ABSTRACT
Overall, the process of building private stadiums with public dollars in the United States is more akin to plutocracy and oligarchy than to democracy. Here, we include both a procedural definition of democracy (in which everyone affected by policy decisions has a meaningful say in making them) and a substantive definition (in which policy decisions reflect the real interests of affected parties without those interests being manipulated). Sometimes the anti-democratic processes are blatant and unmistakable, sometimes they are more subtle, and sometimes they are obfuscated by the workings of normal politics. Residents in and around Pittsburgh and Phoenix were crystal clear about not wanting to spend public dollars on private stadiums. But in both cases, powerful stadium advocates simply trampled on public sentiment and built the stadiums anyway.
