Economic Impacts of Stadiums

Paper Summary:

The paper investigates what impact a new sports stadium has on the economy of a major city. It particularly focuses on sport stadiums in the city of Pittsburgh. The paper begins by analyzing the pre-construction process of building a stadium. It then discusses its impact on the job market and overall local economy. The paper concludes that a stadium can have a larger impact if it is designed to be a multipurpose building.

From the Paper:

"For the past decade, the United States has seen a boom in the building and renovation of sports facilities. This is especially apparent in the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has seen two new stadiums erected in the past five years, and is planning to replace the Mellon Arena in the near future. These stadiums are believed to generate economic growth in the central business district, and revive the city's stagnant economy. This is often the motivation stated by other major metropolitan areas that have gone through the process of either wooing or attempting to keep sports franchises in the area. But do sports facilities really deliver on the promises made pre-construction? Is there any evidence that these stadiums produce the jobs and revenue promised to the neighborhoods they are located in? This has been debated heavily recently and the answers are not always apparent, because in the pre-construction planning many of the income and job projections are inflated by the franchise involved. To analyze the impact that stadiums have on the regional economy you first must understand the pre-construction process."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Noll, Roger G., and Andrew Zimbalist. Sports, Jobs & Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1997.
• Keiger, Dale. "Build It and They Will Come." Johns Hopkins Magazine Feb. 1999.
• Baade, Robert A., and Robert F. Dye. "The Impact of Stadiums and Professional Sports on Metropolitan Area Development." Growth and Change #12 1990
• Fitzpatrick, Dan. "A Closer Look at Plan B." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Roddy, Dennis B. "License Fees All in the Game, Say Resigned Steelers Fans." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 10 November 1998

More papers on Economic Impacts of Stadiums:

• Research Paper # 54729 : "Sports Stadiums and Arena Finance"
• Essay # 73291 : "The Economic Impact of Apartheid"
• Research Paper # 111686 : "The US Sports Market"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: