University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal College of Arts and Sciences 3-27-2017 Follow the Leader: The Effect of Elite Support on Ballot Referendums for Publicly Financed Sports Stadiums Samuel Rogers University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/curej Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Rogers, Samuel, "Follow the Leader: The Effect of Elite Support on Ballot Referendums for Publicly Financed Sports Stadiums" 27 March 2017. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania, https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/213. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/213 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Follow the Leader: The Effect of Elite Support on Ballot Referendums for Publicly Financed Sports Stadiums Abstract Since the 1960s, most professional sports facilities have been financed through a mix of private and public funds. Team owners contribute private capital to the project, but the majority of the funding comes from the taxpayer. These public dollars are drawn from the supplementation of existing taxes, or the creation of new taxes in the cities or surrounding counties where the sports franchise operates, and are usually subject to a public vote. In most cases, local citizens do not support the use of taxpayer dollars to fund professional sports stadium subsidies. Previous research demonstrates that the local politicians and corporate executives who benefit from hosting a professional sports franchise can influence oterv opinion by reframing the tax increases as a means to remain a “major league city,” and by claiming that the economic value of the project will exceed its costs.