Authors: Roger G. Noll (Editor), Andrew Zimbalist
ISBN-13: 9780815761112, ISBN-10: 0815761112
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Date Published: October 1997
Edition: (Non-applicable)
This book examines the economic impact of new stadiums or a sports franchise on the local economy. It explores such general issues as the appropriate method for measuring economic benefits and costs, the source of the bargaining power of teams in obtaining subsidies from local government, the local politics of attracting and retaining teams, the relationship between sports and local employment, and the importance of stadium design in influencing the economic effects of a facility. The book also contains case studies of major league sports facilities in Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities and of minor league baseball stadiums and spring training facilities. The primary conclusions are the sports teams and stadiums are not a source of local economic growth and employment; the size of the net subsidy exceeds the financial benefit of a new stadium; and cities are probably willing to subsidize sports teams because of the intense popularity of sports among a substantial proportion of voters and businesses and the leverage that teams enjoy from the monopoly position of professional sports leagues.
1 | "Build the Stadium - Create the Jobs!" | 1 |
2 | The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Facilities | 55 |
3 | The Employment Effect of Teams and Sports Facilities | 92 |
4 | Subsidizing Stadiums: Who Benefits, Who Pays? | 119 |
5 | Direct Democracy and the Stadium Mess | 146 |
6 | Stadiums and Urban Space | 178 |
7 | Stadiums and Major League Sports: The Twin Cities | 208 |
8 | Baltimore's Camden Yards Ballparks | 245 |
9 | Sports, Politics, and Economics: The Cincinnati Story | 282 |
10 | Bearing Down in Chicago: Location, Location, Location | 324 |
11 | Cleveland's Gateway to the Future | 355 |
12 | Stickball in San Francisco | 385 |
13 | Spring Training | 427 |
14 | Minor League Teams and Communities | 452 |
15 | Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Real Connection | 494 |
Contributors | 509 | |
Index | 511 |