Patrick Hruby on Sports Welfare

Mar 26, 2014 1:50 PM ET
Patrick Hruby

Audio File

Did you know that almost all NFL teams are profitable before a single ticket is sold? And did you know that for most of these teams it’s public dollars that have made this level of profitability possible? A few weeks ago on Sea Change Radio we discussed some of the environmental advances being championed in the sports industry.

This week, host Alex Wise speaks with Patrick Hruby, a writer and podcaster for Sports on Earth. He offers a complementary (if contrasting) perspective to our earlier discussion by highlighting what he terms “sports welfare.” Hruby talks about how common government subsidies are in the sports industry, and the opportunity cost felt by environmental causes when public coffers are drained in order to bankroll some of the wealthiest enterprises in America.