Quote:<b>4. NFL teams are a boon to local economies.</b>

The NFL and its boosters portray the league as the ultimate job creator. A USA Today story cited a study — commissioned by the NFL Players Association — claiming that the league “supports about 110,000 jobs in NFL cities” and that games add “about $5 billion” to local economies.

Sounds impressive!

But check the fine print. Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist and his colleagues have long argued that the “economic impact” studies commissioned by the NFL and its potential host cities to drum up support for new stadiums are essentially propaganda. He and 16 collaborators compared the economies of cities with new stadiums with those of cities that invested in other forms of economic development. Across the board, the economists found that the sports facilities produced “an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment.”

A study by financial-services firm UBS concurred: “Independent academic research studies consistently conclude that new stadiums and arenas have no measurable effect on the level of real income or employment in the metropolitan areas in which they are located.” The reason for this has a fancy name (“the substitution effect”), but it’s pretty simple: People tend to spend consistent amounts of money on entertainment. Football doesn’t increase that net economic activity in a city; it merely channels it into football-related endeavors.

The NFL offers a feast-or-famine model of economic development. Rather than supplying year-round jobs, the league creates 10 or so mega-events annually (i.e. home games) during which the city adds a large number of temporary, low-wage jobs. But even such events can have a downside. As UBS noted, “Sports fans tend to displace other visitors.”