Football Stadium Won’t Offer Return On Investment, Economist Predicts

Washington taxpayers won’t get their money back from an investment in a professional football stadium, an expert on sports facilities said in Spokane Friday.

But taxpayers rarely reap a monetary return on their investments in libraries, museums, parks, arenas and other projects deemed essential to their life or community, said Timothy Chapin, a panelist at the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference.

“If you’re looking at strict, economic return - people coming to the stadium, spending money in the community because of the games and so on - I don’t see it as a great benefit,” Chapin said in an interview following his talk on sports facilities as an economic development tool.

“But if you want to include everything under the sun, with enough number crunching you can make it (look like a benefit).”

The conclusions presented by Chapin, a doctoral student at the University of Washington’s Department of Urban Design and Planning, differed from those reached by a UW professor of economic geography.

William Beyers, who has worked on several studies of the Seattle Seahawks and Mariners for the state, was upbeat about taxpayers helping to finance the proposed $425 million stadium for the Seahawks. He said revenue generated by the team spills over the Cascade Mountains to the onion fields of Walla Walla and beyond.

“These teams are regional assets,” Beyers said, following Chapin’s speech at the Red Lion City Center. “Somebody buys a hamburger at the Kingdome that’s made out of beef raised in Eastern Washington and slaughtered in Ellensburg, with onions from Walla Walla. There’s a spillover effect. It’s not big, but it’s real.”

Chapin said the Seahawks create about 2,500 full- and part-time jobs, mostly in King County, and generate $5 to $10 million in annual state and city taxes.

However, he noted the return on helping finance a new stadium would depend on how the deal is structured.

“When you look at the cost vs. return to the community (for Seattle professional sports teams), thus far we have not taken a great deal out of the public purse. But we should keep our eye out for different financing in the future.”

Prior to his election last November, Gov. Gary Locke promised voters he would not spend general state funds to replace the Kingdome in Seattle if the investment did not provide a positive financial return to the economy.

Chapin said it’s unlikely taxpayers would get their money back on such a huge capital expenditure as a 72,000-seat football stadium. But voters frequently support projects that may have a social or entertainment appeal, he said.

“Let the people vote,” Chapin said. “It may not be the smartest decision, or the most rational in economic terms, but if people are willing to pay an extra $20 or $50 a head for a stadium, so be it.”

, DataTimes