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The public cost of Minor League Baseball stadium subsidies

John Charles Bradbury

Economic Inquiry2026https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70055article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Public financing of major league sports venues has been widely studied, but government support for minor league facilities has not been systematically documented. This study introduces a new database of Minor League Baseball stadium funding to measure the prevalence and magnitude of subsidies. State and local governments have spent $7 billion constructing and renovating 134 minor league ballparks for Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliates, raising important policy implications for moderately sized municipalities. Using MLB's reorganization of its minor leagues as a natural experiment, the analysis finds no income differences between cities that lost or retained teams, undermining the economic rationale for taxpayer subsidization.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70055

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@article{john2026,
  title        = {{The public cost of Minor League Baseball stadium subsidies}},
  author       = {John Charles Bradbury},
  journal      = {Economic Inquiry},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70055},
}

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The public cost of Minor League Baseball stadium subsidies

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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