Taxpayer Watchdog Slams Taxpayer Subsidies to Buy Capital One Arena

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Zupkus, (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has proposed legislation for the city to purchase Capital One Arena in downtown D.C. The arena will then be leased to Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Capitals and Wizards. This $87.5 million purchase is a part of a larger $515 million taxpayer-funded subsidy (approved by the D.C. Council in April) to renovate the arena.

In response, Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams gave the following comment:

“Mayor Bowser’s proposal is the just the latest taxpayer handout to billionaire sports-franchise owners. District taxpayers will be spending more than half a billion dollars to fund what is essentially a private business. Economists almost unanimously agree that stadiums’ apparent economic contributions to cities are an illusion. In few other industries would such blatantly cronyist subsidies be met with unanimous approval from lawmakers.

“The Capital One Arena would become even worse than most stadium-subsidy swindles because the D.C. government has now decided to purchase the arena. There is no justification for the government owning a sports arena. Government ownership of the assets of private industry is un-American – not to mention terrible on purely practical economic grounds.

“Time and time again, despite rosy projections, stadium subsidies prove to be a rip-off of taxpayers. These deals about which politicians pride themselves on signing fail to produce an adequate return on investment. Like businesses in other industries, sports teams (and their stadiums) should make their own profits, take their own risks, react to market forces, and stop seeking taxpayer handouts to fund their operations. Mayor Bowser and all public officials need to stop playing games with taxpayer money.”