Surveying the Literature and the People: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Civic Pride

Abstract: Public funds to build sports stadiums are commonly justified by the perceived economic impacts and civic pride they create for the community. Since the 1980s, there have been many studies looking at the economic impact and civic pride created by professional sports teams. Most of the literature supports the idea that economic impacts are not created, but there are mixed results on the magnitude of civic pride. Overall, most of the economic literature suggests that the benefits created by sports teams or events do not outweigh the cost of public subsidies provided. We further the research by reviewing the economic impact and civic pride literature and matching it to survey results on the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics to see if economic research has informed public opinion. We find that the survey results match the findings in the literature suggesting that economics profession has indeed informed public opinion. JEL Classifications