(The Center Square) – Forbes estimates the Tennessee Titans’ value has reached $4.4 billion, up 26% from last year.
The Titans are one of just four National Football League teams to see a more than 20% value increase, along with the Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, Forbes wrote.
But the Titans saw the largest increase after the team got a commitment for more than $1.26 billion in financing for a new stadium, moving up to 21st.
The projected value increase was similar to projections from Sportico, which said the Titans increased 44% in value to $4.37 billion over the past year.
“The Titans will run the stadium, which, given Nashville’s vibrant economy, is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue for the team,” Forbes wrote.
The deal for a new Titans stadium, set to open in 2027, includes a projected $3.1 billion in taxes captured over a new 30-year lease. That total doesn’t include $500 million that the state of Tennessee will finance to include in the deal.
Economists who have studied publicly funded sports stadiums have shown the public does not receive the desired return from that spending and those stadiums do not spur other economic efforts in the area around a stadium.
The largest beneficiary of that public spending, instead, is team owners who see increased annual revenue and an increase in team value due to the public funding.
“You get a boost of $1.26 billion in taxpayer money to build a new luxury stadium and the value of your private franchise increases by 26%. Imagine that! #BillionaireWelfare” Kennesaw State University economist J.C. Bradbury wrote on social media about the Forbes list.
