Adam Minter, Columnist

The Pittsburgh Pirates Talked a Good Game

The team hasn’t made good on a 20-year-old promise to taxpayers. That should change how cities negotiate stadium deals with sports leagues today.

July 20, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Adam Minter

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

Buyer’s remorse.
Photographer: John Fisher/Getty Images North America

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Pennsylvania is fed up with the Pittsburgh Pirates and their losing ways. More than 20 years after subsidizing much of the club’s $273.5 million stadium, the state and its baseball fans have received just four winning seasons (and no World Series championships). That’s not just bad baseball; According to a new report from the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), a Pennsylvania state agency, those losing seasons cost residents millions of dollars in lost economic activity.

Now two Republican state legislators are demanding that the Pirates start winning so as to provide Pennsylvanians a better return on their substantial baseball investment. It’s an idea that other states and cities should consider when negotiating stadium deals with professional sports teams.