Transfer of wealth via stadium financing by governments

In Stadium Building Spree, U.S. Taxpayers Lose $4 Billion - Bloomberg: "That’s because the 80,000-seat Cowboys Stadium was built partly using tax-free borrowing by the City of Arlington. The resulting subsidy comes out of the pockets of every American taxpayer, including Giants fans. The money doesn’t go directly to the Cowboys’ billionaire owner Jerry Jones. Rather, it lowers the cost of financing, giving his team the highest revenue in the NFL and making it the league’s most-valuable franchise.
“It’s part of the corruption of the federal tax system,” said James Runzheimer, 67, an Arlington lawyer who led opponents of public borrowing for the structure known locally as “Jerry’s World.” “It’s use of government funds to subsidize activity that the private sector can finance on its own.”"

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Arlington’s ownership of the stadium amounts to another subsidy for Jones. The Cowboys don’t have to pay property taxes on an asset appraised at $904.5 million. That saves Jones about $17 million a year at the current property-tax rate. Arlington’s levies on real estate, accounting for 37 percent of the city’s revenue, were expected to rise 2.3 percent to $74.5 million this fiscal year, the city said in a report.

Soon after voters backed the bond issue, Arlington acquired 73 acres (30 hectares) near the Rangers’ ballpark, Six Flags and the Tom Landry Freeway, connecting Dallas and Fort Worth and named for the Cowboys’ first coach. To make way for what the Cowboys call the “world’s largest domed structure,” Arlington demolished 162 properties, including 51 businesses, 927 apartments and 105 houses, according to the city.