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
13 infrastructure needs in our country is not a good way to prioritize a limited
14 amount of funds. (3)
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16 SECTION 2: Purpose
17 To ban the building and renovation of stadiums with tax money.
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19 SECTION 3: General Provisions
20 Stadiums have been built using tax money. Building the stadiums have cost
21 about 10~12 billion USD. The investment of stadiums using taxpayers
22 money is inappropriate. There are a lot of citizens who do not have the
23 money to put food on the table. Yet, our government is investing billions of
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
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pressure or ask the government to renovate or build stadiums. This is an
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improper usage of tax money as it is for the benefit of private owners. With
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a limited funds, building a stadium is not a functional infrastructure that
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31 citizens need. 10~12 billion dollars is a enormous fund for citizens that are
32 living at and under the poverty line.
33 There are a lot of welfare programs that need extra fund. Stadiums should not
34 be built or renovated using tax money.
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36 SECTION 4: Definitions
37 Welfare program:includes government programs to support low-income
38 Americans.
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Works Cited:
1) https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2016/09/09/top-10-biggest-federal-su
bsidies-for-pro-stadiums-hint-the-yankees-are-1/
2) https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/09/the-never-ending-stadium-boondoggle/40366
6/
3) http://dailysignal.com/2017/09/26/heres-much-money-nfl-rakes-taxpayers/