American taxpayers have spent $33 billion on sports stadiums. They got fewer seats—and higher prices

When the Buffalo Bills open their $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium this September, they’ll be opening the NFL’s smallest venue: 60,108 seats, down from the 71,608 the old stadium held. And to make that happen, New York State and Erie County paid $850 million in public funds, resulting in 11,500 fewer seats, with personal seat licenses (the mechanism allowing holders the right to buy season tickets) running as high as $50,000 per seat. Get-in prices on opening night have already listed at $663 on the resale market. The stadium was built, in significant part, with the money of the fans being priced out of it. New York State contributed $600 million; Erie County contributed $250 million, which collectively is the largest public subsidy ever committed to an NFL facility. But the Bills Mafia’s new stadium isn’t unique in this funding: In deal after deal across American sports, it’s the same playbook in which the public funds a venue, and the owner uses it to serve a wealthier, smaller crowd. ‘Market rates’ to blame On the first day the FIFA World Cup opened, FIFA President Gianni Infantino held a press conference in Mexico City and offered this defense of his tournament’s sky-high ticket prices: “If we are doing something wrong, everyone in North America is doing something wrong.” It was his more forward argument following his comments at the Milken conference in April, in which he blamed the U.S. market’s design for encouraging these exorbitant prices. “We have to look at the market—we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world, so we have to apply market rates.” Between 1970 and 2020, state and local governments spent $33 billion in public funds on major-league sports arenas across the U.S. and Canada—with the median public contribution covering 73% of construction costs. That number has only accelerated: In 2024 alone, more than $13 billion in taxpayer subsidies