victor Matheson, sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross Alan Snel, publisher of LVSportsBiz, which covers the convergences of sports, business, stadiums and politics