In an episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver revealed some information about professional sports teams that he found hard to swallow. He first pointed out the extravagant stadiums that have been built for our sports teams, such as Jacksonville Jaguar’s in-stadium cabanas and swimming pools. Unfortunately, Oliver continued, “the vast majority of stadiums are made using public money. $12 billion spent on the 51 new facilities opened between 2000 and 2010.” Oliver then pointed out that "sports teams are wealthy business with wealthy owners and they still get our help.” For instance, Red Wings was approved by Detroit to have a new arena built two years ago, which totaled more than $280 million in taxpayer money. This was six days after the state filed for bankruptcy. Oliver added that the owner of the Red Wings himself was worth an estimated $5.1 billion. Furthermore, he mentioned that sports teams keep all the revenue generated by their privately-owned stadiums. Watch the video below to get the entire extent of Oliver’s argument. Let us know if you agree that sports teams are ripping us off and that cities should do something about it!
Proposed new St. Louis Rams stadium