The first lesson taught in an introductory economics class is simple: all actions have an opportunity cost. If you choose to spend 30 minutes in the evening scrolling Facebook, you will miss 30 minutes of sleep. Some choices have higher opportunity costs than others.

For instance, Nevadan taxpayers paying hundreds of millions to build a new professional sports stadium has a larger opportunity cost than a few minutes of sleep missed. Instead of building community through education or supporting small businesses, Nevadan’s are constructing sports stadiums in an effort to bring people together.

Why Sports Stadiums Are Poor Economic Investments

The financial and economic cases against sports stadiums have been decisively made by sports economists who are of the almost unanimous expert opinion that they are poor investments. Furthermore, stadiums consistency fail to generate projected economic revenue. Sometimes they have a negative net economic impact because consumers substitute sports tickets instead of more expensive entertainment goods, such as a concert.

Nevada’s Costly Stadium Funding Decisions

Currently that is a decision that the Nevadan Legislature has made, with a past $750 million package for Allegiant Studium and a $380 million package to relocate the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the actual costs of these stadiums when accounting for interest are higher, with Nevadans currently having $1,178,161,041 remaining to pay off on Allegiant Studium. Revenue streams created to help pay off the studium deals, such as an excise tax on hotel rooms, have failed to generate anticipated revenue as well.

Can Sports Stadiums Solve America’s Loneliness Epidemic?  

Outside of economic impacts, another case against public subsidies of sports stadiums is the less tangible outcome of building community and civic pride through sports. Indeed, many such as the former Surgeon General Vivek Murphy note that Americans are suffering from a “loneliness epidemic”. Murphy and others contend that Americans are increasingly isolated from neighbors and community and see the government as playing a role in providing a solution.

Better Alternatives for Building Stronger Communities

The billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies could be rerouted to effective and proven alternatives to build communities. Smaller targeted efforts, such as programs to help lower-income children access sports, or the building of high-quality local sports facilities for activities such as basketball, tennis or pickleball have far smaller opportunity costs than building sports stadiums.

These efforts could seek to combine public and private funds and efforts to further increase efficiency and decrease taxpayer expenditure. For instance, perhaps a series of targeted grants to small businesses or charitable organizations with compelling data-backed plans to build local communities for a fraction of the cost taxpayer subsidies.

How Government Policies Hinder Community Development

Meanwhile, current government polices often hinder building community with our neighbors. Government rules and regulations around private land use, such as parking minimums or zoning restrictions, make building denser or walkable communities nearly impossible in most of the state. Likewise, in most of Nevada, simply building a coffee shop or bookstore in a residential neighborhood, which has the potential to be community hubs, are forbidden by local ordinances.

A Smarter Approach to Economic and Community Growth

The answer to building better communities is rarely as simple as “throw money at the problem.” Likewise, perhaps the answer to building a professional sports ecosystem is not to throw money at franchises worth billions of dollars often owned by billionaires. Rather Nevada should consider a pitch centered around breaking down regulatory and legal barriers that increase construction costs for building projects. That way, franchises could still build in Nevada, on their own dime, not yours.

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