The effect of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on commercial land rents is estimated on a pooled cross-section of parcels within 1 mile of the arena from 2006 through 2015. The effect of the arena is isolated using a triple difference-in-difference approach. From the preferred model, net operating income per square foot is estimated to fall by an average of 3.7% for each 1,000 feet away a commercial parcel is removed from the arena. The average rent effect within 1 mile of the arena is further estimated to be US$2.71 per square foot. The implications of the findings are discussed.

An effort to secure a local government subsidy for a professional sports venue or event typically cites findings from a private consultant’s economic impact analysis on its purported benefits to the jurisdiction(s) offering the subsidy. Scholars have consistently expressed concerns regarding the ability of the public, and the officials that represent them, to detect the deficiencies that often plague such an analysis. The authors review the previous academic research to identify a common set of concerns regarding this form of analysis. These concerns are the basis for a list of 20 evaluative questions to consider in a critical assessment of an economic impact study. To illustrate the practicality of these questions, the authors ask them of previous studies regarding the economic impact of different professional sport venues or events in five different U.S. cities.

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Th e proposition that managerial experience improves performance is an empirical claim, yet panel studies with long time dimensions exploring the relationship are uncommon. Th is article investigates the impact of managerial experience on organizational performance using a 15-year panel of local property assessors in Washington State from 1999 to 2013. Each additional year of experience improves assessment quality as measured by the coeffi cient of dispersion by three-tenths of a percent. However, although the relationship is statistically signifi cant, the size of the eff ect is quite small, with administrative practices and the environment surrounding the assessment task being stronger predictors of assessment performance.

Academic researchers continue to challenge the popular perception that new or renovated stadiums are catalysts of economic development. Despite basketball arenas generally having lower construction costs and being more multipurpose, past studies have disproportionately examined professional baseball and football stadiums. Using the most recent data, this study investigates the economic impact of professional basketball arenas. After controlling for a range of covariates past research has identified as possible predictors, I find little evidence that basketball arenas are primary catalysts of development. I conclude that the context of the city, not the facility, is what drives the economic development capacity of basketball arenas.