Taxpayers don’t want to pay for new NFL stadiums – so why did politicians approve billions in subsidies to fund six new ones?

Six new NFL stadiums are scheduled to open between 2026 and 2031, from Buffalo's Highmark Stadium to new venues for the Titans, Browns, Commanders, Chiefs and Broncos. Public subsidies for the projects already announced total $5.74 billion, with the Chiefs alone receiving $1.8 billion from Kansas taxpayers after voters had already rejected an earlier funding request in a 2024 referendum.

Decades of economic research find stadiums mostly shuffle existing local spending rather than create new growth, and that public subsidies routinely outstrip any benefit. Teams rebuild roughly every 30 years, timed to lease expirations, and use the moment to secure public money for gold-plated amenities like Highmark's private whiskey locker.

Referendums on stadium funding pass only 58% of the time and with thin margins, while elected bodies approve 96% of proposals with 80% support. Teams have taken note: none of the five franchises building new venues over the next five years used a competing city's offer as leverage, since threats aren't as useful as simply asking a legislature instead of the public.

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