Get Free Shipping on orders over $89
This One Will Be Different : False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums - J.C.  Bradbury

This One Will Be Different

False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums

By: J.C. Bradbury

Hardcover | 31 July 2026

At a Glance

Hardcover


$115.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $28.94 with

 or 

Available: 31st July 2026

Preorder. Will ship when available.

For more than a century, America's sports stadiums have evolved from modest, private ballparks into billion-dollar play-palaces for the rich-built increasingly on the backs of taxpayers. Government commitments to major-league venues are approaching $50 billion, and a looming wave of new construction threatens to double public outlays by the end of the next decade. Elected leaders justify the massive subsidies by arguing that stadiums are economic catalysts, despite overwhelming evidence that sports venues are unwise public investments. Why does this keep happening? The refrain is always the same: This one will be different. The Atlanta Braves's Truist Park in Cobb County, Georgia is the latest example. Marketed as a game-changing mixed-use development that would create a year-round economic hub, the project has fallen far short of its boosters' lofty projections-just like all the venues that came before it. In This One Will Be Different, sports economist J.C. Bradbury draws from decades of academic research and his up-close and personal experiences with the Cobb Braves stadium deal to elucidate why publicly funded venues never deliver on their promises. Moving beyond the standard explanations of monopoly leagues and special-interest lobbying, Bradbury reveals how pliable politicians-drawn to the prestige and perks of professional sports-buck the will of their constituents to approve increasingly generous taxpayer handouts to billionaire team owners. Authoritative yet accessible, this book blends economic analysis, political insight, and vivid storytelling to examine why politicians continue to fall for the stadium grift and presents practical steps for reform. Bradbury argues that improved transparency, greater understanding, and giving voters a direct say at the ballot box have the potential to break the stadium subsidy cycle.

More in Political Science & Theory

US grand strategy and the Madman Theory : From Nixon to Trump - James D. Boys
Notes on Nationalism : Penguin Modern - George Orwell

RRP $5.99

$3.99

33%
OFF
Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism - Yanis Varoufakis

RRP $26.99

$21.99

19%
OFF
The Prince : Popular Penguins : 1st Edition - Niccolo Machiavelli

RRP $15.99

$13.75

14%
OFF
The Prince : Prohyptikon Value Classics - Niccolo Machiavelli
The Prince - Niccollo Machiavelli

Paperback

$19.75

The Republic : Penguin Classics - Plato

RRP $26.99

$14.75

45%
OFF
The Concept of Class : An Historical Introduction - Peter Calvert
A Sense of Balance - John Howard

RRP $37.99

$30.75

19%
OFF
The Prince : Penguin Pocket Hardbacks - Niccolo Machiavelli

RRP $19.99

$12.99

35%
OFF
The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World - David Graeber

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
Abundance : How We Build a Better Future - Ezra Klein

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF