I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9151 
To establish certain conditions and requirements relating to the relocation 
of professional sports teams, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 7, 2022 
Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To establish certain conditions and requirements relating 
to the relocation of professional sports teams, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Public 
Undertakings for Retaining Sports Act’’ or the ‘‘SPURS 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The name of a professional sports team al-
ways is linked to the name of the community in 
which the team is located. 
(2) Communities, sports fans, and taxpayers 
make a substantial and valuable financial, psycho-
logical, and emotional investment in professional 
sports teams and names of teams. 
(3) Communities receive substantial tax reve-
nues and employment opportunities from the oper-
ation of professional sports teams. 
(4) The public, through a municipal stadium or 
arena authority (which may be a city or county 
agency or a municipal corporation), often authorizes 
capital construction bonds to build a stadium or 
arena for a professional sports team, while the lease 
or use agreement generally sets rent to cover only 
operating costs of the stadium or arena without re-
imbursing the public for construction costs. 
(5) A professional sports team that wishes to 
relocate the operations of the team to another area 
should take into account the social and community 
needs of the community in which the team operates. 
(6) Professional sports teams promote civic 
pride and generate jobs, revenue, and other local 
economic development. 
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(7) Professional sports teams remain in com-
munities for generations and represent much more 
than a business. 
(8) Current law does not protect the rights of 
sports fans or the interests of communities when 
professional sports teams decide to relocate. 
(9) Owners of professional sports teams have 
opportunities to extract enormous benefits from 
communities and owners take advantage of those op-
portunities. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON RELOCATION. 
A professional sports team may not relocate unless 
each of the following conditions is met: 
(1) One or more of the parties, other than the 
professional sports team, to the stadium or arena 
lease agreement of the professional sports team has 
failed to comply with a provision of material signifi-
cance to such stadium or arena lease agreement and 
such failure to comply cannot be remedied within a 
reasonable period of time. 
(2) The stadium or arena in which the profes-
sional sports team plays regular season and playoff 
home games is inadequate for the purposes of prop-
erly and competitively operating the professional 
sports team, and the entity that owns or operates 
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such stadium or arena has failed to demonstrate in-
tent to remedy the inadequacy of such stadium or 
arena within a reasonable period of time. 
(3) The professional sports team has incurred 
an annual net loss for not fewer than five years 
prior to the proposed relocation. 
(4) The government authority that is party to 
the stadium or arena lease agreement described in 
paragraph (1) has not made a formal objection to 
the proposed relocation by the date that is 1 year 
after the date on which an owner of the professional 
sports team submits a petition for relocation under 
section 5(a). 
SEC. 4. RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL. 
In any case in which an owner of a professional 
sports team submits a petition for relocation under section 
5(a), such owner shall, until the date that is 1 year after 
the date on which such owner submits such petition, offer 
the professional sports team for sale at fair market value 
to other persons who would not relocate the professional 
sports team before such petition may be approved. 
SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS FOR RELOCATION. 
(a) PETITION FOR RELOCATION.—An owner of a pro-
fessional sports team who intends to relocate the profes-
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sional sports team shall submit a petition for relocation 
as follows: 
(1) Such owner shall submit such petition to 
the government authority that is party to the sta-
dium or arena lease agreement described in section 
3(1) at least 1 year before the proposed relocation 
may be approved by such government authority 
under subsection (b). 
(2) Such petition shall be in writing and sent 
by certified mail or delivered to such government au-
thority personally. 
(3) Such petition shall contain the following: 
(A) A statement detailing the intent to re-
locate, the conditions justifying the proposed re-
location, and the new location. 
(B) Documentation that supports the ex-
istence of the conditions justifying the proposed 
relocation. 
(C) The date on which the owner of the 
professional sports team intends for the pro-
posed relocation to occur. 
(b) REVIEW BY GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY.— 
(1) REVIEW.—An owner of a professional 
sports team may not relocate the professional sports 
team unless a petition for the relocation of the pro-
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fessional sports team submitted under subsection (a) 
has been formally approved by the government au-
thority in writing. 
(2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—A government au-
thority to which a petition is submitted under sub-
section (a) shall approve or deny such petition not 
later than 180 days after the date on which such pe-
tition is submitted. 
SEC. 6. REQUIRED REIMBURSEMENT TO STATE AND LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT FOR VALUE OF FINANCIAL AS-
SISTANCE RECEIVED. 
(a) REQUIRED REIMBURSEMENT.—If an owner of a 
professional sports team relocates such professional sports 
team from one stadium or arena to another stadium or 
arena (including a stadium or arena located in the same 
metropolitan area in which the previous stadium or arena 
is located) and, in so relocating such professional sports 
team, such owner breaches a contract with a State or local 
government with respect to use of the previous stadium 
or arena, such owner shall (not later than 30 days after 
the date on which such professional sports team plays the 
first regular season home game in the new stadium or 
arena) pay to such State or local government an amount 
equal to the value of any financial assistance provided to 
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such professional sports team by such State or local gov-
ernment. 
(b) EXCEPTION.—The requirement described in sub-
section (a) does not apply to a breach of a contract that 
provides as a remedy for such breach recovery of any fi-
nancial assistance provided to the professional sports team 
by the State or local government. 
(c) PENALTY.—An owner of a professional sports 
team that fails to meet the requirement described in sub-
section (a) is liable in a civil action under section 7 to 
the State or local government that provided to the profes-
sional sports team the financial assistance described in 
such subsection for damages in an amount equal to three 
times the value of such financial assistance. 
SEC. 7. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION BY STATE OR LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT. 
A State or local government may bring a civil action 
in an appropriate district court of the United States 
against a professional sports team that violates section 3 
or an owner of a professional sports team that violates 
section 4, 5, or 6 to obtain damages, if— 
(1) the State or local government has provided, 
or has been requested to provide, financial assist-
ance, including tax abatement, to the professional 
sports team or the existing or proposed stadium or 
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arena in which the professional sports team plays or 
is proposed to play regular season and playoff home 
games; or 
(2) the jurisdiction of the State or local govern-
ment includes or is included within, in whole or in 
part, the metropolitan area in which the professional 
sports team plays regular season and playoff home 
games. 
SEC. 8. APPLICABILITY. 
Sections 3, 4, and 5 only apply with respect to a pro-
fessional sports team that has a stadium or arena lease 
agreement with a government authority. 
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘finan-
cial assistance’’ includes special tax treatment and 
financing of a stadium or arena in which a profes-
sional sports team plays regular season and playoff 
home games. 
(2) 
GOVERNMENT
AUTHORITY.—The 
term 
‘‘government authority’’ means any unit of local gov-
ernment or other government agency or authority 
that— 
(A) owns, operates, or has a financial in-
terest in a stadium or arena used by a profes-
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sional sports team to play regular season and 
playoff home games; or 
(B) exercises regulatory authority with re-
spect to a professional sports team. 
(3) PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM.—The term 
‘‘professional sports team’’ means a major league 
team in an organized professional sport. 
(4) RELOCATE.—The term ‘‘relocate’’ means— 
(A) to move the location in which a profes-
sional sports team plays regular season and 
playoff home games from a metropolitan area 
to a different metropolitan area; or 
(B) to move such location within a metro-
politan area if the professional sports team falls 
under the jurisdiction of a different government 
authority. 
Æ 
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