Stakeholder Management and the Public Subsidization of Nashville’s Coliseum

Abstract

Through the use of stakeholder analysis, this article examines the case of Nashville, Tennessee and its pursuit of the Houston Oilers. Focusing on the public policy decisionmaking process, we review the manner through which Nashville Mayor Philip Bredesen, as a focal stakeholder, managed the different groups that stood to influence, were potentially affected by, or were ultimately involved in, the public subsidization of a football stadium. The various stakeholders were evaluated by identifying their objectives and their ability to impact or be affected by the issue, and were classified into one of eight stakeholder categories in terms of the presence of power, legitimacy, and urgency. This classification formed the basis for analyzing and understanding interactions between groups as the issue developed and was resolved.

Utility–Customer Communication

“…In other words, it is about how various stakeholders interact and create value (Freeman, Harrison, & Wicks, 2007;Friedman & Mason, 2005). Before all stakeholders can be managed and satisfied successfully, a manager has to understand each stakeholder's behavior in detail (Freeman et al, 2007).…”

Civic pride or civic duty? : an examination of willingness to support a professional sport stadium referendum.

“…The federal government has not remained wholly docile, though, maintaining an influencer stake in stadium construction projects. After the NFL Cleveland Browns left for Baltimore in 1995, congressional delegates from Ohio introduced three separate bills to protect the community and to ensure a replacement expansion team for the one Cleveland had recently lost, none of which passed (Friedman & Mason, 2005). A Congressional Baseball Expansion Task Force was created in the early 1990s and led by senators from Colorado and Florida who threatened to abolish baseball's longstanding antitrust exemption if the league did not expand (Sage, 1993).…”

“…This stakeholder group has an economic stake in stadium construction projects as the competition (Wolfe & Putler, 2002). The city of Nashville, Tennessee, experienced municipal competition with Memphis, Tennessee in its venture to recruit the NFL Houston Oilers to Nashville (Friedman & Mason, 2005). Memphis had a long-standing pursuit of an NFL franchise in addition to its fight for municipal superiority over Nashville in the state of Tennessee (Friedman & Mason).…”

“…Sport fans maintain no real power in a stadium construction project, besides claims by politicians that their decision to support stadium construction projects has been influenced by sports fans . Sport fans do maintain legitimacy and urgency in their claims to support their local professional sports team financially through purchase of season tickets and personal seat licenses, and expressively through their involvement with proponent groups (Brown & Paul, 1999;Friedman & Mason, 2005). Because of this financial support, sport fans can be seen as having an equity stake in the construction project, due to their investment in the team through season tickets.…”

“…In some cases, taxpayers have recognized the high cost of stadium construction projects in conjunction with municipal fiscal issues and have prompted resistance to these measures (Baade & Dye, 1988b). For example, opponent groups in Cincinnati (Brown & Paul, 1999) and Nashville (Friedman & Mason, 2005) collected enough signatures to force a referendum vote for the respective local stadium projects, allowing the constituents a chance to determine how and where their tax dollars were spent.…”