Before we begin, a quick apology for Capitolism’s delayed delivery this week: The president’s (very bad) tariffs have kept me rather busy (and annoyed). I’ll handle them next week—don’t worry, they’re (unfortunately) not going anywhere. Now, on to the show.

Anyway, as frequent readers probably know by now, I’m a pretty big sports fan.  Certainly not the biggest fan—not like these lunatics, I mean—but still pretty big. When the Texas Rangers finally won the World Series last year, for example, I may or may not have been fighting back tears when I called my dad after the final out. And don’t even get Mrs. Capitolism started on my TV viewing habits during various sports seasons (please, don’t). So, if there’s any economics-minded person out there who might possibly be open to governments subsidizing big, admittedly cool U.S. sports venues, I’m probably your guy.

And yet… no.

Instead, the harsh reality for even the biggest sports fan is that arena subsidies are a terrible use of finite government resources and a ridiculously egregious redistribution of wealth from regular Americans—fans and haters alike—to some of the wealthiest people and organizations on the planet.  And, to top it all off, they’re a classic case of political malpractice—local officials delivering massive rents to various cronies by promising unwitting voters the world yet delivering far fewer—but still “seen”—economic and social benefits to their communities.  

Yet the subsidies persist, and—despite some recent high-profile losses in Kansas City, Virginia, and Arizona—the problem might actually be getting worse.