HARKENING BACK to “the early 20th century,” Raymond Keating, chief economist for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council and a New York Newsday columnist, recalls that “sports facilities were once private ventures. Team owners bought the land and privately funded their stadiums. What a novel idea!”

His sarcasm is warranted. In the modern era, professional teams have typically relied on taxpayer dollars to build glitzy new stadiums and arenas, often threatening or pursuing eminent domain action to cheaply clear out anyone who stood in the way. According to a May 2005 article in Reason magazine, “Sports economists estimate that half of the post-1990 stadium and arena construction has involved eminent domain–and even when it wasn’t invoked, it was understood that condemnation could be a last resort if the teams encountered stubborn landowners.”