# PA NFL stadiums **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145 "2017-11-09T21:18:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/1 "2017-11-09T21:18:19Z")
I have been told that the NFL stadiums in PA have paid back the taxpayers for the money to build them. Is this true and how do I even find this out? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/2 "2017-11-09T21:59:17Z")
Who told you this? I can find no reference to this, anywhere, at all. Not as of 2010. According to [this article](https://www.watchdog.org/pennsylvania/billion-and-counting-for-state-s-taxpayer-funded-stadiums/article_d5f040af-fd5e-5272-8a5b-aac4b41f1dd4.html), the Steelers and Eagles are just as big deadbeats as every other billionaire-owned pro sports team that cries poverty whenever they want a new stadium: > [@](#): > > The Steelers play at Heinz Field, which opened in 2001 at a cost of $357 million, with the Steelers putting up $76 million and taxpayers put on the hook for $281 million. > … > > H.J. Heinz paid the Steelers $57 million for 20 year naming rights to the football stadium, significantly defraying the Steelers’ costs, but not the taxpayers’ debt. > … > > In Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003 and serves as home to the NFL’s Eagles, Temple University football and a venue for concerts. It cost $512 million to erect, with private financing accounting for half of the cost and public sources providing $256 million. Lincoln Financial paid $140 million for the naming rights for the field, commonly called “The Link,” for 21 years, cutting the Eagles’ initial costs by more than half. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/3 "2017-11-09T22:18:02Z")
I think his question relates more to the economic impact for the area around the stadium. Since the Steelers and Eagles have been playing in their stadiums (with a $130 million upgrade a few years back) for 16 and 14 years, respectively. Seeing economic uptick of $18 million per year, given 10 home games (plus playoffs), seems very possible. It’s a different scenario, but back in 2009, the Green Bay Packers estimated a bit less than $90 million in spending from non-residents that would most likely not occur without the stadium/team, another $40 million in indirect impacts, and ~$9 million in additional tax revenue. So that’s one data point, though probably at the high end given the small size of the surrounding city and large playerbase. ---
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/4 "2017-11-10T00:09:53Z")
We both live in PA. I find it a little funny that he says this about PA teams only. He is an Eagle fan, so, I take it with a grain of salt and a couple shakes of pepper. This sounds like a cop-out. I just wanted to find out if it was true or not. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/5 "2017-11-10T23:20:56Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > I think his question relates more to the economic impact for the area around the stadium. Since the Steelers and Eagles have been playing in their stadiums (with a $130 million upgrade a few years back) for 16 and 14 years, respectively. Seeing economic uptick of $18 million per year, given 10 home games (plus playoffs), seems very possible. Unless that $18 million economic uptick means additional tax revenue, that just means that some businesses recouped the money the public spent. The public didn’t get it back. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/6 "2017-11-11T00:40:46Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Unless that $18 million economic uptick means additional tax revenue, that just means that some businesses recouped the money the public spent. The public didn’t get it back. Well those businesses provide jobs for the public, so there’s that benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/7 "2017-11-11T00:58:42Z")
If the money people are spending at surrounding businesses or at the stadium itself would have been spent on something else in the state anyway, it doesn’t make sense to count it as a benefit brought on by the stadium. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/8 "2017-11-24T02:50:29Z")
I doubt they’ve paid us back. I remember from the local news media when we got screwed and had to pay for the Iggles’ stadium. Various experts said that the team would NOT and could not leave the city of brotherly love. Various experts said the stadium would NOT bring in additional revenue. I read the testimony of these experts in the Inquirer (for youse who don’t know, the Ink is the newspaper of note here), and in the alternative weeklies. The local government paid for the new stadium anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pa-nfl-stadiums/801145/9 "2017-11-26T02:12:14Z")
I am 90% sure Heinz and PNC Park are both still in debt. We didn’t finally pay off Three Rivers until 2010 almost 10 years after we blew it up. Not totally on point but interesting: [https://www.watchdog.org/pennsylvania/billion-and-counting-for-state-s-taxpayer-funded-stadiums/article\_d5f040af-fd5e-5272-8a5b-aac4b41f1dd4.html](https://www.watchdog.org/pennsylvania/billion-and-counting-for-state-s-taxpayer-funded-stadiums/article_d5f040af-fd5e-5272-8a5b-aac4b41f1dd4.html)