Changing Intra-Urban Location Patterns of Major League Sports Facilities

Abstract

The boom in U.S. major league sporting venue construction has forced many cities to face issues related to the provision of such facilities, including the location choice. Recent data show that the suburbanization trend long assumed in the literature has been reversed, with a resurgence in downtown venues. This paper demonstrates the reversal and discusses the reasons behind this recent trend. These include a concomitant trend toward smaller market franchises, increasing corporate sponsorship, deliberate downtown revitalization strategies, and the advantages accruing to owners when different parts of an urban area compete for franchises.

Nostalgia-Related Aspects of Professional Sport Facilities: A Facility Audit of Major League Baseball and National Football League Strategies to Evoke the Past

“…Other amenities which add to a significantly larger facility footprint than Jewel Box era venues (9.42 acres) presented by Seifried and Pastore (2009b) include an on-site retail store, restaurants, and interactive entertainment zones. Overall, we found evidence that the present era of MLB facilities followed the blueprint laid out by Oriole Park and that this notion is supported by Chapin (2000Chapin ( , 2004 and Newsome and Comer (2000).…”

Locating Major League Stadiums Where They Can Make a Difference

“…With few exceptions, little attention has been given to where they play within the metropolitan area. Newsom and Comer (2000) observe a shift in new stadiums location from the suburbs and central cities and downtowns, but they did not assess economic outcomes. Nelson (2001) observed general outcomes based on location but did not assess individual markets.…”

Subsidizing Entertainment Projects As A Strategy For Urban Economic Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Miami’s American Airlines Arena

“…These urban stadium locations may be prime downtown or waterfront property or inner city areas in need of economic revitalization. Newsome and Comer (2000) found that the suburbanization trend in stadium construction characteristic of the period from 1965 to 1985 had been reversed by 1997, exhibiting "a downtown resurgence" that the authors found to be statistically significant. 3 Owners have sought to play in stadiums and arenas designed to generate higher profits.…”

“…Totaling more than $20 billion in construction costs (Baade, 2003), professional sports stadiums and arenas over the last 30 years have been in the midst of what many have termed a "construction boom" (Coates and Humphreys, 2003;Kennedy and Rosentraub, 2000;Newsome and Comer, 2000). By 2002, more than 61 percent of the 121 professional sports franchises were playing their home games in a facility built since 1991 (Kennedy and Rosentraub, 2000, p. 436).…”

“…The trend toward more profitable, publicly financed sports facilities in part corresponds to forces inside of the professional sports industry that have shaped the business of building stadiums and arenas (Baade, 2000;Noll and Zimbalist, 1997;Rosentraub, 1997;Bernstein, 1998;Baim, 1994). Comer and Newsome (2000) contend that "the reasons for [the] construction boom differ from earlier decades and reflect pressure from team owners and leagues for higher revenues which, ostensibly, can be repaid only through improved facilities" (p. 105-106).…”