![John Oliver - Last Week Tonight - Stadiums](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen-shot-2015-07-13-at-3-07-41-pm.png?w=2400&quality=85)
John Oliver is a self-professed sports fan. “I love sports,” he said on Last Week Tonight. “In fact, the only times I’ve cried as a grown man have been while watching actors playing coaches deliver inspirational speeches set to stirring music.” Oliver’s love of the game didn’t prevent him from making an impassioned plea to stop spending taxpayer money on lavish stadiums, though.
“The vast majority of stadiums are made using public money,” said Oliver, citing a report from 2012 that revealed the staggering statistic that “$12 billion [has been] spent on the 51 new facilities opened between 2000 and 2010.” And, as Oliver noted, most of them “look like they were designed by a coked-up Willy Wonka.”
Oliver had one question for these exorbitant expenses: Why are tax dollars being used to fund stadiums? “Sports teams are wealthy businesses with wealthy owners and they still get our help,” Oliver said. “Pretending you’re poor is wrong. It wasn’t okay when Mary-Kate Olsen went through her hobo phase, and it’s not okay now!”
To prove his point about how cities like Cincinnati and Milwaukee have bent over backwards to keep sports teams happy, Oliver noted that just six days after Detroit declared bankruptcy, they got approval to spend more than $280 million in taxpayer money for a new arena for the local NHL team — even though the Red Wings owner, Mike Ilitch, is the founder of the Little Caesar’s pizza chain and worth an estimated $5.1 billion. As Oliver noted, “That’s a little hard to swallow.”
See the 2014 World Cup Stadiums in Brazil
![An aerial view shows the Arena das Dunas stadium, which will host matches for the 2014 soccer World Cup, in Natal Arenas das Dunas](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtx17pw1-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Aerial view of the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia Estadio Nacional](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtx17muw-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A general view is seen of the construction site of the Arena de Sao Paulo Stadium Arena de Sao Paulo](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3oc9t-1-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view of the Arena da Baixada soccer stadium under construction in Curitiba Arena da Baixada](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3nbmg-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view of Estadio Castelao stadium in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil Estadio Castelao](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3l4rq-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view of the Arena Pantanal soccer stadium in Cuiaba Arena Patanal](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3mofd-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view shows the Beira-Rio stadium during the first soccer test match between Brazil's Internacional and Uruguay's Penarol, in Porto Alegre Estadio Beira-Rio](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3k6jd-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view of the Arena Pernambuco soccer stadium is seen in Recife Arena Pernambuco](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3k73o-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial shot shows the Arena Fonte Nova stadium, one of the stadiums hosting the 2014 World Cup soccer matches, in Salvador Arena Fonte Nova](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3j3gj-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![An aerial view of the Arena Amazonia soccer stadium two days before its scheduled inauguration in Manaus Arena Amazonia](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtr3g6e7-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Aerial view shows final touches of the roof installation at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro Estadio Do Maracana](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rtxyfdj-copy.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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