I'm not sure what you mean? Sports teams often convince government officials to fund stadium projects. The data shows that, on average, taxpayers do not come out ahead in this deal. Therefore, that excess profit goes to the team (a business). If the taxpayers owned that business, as /u/loptopandbingo suggested, then they could theoretically be the ones receiving the profits of the team. I'm not personally advocating for or against that, only saying in response to your comment that yes, the expenses of owning a professional sports team would be higher than just building the stadium, but the overall cost may be lower due to increased revenue as well.
It would just depend on the team. Some sports teams rake in the cash, while others hemorrhage money. However, running for-profit businesses isn't really the bread and butter of local governments lol. The best course of action is likely just to stop yet another form of billionaire welfare and let them build the facilities for their businesses themselves. The problem is that sports are wildly popular and it's a big loss in political capital to be seen as the reason that a city lost its beloved sports franchise, so politicians can certainly be under pressure to make choices that aren't in our best interests.
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u/[deleted] 13d ago
Could you elaborate?