sports stadium essay

Sports Stadium for Team Organization and Community Research Paper

Introduction, situational analysis, analytical analysis.

The theme task of this research paper has selected to identify the effects of sports stadium on participating team as well as adjacent social context, which turn our attention to pay on understanding some specific issues and making further discussion over that. A sports stadium is a place or location where various outdoor sporting events take place. A structural framework giving a scope to the spectators to sit or stand in order to enjoy that sporting event generally encloses such venue. Rungnado May Day, Salt Lake, Estadio Azteca, Michigan, Beaver, Jornalista Mario Filho, Ohio, Neyland, National Stadium Bukit Jalil, and Melbourne Cricket Ground etc. are some famous sports stadium in the world, which along with other local ones has a major contribution on sporting performance of a team in terms of inherent features and amenities.

As mentioned previously, this research topic is focusing on some integral issues regarding the economic and non- economic factors of stadium, which are precisely concerned with historical background at both global and national level, general impacts within the adjacent locations, scopes, and positions of generating revenues from different commercial playgrounds in the world. Some others are situations of utilizing stadiums for the core and other issues, discussion on one of the most popular form of stadiums in terms of multiple usages, system orientation for building a newer one, naming philosophy, and branding overview etc. Development of a completely new and renovated stadiums, necessary funding, community achievement, contrasting discussion between USA and European stadiums with suggestive approaches, competitive situation and the impact of branding of a team over the organization are similarly contributive in this regard (top10land.com).

As like as sports, stadium also occupies a longer history and development phases from the early 776 BC to till now. However, stadium is the modified version of a Greek world “stadion” which was used to express measuring length. Thus, the world’s most ancient stadium has known as Olympia, which is in western Peloponnesus, Greece. This stadium has closely related with the history of Olympic Games. So far, various sports stadiums has established in different traditional cities in Rome and Greece while the Stadium of Domitian is being recognized as most famous among all of those. White City, Stanford, Centennial Olympic, Mile High, Miami Orange Bowl, Soldier Field, Waverley Park, River front, Arsenal, Colt, Maple Leaf Garden, Vetch Field are some of the historical global stadiums which are mostly established in London, Atlanta, Denver, Lisbon, Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Barcelona, Houston, Bern, Bolton, Cardiff, Zurich, Derby etc. cities (World Stadiums 2009). Like the enriched global historical achievement of sporting grounds, USA also occupies a number of excellent stadiums, which has recently backed by reasonable level of government subsidies. In this line, 46 stadiums have been established or restructured during 1990 to 1998 while at the ending of previous century 49 extra sports infrastructures had planned to be developed. A major portion of $21.7 billion had paid for such development. Today, the different integrated regions of the country has numerous stadiums for accomplishing several sporting events including American and general football, Baseball, Cricket, Rugby, Hurling and Gaelic football etc. Besides that, stadiums at some college and university campuses are also popular and contributive for community and tournament impact, for example Cameron Indoor Stadium, Chicago Bulls of the NBA etc. (Johnson, Groothuis, & Whitehead 2001).

Since sports stadiums have considered as major part of public expenditure, the establishment, and continuous development of such infrastructure is a controversial topic in many places. However, it can understood by observing the practical scenario that a new sports stadium can act as a catalyst for developing the overall lifestyle context of the society by performing many value additional tasks of residential properties. Such valuation incorporates price of lands, local housing and accommodation, transaction and other living costs. Even an announcement of establishing such infrastructure can increase value. Tourism is another factor, which is automatically motivated through an existence of a branded stadium within a locality. Direct influences involve tourist expenditure on meals, hotel suits, shopping, tickets, merchandising costs and so one. However, an extensive development of stadiums would not be effective since most of them require larger parking, souvenir, restaurants, and similar types of concession benefits, which would lessen total profit margin for the associating community. For both kinds of circumstances, a limited and reasonable number of stadiums are helpful for actual positive turnover of a society. (Dehring, Depken & Ward, 2006). Because of huge national and international sporting fans and supporters, a massive amount of money has invested for this, which is also liable for keeping the sporting teams in competitive pressure with other zones.

Thereafter, it can suggest that, such types of investment should make in economically backward areas so that those would come back from their related financial sufferings. On the other hand, many research studies have also proven that the professional sports climate poses little or no impact on the positive growth factor of per capita earning of people. It would also reduce that earning periodically by substituting other major sectors of public spending regarding health and medical, safety, education, substituting private expenses considering outsider dinner, bowling and movies, compensative disparities in earning and harmful influences on productivity of manual workers etc. (Coates & Humphreys, 2006). Apart from economic issues, from social viewpoint, the activities of stadiums are sharply controversial in terms of being liable for sourcing noise. Because of using loudspeaker and arranging huge crowd, sound pollution occurs which is badly effective and disturbing the surrounding educational institutes and homesteads (McAuliffe and Kinsella, 2009).

Revenue is another factor that takes a major focus in analyzing an overall impact of stadium while it is effective in revenue generation through many ways. At the middle of previous century, about 50% of all significant team sports had resulted from presence of deep integration and concession. Stadium is another factor, which generally makes earnings through entrance fees regarding many forms of seating, concessions, and promotional tools. Although attendance is highly influential here, an astronomical increase in hockey ticket price of 268% does not pose that level of attentive significance (Dehring, Depken & Ward 2006).

Along with using stadiums for a unique sporting event like- specialized cricket, football, volleyball and so one, there are a number of stadiums, which can used for playing more than one kind of sports. Some of those had primarily built for single purpose but renovated later for accommodating multiple sports. Running through the initialization period between 1960 and 1970 to 1980, North America had experienced that renovation in terms of associating Major Baseball and Football League. At present, AT and T Park at San Francisco, Tropicana Field at Petersburg and Chase Field at Phoenix are using for multiple playing purpose. Naming of a stadium is another factor which also incorporates a number legislations and formalities from past to still now. Thus, the year of 1946 is being significant for as many baseball stadiums bore the group owner names that were responsible for construction. The primitive dealing of if naming rights had been started from 1990 while up to 2001, there were a greater change in that procedure through the adoption of organizational names. Modern stadiums are not only sourcing gaming arrangement but also generating a lot of innovative customized services and applications for facilitating all the related parties of employees, guests, press, media, team organizers etc. For ensuring other usages more than sporting, communication needs to improve in terms of technological and non- technical issues. Therefore, integrated stadiums will combine the facilities of residential, retailing, commercial, and entertainment with increased seating opportunities outside of luxury boxes as well as floor seating (Nortel 2009). The seating license or PSL is generally formatted by stadium authority in most of the cases which can be advanced only for certain conditions regarding ownership for cost relocation, design and construction expenditures, switching of assets, transportation costs, workforce severance and replacement costs etc. (Esquire 2002).

However, in a world of sporting excitement, multi- visional stadiums can also affect the virtual performance of competing teams in relation with brand name, attention of sponsorship, integrated physical amenities, seating capability and so one. By following the chain of value generation, those performing sporting groups act as source of extreme entertainment, mutual co- operation, domestic employment, external flows of money for local community in return (Mary 2009).

History of Stadiums around the World

Stadium is a place or establishment where different types of events such as sports, seminars, concerts and any other sort of events are organized. These events can be both indoor and outdoor. In indoor stadiums, different types of events like gymnastics, table tennis, chess, badminton, squash, and basketball. Outdoor stadiums are most common and termed as stadiums mainly where sports like Soccer, Baseball, Cricket, Rugby, and Hockey held. In the world of present days, stadiums are mostly established and designed to organize different types of sports. The structure of a stadium has mainly divided in to two parts. First, one is the field where the event staged and another one is the arrangements of the seats for the spectators.

The history of stadiums is dictating to look in the ancient times. The existence of stadiums could found in the time of 776 BC when the first Olympic Games held in ancient Greece. The Roman Colosseum is also an evidence of using stadiums to organize sports events. However, the Colosseum was not only used for sports but also many other events.

The history of world stadiums mainly linked with the Olympic Games. It was Olympia where evidence said the first ever Olympiad was taken place. To arrange some athletics type games, a stadium named “Altis” was established, which was a combination of a sacred area and a secular area. The secular area had treated as a non-religious area, which situated or located outside the boundary and here the events had held. Beside this, in this area other establishments, which had used for games and establishment for guests seating were also located here. All the Greek cities of that time had this sort of places, which was termed as Palaestra. After the demolishment of ancient Olympic Games, these establishments had also destroyed mainly by the fires and earthquakes. In the 19th century, the signs of these ancient stadiums had explored by anthropologists ( Olympic Museum Lausanne 2002) ).

After the re introduction of modern Olympic Games, the games started to spread out worldwide and so also the stadiums. From 1896 to 2008, Olympic Games held in every four years except 1940 and 1944 due to World Wars. In these long 112 years the Games have organized in different cities and for this, there stadiums has founded. Besides the spread of other famous games like Soccer, Baseball, Hockey, Tennis, Cricket, Rugby persuaded to establish new stadiums in different countries. Now there is no country in the world, which has no stadiums at all.

History of Stadiums in the US

United States organized the Olympic Games in 1904, which was in the St. Louis in the state of Missouri. Before this, many stadiums had established in USA, but before almost hundred years ago, the modernized stadium built. Trumpbour (2007) stated that the concept of sports was not very ancient in USA. Evidence is showing the practice of sports in the USA both before and after the enlightenment of the society. Becht, (2004) stated that the concept of nation state consisting of some imagined communities used to participate in different forms of sports, which were then some sort of cultural activities with physical efforts. Besides sports were became very familiar as a part of competitive rivalry among different nation states. These functioning of sports have enlarged after the introduction of printing facilities. Increasing use of penny press gave each cities the chance to publish there own sports news. Beside this, the use of penny press gave space for establishment of different sports institutions. As a result, in 1869, the first fully professional sports institution was emerged in USA, which has named as Cincinnati Red Stockings. The development of other communication media like newspapers also used to communicate different sports. Newspapers treated the sports news to increase their circulation.

After the widespread acceptance of sports, the establishment for a structure, which will facilitate the organization of sports for many times, was required. For this, different sorts of parks were designed which were termed as ballpark. When the sports got the face of business, the nature of the ballparks was changed. The ballparks were nothing but a place shared by the members of the community. It was rare where the community perceived pride for the ballparks. However, the business related with sports introduced the present nature of sports, which triggered to build luxurious stadiums.

Effects of the Stadium on the Surrounding Area

Ehrnwald (1999) stated that stadiums in a community could be a nostalgic factor. Many old citizens found some memories related with stadiums and many stadiums served the community with some unique aspects. In USA, there are almost 1800 stadiums, which built for various types of sports including Soccer, baseball, rugby, tennis, cricket and athletics. All these stadiums are places where people come to find some sort of recreation. Stadiums are thus a serene place to enjoy sports events. In the present day lives, people get few times to be entertained and stadiums make possible for the people. International stadiums have served the local community to meet with people from abroad.

A stadium has some significant effect on its surroundings. These effects are of four types: economic, opportunity cost, environmental effects, and cultural effect. The economic aspects of a stadium could think from the view that the people who come to the stadiums for recreation will have to pay some money as ticket fees, which are the earnings of the organizers. Besides a stadium could lease or hired by many entities to stage some events. This also brings some money to the stadium administration. Thus, a significant amount of money has accounted with stadiums and for this; the economic aspect of stadiums comes in front. However, Castronova (2007) argued these activities are not enough to turn the stadiums as an economic engine. There are three reasons behind this. Firstly, the substitution affects in a way where the people has les money to invest with a stadium rather they invest a huge amount in other substitute medium of entertainment like cinemas and bars. Leakage is the second reason. Leakage means the spending of the earnings from the stadiums to the betterment of the society, which is rare. The last reason is there is rarely any entity that funds the stadium buildings. Most of the stadiums have built by the government and the governments spend a lot of public money in this purpose. For this reason, many state governments do not agree to spend money as it increases the government expenditure.

Baade (1994) stated that there is some sort of opportunity costs related with the establishment of the stadiums. In a place where a new stadium is, building can be use for any other further structures like theatre, shopping mall, church, TV station, government establishment and so on. The environmental effects of stadium are huge for the local community. McAuliffe (2002) stated the noise of the stadium makes the community upset for the noise. Thus, sound pollution has significant effects on the community. Finally, the cultural effects of a stadium are positive as stadiums could used to organize different cultural events.

Revenue from All Different Types of Stadiums

Castronova, (2007) argued that Different types of stadiums have different capacity to organize events. The outdoor and indoor both stadiums have the target to attain money as a mean of revenue. As many stadiums own by local government to hire a stadium for an event the organizers will have to pay to the government. This is a way of revenue to the government. Besides, the privately own stadiums such as stadiums of different soccer or rugby and baseball clubs also earned good revenue. However, most of the revenues have used for hiring quality players, organizing teams and advertisements. About 50% of the earned revenues used in this way. Other 40% of the total revenue earned as the earning of the owners and rest goes for the local expenditures.

The Use of Stadiums for Non-sporting Events or Other Purposes

Stadiums are now using for not only sports but also other events. From political gatherings to concert, all types of non-sport events have now organized in stadiums. In many stadiums, different types of exhibitions held.

Multi-purpose Stadiums (Football/Baseball/Soccer)

WMC (1966) argued that multipurpose stadiums are the stadiums, which can afford many different games to hold, for example, a stadium, which is eligible for arranging football match and have the athletic turf surrounding the field, can be termed as a multipurpose stadium. The sport facilities in a multipurpose stadium must be reflecting the need of the local spectators. In these types of stadiums, the relationship of the related sports is important. For example if a stadium has to be design to organize soccer and hockey, it would be almost impossible to maintain it. Besides, there are many sports like baseball, which requires specialized stadiums. This sort of games is so unique that no other sports have added with it. The ultimate purpose of a multipurpose stadium is to maximize the use of minimum place.

Current System of Building New Stadium

In today’s world, the stadiums are not basic field of surrounded by fold out seats and snacks corner available with hot dogs and beer. According to various studies, it has seen that, modern stadiums are offering and experiencing trends of sporting and entertainment destinations for gaming aspects. For this reason, many stadiums are going to redesign to focus on premium features and services for attracting more attendees to meet their needs and interests (Platten 2007). The stadiums have also facilitated with premium shopping mall, lounges, and restaurants, like in US, Texas based NFL team is needed $1 billion to build as largest stadium in US. The stadium is also offering innovation with 180 by 50 feet video boards to show the attendees detailed view of game, which are not clear them from the playing field. Other attendees are looking for integrated stadium with the combination of residential, commercial, retail, dinning, and entertainment spaces as local activity places for increasing seating options according to luxury boxes and floor seating, which makes the attendees satisfied with tastes, interests and price points. By renewal of stadium according to new system, it has to maintain more consumers’ seats for generating new revenues and sharing consumers’ wallet. The new system also attracts more attendees by improving event experiences and seating capacity. Therefore, the new system must offering innovativeness, which will be more than just sporting events, but also multipurpose uses with 365 days events, like convention and corporate meeting centers.

Modern stadium is capable of communicate innovation of services what customers are looking for to satisfy communication needs of fans, guests, corporate employees, service and security staffs, event organizers, press and media and many more parties related with organizing and hosting events in stadium. There are some key components need to build new system of stadium, which are:

• Converged IP Core : In stadium, high speed and reliable communication is essential to meet the different needs of proper functioning of any event. Ethernet routing is addressing requirements of connectivity of real time business communications like voices, video and multimedia services.
• Voice Communication: It is also essential in stadium environment to offer quality of voice services to maximize network efficiencies, reducing operating costs, and opening new service opportunities by voice over IP (VoIP).
• Mobility: In stadium, staffs are serving guests and logistics according to time and ubiquitously. Therefore, wireless LAN has offered the staffs to deliver the freedom of mobility in the environment of stadium.

Naming Stadium and the Value of the Naming Rights

In recent years, naming the rights of stadium have more emphasized and are increased value of these rights. Every stadium owners in United States are following Mr. Wrigley’s steps, which was making four professional team is binding in together and named with corporate sponsors (Hollis, 2008). There are some terms related with naming rights, which are:

• Rights Fees: Now days, companies are paying high payment to put own names on new stadium. For an example, in New Jersey, Barclays Plc has agreed to give $300 million to have new name, which is “Barclays Center” in 2006.
• Rights Packages: The nature and scope of rights are dealing with sponsors over years in naming packages, different signage is determined, like advertising around the playing field, stadium hospitality, corporate boxes, billboard advertisements, and roadside signage established around stadium.
• Financing: The naming rights of stadium can generate significant revenues, which can be use in financing of stadium, which can add positive image towards fans, considering all commercial elements related with larger stadium.
• Local Ties: Many times, naming rights have geographically connected with city or region of stadium’s location, considering local community.
• Buy In by Public: The local fans must approve the naming and naming rights sponsorship, which can be determine by public reactions according to naming or renaming of stadium.

Construction of New Stadiums vs. Renovations

In basic construction of new stadium, there are some framework is followed by stadium of United States, which are: (Major Projects 2009):

• Roof Shell Frames: 2,500 tons steel
• Cladding in Roof: 26,000 sq meters
• Aluminum Frame in Roof: 40 km
• Roof Guttering: 16 km
• Concrete: 35,000 cubic meters
• Concrete Reinforcing Steel: 4,000 tons
• Employees: 1,200 workers
• Indoor/ Outdoor Coverage: Wireless voice, data, and multimedia services

In renovations of stadium, the system has called as turf system, which has first started in Victoria. In this system, roof framed with steel and cladding panels fabricated and reconstruct the stadium area.

On the other hand, constructing new stadium has designed, fabricated and installed with modern components have considered as construction of stadium, which has called Uni-system (PTC 2008).

Funds to Build New Stadiums

Marty (2009) mentioned that every stadium needs public money to pay the costs of taxes in new stadium, which is around $50 million annually. The funds need to build new stadium are almost $235 billion, and need huge amount of operating costs. The funds can cover with successful stadium with lots of fans.

Teams Giving Back to Community

Through the successful stadium, the teams of players are giving lots of entertainment to their community. The teams are also considering the climate conditions of participation levels of different countries. The communities are also considering keeping grass of stadium, which can access playing levels all over the world. Holmes, (2007) stated that the stadium should also concern about the improvement of environment with positive productivity levels among staffs and customers, which is new premise of stadium.

System Followed by Europe in Building Sport Franchises According to American System or Own Way

If the Europe stadium compared with American one, so it should logical to take a real life example of stadium of Europe, which has named “Honeywell”. It is mainly developing IT services and controlled contractors in network services design to support building management solutions of stadium. In the system, there are required 1,617 km cables, 753 km backbone of fiber, 234 km broadcast cable and 630 km of fire rated cabling. This IP communication is providing 72 communications rooms of networking switches, 7,500 network points, and 3,500 network devices. Therefore, this stadium is focusing on design, installation, commissions, project management, and technical support of security and management systems of life safety fans and third parties. (Case Study, 2007)

Seating licenses (PSL)

PSL has transferred in each season, with the receipt of request, transfer fees, required documents with full responsibilities of authority of stadium in United States. The revenue generated by sale of professional sports stadiums constructed by stadium authority of PSL. The PSL can proceeds by (Permanent Seat License (PSL) Transfer Guideline Checklist)

• Relocations of professional sports team of US, which owed to national sports league.
• Training facilities, determined by costs and design.

Moving and relocation costs, like:

• Property movement
• Land and air travelling costs
• Employee severance costs
• Relocation costs of employee
• Claiming rights of interested parties to settle and resolve professional sports team.
• Benefited professional sports teams by repayment of bonds and indebtedness.
• Authority’s payments;
• Other costs and expenses in relocation of professional team (Curran & McDonald 2002)

Competition within Stadiums in Different Demographics

Stadium industries in US has characterized as economic power of rivalry among them, which has threat of entry in market division. These stadiums are raising prices, lowering output, and lowering quality of fans among other rivals, which is effecting on players, and low quality teams, which has need quick quality improvements. The competition among them has also featured by transaction costs, which controlled by single entity of any specific stadium. For this reason, the stadium authorities have settled principles of competition law, which is useful and meaningful to abuse economic power in sports (Ross 2009).

Record of Team to Effect Organization (Players, coaches, managers, owners)

The record of sporting team must effect on organization of stadium. For an example, the record of success of any team in specific stadium is connecting minor league of other sports teams and building relationship with attendees (Rivero 2003). From the history of Danville Stadium, it is seen that, team made larger impact on fans and those fans are affecting success of stadium. The unique history of team is affecting on traditional excellences in whole community of countries RJS (1995).

Stadiums are one of the most popular terminologies to sporting fans and general people over the world for their versatile functionality and usages. The above picture is a partial reflection of that vision which ultimately supports the multiple discussions on stadiums over social, cultural, political, economic, psychological, and global contexts.

The analytical portion of the study will tend emphasize a number of factors based on empirical research findings from various sources. Such results will show various aspects of virtual impact of sporting grounds in terms of historical recognition, seating policies, socio- economic specialization along with direct and indirect community assessment multi- purpose utilization. It includes development process in terms of technological assistance, supply web for delivering values from participating sporting groups and after the entire community, structural and integrated assessment for influencing team performance etc. More explicitly, such discussion will involve the process through which a stadium can utilize to organize more spectator events by improving the forthcoming feelings. Because of huge competitive pressure over the world, a number of new stadiums have required to modify for increasing attendance with distinguished demand variables. Therefore, development of exact foundation and introducing technological action are becoming essential.

The economic impact of stadiums will disclose the relative aspects of actually obtained per capita income of a society with continuous development issue through an assessment statistics from 1969 to 2000 from which positive and negative effects would evaluated. The MLB franchises will assessed under a huge investment condition of new stadiums in relation with calculating net present value against the investment costs casing success variables, potential revenue generation and playing effort of the team. Loyalty of admirers and stadium capitalization in professional baseball will examined for idealizing the necessity and outcomes of public funding facilities in hosting areas. Sports teams liable for generating benefits in terms of selling tickets and subsidization dependent on regional relationship. Naming issue will focus on related rights, company valuation mechanism etc. Finally generalizing the construction and reformative themes, the nook and corner of PSL contract would be evaluate under which the fans make an advance payment to own a specific seat in the stadium gallery to enjoy their intended tournament.

Summary of articles

The economic impact of professional teams on monthly hotel occupancy rates of Canadian cities Lavoie and Rodriguez:

Introduction: Searching of positive economic influence of sports by team owners and boosters

Purpose: Testing the economic effect of professional sporting stadiums and teams

Experimental methods: Three classes of time- series have analysis for experimenting completely deterministic seasonality, stationary process, and integrated seasonality process.

Results: The major influences of professional league sporting criteria can first evaluated under favorable consideration for the functionality in hotel and motel business. On the other hand, the MLB belt up in Toronto converted in reasonable outcomes while an absence of baseball and hockey would responsible for lowering hotel revenue. Because of suspending of those teaming activities, the locality experiences are more domestic rather than external traveling while the lack of fans for associating the teams would lower hotel charges through an engagement of higher household expenditure.

Conclusion: Stadium is one of the major catalysts for improving team performance although those do not contain the public assets rather than government capitalized projects while public stadiums generally conversely influence the winning proposition of a participating team.

Article 291: Economic impact of postseason play in professional sports

Writer: Coates, D & Humphreys, B.

Introduction: Assessment of economic leverages flowing from forthcoming post- season visions is not adequate for judging public expenditures on sports.

Purpose: Post- seasonal assessment of sporting expenses.

Experimental method: Post- seasonal sporting analysis has conducted on the basic model below:

Results: According to Coates and Humphreys, 2009, the post- seasonal appearances are significant enough for verification of government subsidies in terms of developing newer sporting arena. After conducting a regression analysis, the fixed consequences table has shown as following:

Such evidence clearly indicates that the Super Bowl poses visible economic leverages for neighboring regions of the winning team with some conditional errors and irregularities while the covering dependent variables superior ones. Another factor is the projective effectiveness of per capita earning through a rising labor capability in terms of championship sports organized in various stadiums. Thus, a continuous wining point will enhance such productivity followed by higher income and wages regardless the next year proposition. Conversely, continuously succeeding in NBA will be resulted in a converse impact on total output and public funding since it is not feasible to make such million dollars investment for a short- term success will not support development of a new stadium. Eventually, professional sporting would be resulted into lower earning regarding some non- financial advantages. Therefore, if labor efficiency would communicate with professional games, the selection of stadium would make positive choice of organizations.

Conclusion: Regional per capital income determinants have closely related with professional sporting while economic leverage gained from such appearance would not be adequate in determining public expense of a stadium.

Article 180: Arenas versus multifunctional stadiums: Which Do Spectators Prefer?

Writer: Feddersen, A., & Maennig, W. (2008)

Introduction: Development of multifunctional stadiums is based on two distinctive reasons involving singular arenas natured by the off- presence of sporting events and multifunctional stadiums used for other cultural functions.

Purpose: Assessing the usability of multifunctional stadiums

Experimental methods: For analyzing multifunctional effects, panel analysis has conducted based on game- by- game seasonal data. Here, the use of regression equation can clarify the relationship among number of spectators for each season for a specific club and in specific season as:

Results: Multifunctional stadiums are greatly effective for organizing distinguished sporting and cultural moments including tracking and fielding competition, religious actions etc. It is argued that soccer fans love to enjoy a multipurpose atmosphere which requires new stadiums need to follow that format and older ones should be rebuilt into complete soccer grounds like- German professional soccer league, such as-

Being enlighten with such vision, a number of ancient European stadiums have modified for the previous 10 to 20 years. The revenue from additional audiences gives a major funding to the stadiums. Thus, the use of “Back of the Envelop”- measurement methodology, the “Arena Effect” of 2773 visitors contributes to 47141 extra visitors each season with 17 domestic sporting each season. It can estimate that within standard lifecycle of 30 years of a general stadium, earnings from ticket would raise by €16.81 by converting an extra yearly earning of €0.8 million at each season. If a stadium’s lifetime value can estimate as 30 years, merely €24 million of extra revenue would generate from “Arena Effect”. This has related with 20% general funding in “World Cup 2006 stadium” amounting of €116750000, symbolizing a greater contribution of capital expenditures of sports stadiums through such effect.

Conclusion: So, environment of a stadium is far important than multiple amenities preferred by people for which many such stadiums have been rebuilt.

Article 124: Fan loyalty and stadium funding in professional baseball

Writer: Depken II, C.

Introduction: Re-examination of demand variable of baseball by delivering a fan loyalty measurement for US oriented professional baseball groups.

Purpose: Assessing whether professional sporting occasion related playground have contributed positive and negative impact on individual income.

Methodology: Fan loyalty was being estimated by stochastic frontier innovated by Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt (1977).

Results: In most often cases, sporting teams pose various demands and thus set different prices. Since most of the baseball, groups are domestic controllers, the intensity of fan loyalty should estimate in terms of statistical reviews of different cities. Therefore, it can be summarized that teams occupying lower intensity of fan devotion would lack success for generating public funding for new stadium establishment although it is not strictly related with the size of hosting town. Therefore, there is a relationship between the quality of a team and degree of presence. Several variables regarding price of tickets, group success, degree of clutter and per capita income can used as inputs of this analysis. If a team wants to gain highest revenues, it would emphasize on intended rivalry while higher loyalty influences attendance of college football tournaments. Another measurement would be buying of merchandise on national or regional level by customers. The graphical exemplification of such relationship can be shown as:

The demand frontier has gauged in terms of using panel of raw information of MLB from 1990 to 1996 by using the following equation:

In converted form:

Such analysis describes that the ticket charge is an average figure of original buying for estimating TR/ TA. The ticket charge is not individually responsible for increasing expenses rather than a combination of other factors including car parking, premiums, and transportation. Population estimation has based on selecting a sample statistics group indicated by local Census Bureau. Finally, time management has incorporated by dummy figures. Combining all those, formulated statistics would be as:

Therefore, optimum degree of loyalty is not a single catalyst for virtual presence with some disorders regarding team ineffectiveness but is conjunct with public- financing mottos.

Conclusion: Fans are usually present tournaments for both price- quality package and intangible degree of such loyalty.

Article 600: The value of public goods generated by a major league sports team

Writer: Johnson, B. K., Groothuis, P. A. & Whitehead, J. C. (2001).

Introduction: This study has explored that the stronger sporting teams can produce many final public commodities to their surroundings.

Purpose: Assessing the worth of public goods produced by commercial sporting group of National Hockey League

Experimental method : Survey is the simplest experimental technique that has conducted to gather information taking the special form of CVM questionnaire dispersed into five sections with different issues of professional sports behavior.

Results: The result of conducting a survey delivered a mixed attitude in this regard while such amount would not be adequate for justifying the necessity of engaging more funds in building stadiums. As previously been mentioned that sports and their venues are not significantly income gearing, such mega financing should not be promptly made for sporting purpose. Few warnings can place in this regard. Such as, although Pittsburg is the most famous hockey city, USA is experiencing the least popularity for the game while there is a chance of shifting the demand of hockey from other teams. Therefore, although this research has developed through various empirical findings, it is not a concrete feature of the overall community for some integral limitations.

Conclusion: So, the professional teams would not be bigger for justifying huge subsidies delivered to sporting arenas.

Article 168: Capital structure and team performance in professional baseball

Writer: O’Roark, J. B. (2001)

Introduction: Stadiums have used as initial principle by any team for showing their performance rather than other player contract with greater emphasize. As no sporting team had not been received relocation from 1971, the competitive movement of cities for attracting franchising and government funded stadiums are posing the relocation process under frightening point.

Purpose: Demonstration of impact of public possession of stadium’s negative impact on winning proposition.

Experimental method: The following has used:

Results: Here, a number of issues are being emphasized regardless the debate evolving an identification of political wheels, population size, socio- economic circumstances and depressing thoughts on ballot referendums. Increasingly, stadiums has constructed under government investment while team ownership tends to protect a newer one for keeping the team in towns by reserving the traditional branded capital to be developed within a specific region. At the same time, politicians can also contribute in assuring security from creating an overwhelming demand mixture. In a questioning state of private- public ownership, some analysts argued that privately owned stadiums would utilized for long- run as Wrigley Field and Dodger stadium. Conversely, for prevailing below 30 years, blueprints of modifying public infrastructure have criticized. Other specialists have idealized that because of investing capital ingredients in lieu of owners, the utilization depreciation would be higher apart from ownership observation. In 1996, a crisis regarding sound formulation had noticed for some American stadiums in New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburg, especially those have publicly owned. Finally, absence of proper ownership may also be resulted in higher ticket price. All of those issues put emphasize on a stadium’s effectiveness in team success but transformation of expenditure is another factor, which makes the utilization purpose more complicated for players. Thus, specialists feel that there is no superior off for a team, which is liable for generating more and more confusion. Ultimately, it can optimize that teams will sophisticate their performance under private ownership rather than public ones where a linkage between success and presence would spread the monetary opportunities of limited market groups. Various capital structures of stadiums can be enlisted as:

Conclusion: Since a city can be leveraged from extra revenues generated by stadiums, thus benefits should be a value of expense of a stadium that city.

Article 237: How long a honeymoon: The Effect of New Stadiums on Attendance in Major League Baseball

Writer: Clapp, C. M., & Hakes, J. K. (2005).

Introduction: According to a research work by Clapp and Hakes, 2005, a panel data had been used to measure the “honeymoon” impact of new playgrounds goes forward a qualitative analysis in terms of raising crowd by 32% to 37% at the starting year ranging from 1950 to 2002. Such presence only tends to gear up from sustaining levels for multifunctional stadiums twice in a year from 1960 to 1974 while 6 to 10 times for a latest ballparks.

Purpose: Assessing the “honeymoon” impact of a new stadium

Experimental method: Use of demand model for assessing baseball perspective as, Q = Q (p, z) which involves all ingredients contributing individual’s decision in attending baseball game. Here, a panel of database containing year ending statistics of baseball franchises from 1950 to 2002 had been used by implementing β, λ and γ for constructing the model in order to idealize stadium and franchise impact as below:

Results: Opposite to projected anticipation, there exists no constructive relationship between new stadiums and group performance in terms of presence or stadium profits, which indicates that a profitable group- proprietor would be reluctant of using a new venue of profit generation flow for enhancing the quality performance in sporting. Great American Ballpark is an example that can mentioned in this case. It has started in 2003 with a predicted expenditure of $297 million and endorsement of half- cent- per- dollar selling tax enhancement by local voters. So, the attendance influence can be displayed as:

Implementation if various measurement procedures of playground honeymoon, it can be pointed out that the age of considering stadiums would have positive relationship which lessen the importance ballpark times by illustrating a lower influence of honeymoon period. Such impact can shown as:

This diagram is helpful to have certain understanding regarding the level of projected presence followed by consequent years, which clarifies the team wining possibility over profit margin of targeted stadium. On the other hand, the significance of balancing demand for single- field achievement and ballparks can visualize as:

Although the analysis provides an inconsistent relationship between the noted variables, eventually, a new stadium would attract more crowds for both the tournament and enjoyment of internal amenities. Such factor would offer franchise proprietorship with upward revenues. Thus, an amortization of new stadium development or renovation over a long- run loan or bon would generate more cash flows that are positive, more incomes, and lower debt conditions.

Conclusion: The honeymoon effect contains an assessment of MLB attendance for a certain period to determine the role of a new stadium on playing performance. Such discussion also reveals the fact of stadium’s contribution in enhancing the overall quality of a tournament.

Article 124: Impact of stadium announcements on residential property values: Evidence from a natural experiment in Dallas- Fort Worth

Writer: Dehring, C. A., Depken, C. A. & Ward, M. R. (2006).

Introduction: To analyze the empirical evidence between these two factors, a study has conduced by considering National Football League’s Dallas Cowboy and surrounding area.

Purpose: Understanding the announcements of sporting arenas on housing assets.

Experimental method: For testing the declaration of stadiums on residential assets, pricing models, event study mechanism and difference- in- difference evaluators have been used while the 1 st one was estimated by age, size, quality, parking, timing etc. variables and 2 nd one for estimating core county versus regional comparison. Here, Dallas has used as Dummy County upon which the calculating equation is:

Results: It has found out that such property values have raised through an announcement of a local stadium. However, a negative trend had observed in Arlington and Texas with a 1.5% reduction recorded before actual commends. This figure is merely equal to the projected sales tax, which notifies the necessity of impact of average optimum facility of hosting the Arlington Cowboys’ less significance. So far, the project requires more investigation of altering codes to make efficient decision in Florida.

Conclusion: As the project has faced controversial effects, the entire issue should be analyzed more to reach at an exact decision.

Article 361: A note on the local economic impact of sports expenditures

Writer: Siegfried, J. & Zimbalist, A. (2002).

Introduction: Sporting expenses are topic of exclusive buyer substitution far from domestic expenses while they have to suffer from illegal leakages from local economy because of the tendency of players to export their income to the domestic of their stable housing.

Purpose: Assessment of a standard domestic economic influence multiplier embellishes the simulative impact of playgrounds by more than 400%.

Experimental method: Population study of specific zones along with public cost model to estimate the amount of total public subsidy for all sorts of sporting infrastructures with essential adjustments regarding public development cost, yearly public cost and other revenue with expenditure and inescapable tax revenues. Additionally, entire study has conducted by use of relevant multiplier. Time- series and cross- sectional analysis have also used to reach at a result.

Results: As governments fix a handsome budget for sports financing in stead direct funding, such investment should generate indirect returns to society for economic progress. Thus, evolvement into a new area would be ineffective with higher local expenses by leading a “beggar- my- neighbor” procedure by satisfying home politics are not for certain economists and there are 5% to 20% outsiders that would result as a greater leakages and more local income. The subsidization programs of sporting have sometimes conducted for boosting domestic economy determined by multiplier effect, consumer substitution, and potential leakages.

Conclusion: The overall discussion has discovered no significant influence of local expenditures on commercial sporting groups while huge punctures of sporting benefits never in recirculation of such economy.

Article 581: A stadium by any other name: The Value of Naming Rights

Writer: Leeds, M. E., Leeds, M. A. & Pistolet, I. (2007).

Introduction: Naming issue is concerned with a proof of less emphasize of naming on stadium profitability.

Purpose: Assessment of stadium naming.

Experimental method: Event- study analysis had been conducted to determine the consequence of exogenous occurrence on a single or group of organizational context involving identification of questioning issues, data collection and frequency mechanism and fundamental regression equation as:

Results: In search of an illustration of buying naming rights for company valuation, less positive impact has found out among 108 consequences, 54 had a fixed, 13 had 10% and 7 had 5% significance level while the sample companies were formal brick- and- mortar ones containing the following naming rights structure:

Such outcome has also incorporated with abnormal returns of 0.18% by introducing some other related factors:

While organizations declare of purchasing naming rights of sports clubs, it has explained as a knowledge investment with an inherent trust of visibility and profits. Therefore, making such deal is more beneficial to get financial return.

Conclusion: From 1990, commercial sporting groups have sold their naming obligation to gain personal benefits to private organizations. Although this is a controversial fact to many, it generally turns no enduring impact of revenues to the buying firms.

Article 183: The stadium game: Cities Versus Teams

Writer: Owen, J. G. (2003).

Introduction: The invisible fame of sporting groups cannot be overtaken by ticket selling and other financial profits. Therefore, the city size is an important variable here regarding subsidization program of government.

Purpose: Showing the profitability of cities without team subsidy setting upon the social value of that team

Experimental method : Contingent analysis of model based of mathematical equations.

Results: Team organizers try to enhance profits on degree of talents with a primary step of ticket charges. So the revenue function could expressed as:

Possibility involves an effective team performance better than others because of uncertainty of attendance do while higher talents would have lower or negative margin. However, problems may occur for containing bad groups and unequally matched plays for which tiny markets are imbalanced in terms of more looses while larger ones are enjoying that uncertainty at a beneficial temperament of wining. Government subsidies can act as resource allocation for a stadium, which makes it more expensive. If it assumes that such costs will be constant, it will not affix or improve the team performance. At the same time, barriers in stadium capability will be no significance. So, group wise profit enhancement problem is:

Subsidies would increase social value but alternative condition may also evolve in terms of different cities mostly clarified by free entrance of groups into leagues causing increased competition (Owen 2003). As noted earlier, formal revenue generation closely related with selling of tickets with a special concentration on leasing agreements with “gross ticket sales” erased or non- erased taxes along with group and league’s part leading a greater difference between actual and obtained revenues for stadiums. Concession income involves per capita earning from food and beverage availability in the stadium. Diversification should also consider in calculating revenue that is mostly observe for multi- purpose stadiums. Here, sporting tournaments enlist high school and college football, cricket, volleyball etc. while non- sporting usages are public meetings, fireworks and other public functions counting a major portion of projected revenue.

Today, maximum modern stadiums have developed for stadium club focusing local, national, and international community leaders, emphasizing greater assistance and attracting more clutter in association of various technological amenities (Badde 1994)

Conclusion: The stadium game focuses on model development for showing invisible benefits of stadiums contrasting a position of larger and smaller cities. Here, government is one of the major sources that make huge investment not only for public welfare infrastructure but also for amusement stadiums incurring a greater amount of public expenditure.

Article: Revenue generation from PSL and stadium authority: disposition of revenues from permanent seat license (PSLs)

Writer: Curran, J & McDonald, R. (2002)

Introduction: According to Esquire, 2002, permanent seat license is being used for accumulating finance in order to assist the establishment of new and renovated stadiums while the range of ticket of Baltimore football stadium is $500 to $5000.

Purpose: Legality and process view of PSL.

Experimental method: Empirical data and findings

Results: Imposition of several laws regarding PSL revenues, a team of legislative auditors would verify a report of the team’s expenses about PLS selling while the current forecasting of Stadium Authority has questioned by such auditing for lessening PLS revenues under certain legislation- 1995. Memorandum of Agreement and the Legislation of 1996 are two most relevant tools of law that have generally used to evaluate the charges paid to Stadium Authority for designing, developing and improving stadiums and forgoing spending fees. After estimating an average amount needs to accomplish the stadium construction costs, the team is required to spend PSL in lawful and restricted ways.

Conclusion: So, several laws and regulations are highly visible in sporting industries, which need to be appropriately implemented in stadium issues.

Article: The economic effects of sports stadiums and franchises direct relationship between economic growth and sports stadiums

Writer: Castronova, J. (2007).

Introduction: This part of the study will show how the sporting stadiums would integrate with economic development and growth factor.

Purpose: Assessing the economic effect of professional sporting stadiums and teams.

Experimental method: To understand the impact of sporting earnings on local economy, employment level has emphasized to develop FAJOBS model as:

Result: At a precise level, three economic theories can prove relative negativity of this issue in terms of substitution impact, outflows and reverse impact of domestic public budget. The first one introduced from the limited entertainment amount of people. Since they tend to put money here apart from other sectors, the net impact is zero and the single pave to improve it to attract new money through sporting franchise for example, the case of Boston Red Sox against Fenway Park. For leakages, stadiums often can not pass redevelopment tactics as MLB, NBA and NFL pay 50% salary to players and 40% to owners while less emphasize on stadium investment purpose. Finally, harmonizing with previous studies, stadiums pose a reverse impact on home budgets of government with net negative operating revenue. Such evidence can find out by studying 25 stadiums from 1978 to 1992 with $7 million loss.

Conclusion: Specific economic review incorporates an explanation of stadium effectiveness for both owners and boosters while at different parts of the entire study has shown economic feasibility, community perception and future modulation of sporting stadium contribution.

Article 628: Assessing the economic impact of college football games on local economies

Writer: Baade, R. A. Baumann, R. W. & Matheson, V. A. (2008)

Introduction: This fact will find out no statistical importance of college football games on hosting county’s economy incorporating the strategic vision of metropolitan areas and others.

Purpose: Assessing the economic influence of public sports on domestic economies

Experimental method: Two basic models have been uses as below:

Results: The construction and environmental effectiveness incorporate taking part of taxing groups through subsidization while it is essential of outstanding level of market backings that the domestic population would serve. Seattle can be mentioned as projected example where the level of present contractual mobility, possibility of emerging two to more football teams within 5 years and adequate expansion mode of baseball teams have made the place suitable to attract a huge number of spectators to the local stadiums. As we know that net income of a stadium depends on degree of attendance, such degree should measured by estimated population and individual income, image of team and social interest. For maximum West Coastal sporting markets, the stadium revenue is higher for greater intensity of those factors. Here, newer and older ones are affluent enough to incur larger portion of per capita income while football is scoring the top item to generate revenue. From macroeconomic viewpoint, stadium is the source of employing numerous part and full- time employees. It would also engage local sporting suppliers and utility providers in the regular value generating process. Such impact can also shown by maintaining export/ import balance not only for USA but also for the entire world. Through an assistance of various media vehicles including radio and television, stadiums can improve purchasing power parity and aggregate demand both at internal and external level. In addition, other activities involving boating, hunting, hiking, jumping, skiing, or even musical concerts could accomplished in a larger stadium although it is argued a lot. Many stadiums in the world are getting attention for long- run recreational benefits of people while those are not always effective for facilitating the major league’s participation (Badde, Baumann & Matheson 2008).

Conclusion: Finally, it concluded that any step to discern the impact of sports within large, diversified metropolitan areas could compared to probing for a needle in a haystack.

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• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 14). Sports Stadium for Team Organization and Community. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sports-stadium-for-team-organization-and-community/

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UC Berkeley’s Premier Undergraduate Economics Journal

The Economics of Sports Stadiums: Does public financing of sports stadiums create local economic growth, or just help billionaires improve their profit margin?

KARTHIK VEGESNA – APRIL 4, 2019

Sports fans can be irrational. To someone watching from the outside, fans’ behavior is puzzling: their fanatical, unwavering support, and emotional investment in their teams seem inexplicable. However, as an avid fan myself, I have realized that much of the true allure of sports is intangible. Rooting for your teams is largely based on where you live, and you derive a sense of belonging from being part of a community of irrational, borderline psychotic fans. However, professional sports are also a business. As such, team owners, most of whom are billionaires, profit off fans’ commitment by having local taxpayers foot the bill for stadiums that cost billions of dollars. This leads us to my primary question: is the economic impact of stadiums in local communities significant enough to warrant the entire community paying for it?

The reasoning behind public financing of stadiums is predicated upon a belief that new stadiums will create a significant impact on the local community through increased jobs in the short-run and increased spending through tourism over the long-run. The short-run impact can be significant, as seen with the Los Angeles Rams, whose new stadium in Inglewood is expected to “provide more than 3,500 on-site construction jobs in Inglewood and more than 10,000 jobs by the time it is completed.” However, many advocates of publicly-funded stadiums are banking on a “multiplier effect,” in which increased local income created through these construction jobs could lead to further spending, investment, and job creation, thereby creating a long-term benefit for the local economy. Another important reason why so many teams succeed in receiving public funding for stadiums is the threat of leaving and the corresponding dissatisfaction that residents have with the city after a team moves. For example, when Seattle refused to pay for a basketball stadium in the city, owner Clay Bennett decided to move the team to Oklahoma City, renaming his team from the Seattle Supersonics to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On that account, the idea of public financing is nuanced, but it is rooted on questionable economic ideals and intimidation of local residents.

Unfortunately, the subsidies have not created the local impact that they promised. To understand why, let’s consider the Atlanta Falcons’ new stadium, which cost $2 billion for construction—$700 million of which was paid by local taxpayers. While proponents may talk about a multiplier effect, several theoretical and empirical studies of local economic impact of stadiums have shown that beliefs that stadiums have an impact that matches the amount of money that residents pay are largely unfounded. The average stadium generates $145 million per year, but none of this revenue goes back into the community. As such, the prevalent idea among team owners of “socializing the costs and privatizing the profits” is harmful and unfair to people who are forced to pay for a stadium that will not help them.

Further, a study by Noll and Zimbalist on newly constructed subsidized stadiums shows that they have a very limited and possibly even negative local impact. This is because of the opportunity cost that goes into allocating a significant amount of money into a service like a stadium, rather than infrastructure or other community projects that would benefit locals. Spending $700 million in areas like education or housing could have long-term positive consequences with the potential for long-term increases in the standard of living and economic growth.

Additionally, it is important to consider that public financing is largely helping billionaires pay less for a service that they can afford. This dangerous precedent is an unnecessary privilege rather than a necessity. These sports teams are supported by successful owners who are capable of funding stadiums themselves. The owners will be compensated handsomely through the profits received through ticket sales, corporate advertising, and concessions over the next several decades. Public subsidies are an unfortunate power play used by these influential teams on local communities that are emotionally attached to sports teams, and a shift to making these projects private is going to be important moving forward.

Furthermore, stadium construction in college sports is indicative of the precedent in professional sports. College sports, especially in historic, blue-blood programs, can affect communities just as strongly as professional sports teams can. For example, the University of Alabama’s football program brought in $174 million in revenue in 2018, which is comparable to professional s ports teams. However, Alabama was funded entirely by the school, carefully racking up profits before deciding to invest in a new stadium. Starting something similar in professional sports could lead to a system of self-sustenance and owners considering stadium costs when deciding to purchase a new team.

Over the last thirty years, building sports stadiums has served as a profitable undertaking for large sports teams, at the expense of the general public. While there are some short-term benefits, the inescapable truth is that the economic impact of these projects on their communities is minimal, while they can be an obstacle to real development in local neighborhoods.

Featured Image Source: Los Angeles Rams

Disclaimer: The views published in this journal are those of the individual authors or speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of Berkeley Economic Review staff, the Undergraduate Economics Association, the UC Berkeley Economics Department and faculty,  or the University of California, Berkeley in general.

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6 thoughts on “the economics of sports stadiums: does public financing of sports stadiums create local economic growth, or just help billionaires improve their profit margin”.

Great article, our local council along with Govt aid is about to waste NZD 500 mio on one in Christchurch. I bet the users wont pay for the total cost and thus its a loser for the many who will never ever go to it. Upshot is higher rates for all homeowners

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Why Are Our Sports Stadiums Becoming More Like Roman Amphitheaters?

Today’s shift to status-based seating is an unwelcome return to the rigid social divides of an imperial age.

The Roman Amphitheater in Saintes, France, was built around the 1st century CE during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Photo courtesy of author.

by Edward Watts | July 18, 2022

More than 230 amphitheaters, among the largest and most memorable monuments left to us by the Romans, survive in cities from northern England to the banks of the Jordan River.  The Romans built amphitheaters for more than 500 years in a range of sizes—from a capacity of a few thousand to 50,000 in the Colosseum—using a variety of techniques. The amphitheater at Pompeii was built in the first century BCE by workers who excavated hillsides, placed terraced seating on the packed soil, and erected retaining walls to hold the rows of seats in place. The amphitheater in Bordeaux was built nearly 300 years later as a freestanding oval fashioned out of brick, concrete, and cut stone.

In every one of these diverse structures, the proximity of one’s seat to the arena floor corresponded to one’s social standing in the community. That method of letting status determine seating is having a rebirth today, and is more than just a symbol of an increasingly unequal society.

Back in Rome, inside the Colosseum for example, the emperor and empress had a box with its own entrance at the equivalent of the 50-yard line, across from the box where the most important priests and magistrates sat. Members of the Roman Senate sat in a section called the podium that abutted the boxes and enclosed the rest of the arena floor. Roman knights, the next most prestigious social group, took their places in the seats above the senators. Ordinary Roman citizens filled out a large middle section of seating that was subdivided into blocks reserved for soldiers, married men, and other distinct groups. Non-citizens sat in the upper deck. At the very top of the Colosseum stood shaded wooden bleachers used by women.

The spectators were intentionally segregated from higher- and lower-ranking people. Each person got a token indicating which of the 80 entryways they were to use. Senators walked through specific arcades to get to their seats, and they may even have accessed different toilets and drinking fountains. Other, smaller amphitheaters in the provinces forced the people sitting in the upper and lower sections to each use specially identified gates so that they could only take a stairway that led to the appropriate seating area.

Despite these rigid divisions, the Roman amphitheater was also a place that spoke to the promise of social mobility. Imperial Rome was by no means as dynamic a society as postwar America, but it was a place where a man sitting in the senatorial seats on the podium had earned his status through the offices he held or the service he rendered to the state and its leader. The amphitheater view could seduce Romans to believe that, if they excelled in a stratified society, they or their descendants could one day sit closer to the arena floor.

This wasn’t a hollow promise. Gaius Julius Rufus paid for the construction of a large amphitheater in the city of Lyons in the first century AD. Rufus was the grandson of a man who received Roman citizenship from Julius Caesar and the great-grandson of Epotsoviridius, a Celt with a mellifluous and decidedly non-Roman name. In three generations, Gaius Julius Rufus’s family moved from not being able to attend games at all to sitting in the best seats of an amphitheater that bore his name.

In the United States, the earliest sports arenas didn’t follow this stratified Roman practice. In 1914, Yale University opened the Yale Bowl, the nation’s first fully enclosed football stadium and, at that time, the world’s largest sports venue.  All spectators entered (and still enter) the Yale Bowl through a series of gates at ground level, which lead to tunnels that direct people to the middle of the seating area. Those with field level seats on the 50-yard line and those at the top of the upper deck enter together and share a similar experience. For over a century, every seat in the vast stadium has been a bleacher seat with an unobstructed view of the field. In 1912, Yale’s President Arthur Twining Hadley claimed he was “glad that Yale, in spite of its classical traditions, prefers the good old word ‘bowl’… to the ‘coliseum’ of the Romans.”

American sports stadiums embraced this democratic ethos for much of the rest of the 20th century. The Rose Bowl, built in 1923, also used exterior gates that emptied into the middle of a vast seating area. New York’s Shea Stadium, San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium, and the other multipurpose concrete donuts built in the 1960s and early 1970s had multiple tiers of seats, but fans in different sections entered through the same gates, moved freely through the concourses, and bought the same terrible food. If, like me, you went to Mets games in the early 1980s, you also regularly moved from cheap seats in the upper deck to box seats near the field as the home team fell farther behind.

Our stadiums are no longer built this way. Someone with a luxury suite ticket to an L.A. Clippers game now uses a separate entrance from a fan with a general admission ticket. They then take an elevator to an entirely different part of the arena with its own concessions, restrooms, and concourses. No matter the score, it is unthinkable for a Clippers fan to move from the upper deck to a suite.

The situation is even more extreme at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, site of the most recent Super Bowl. Like the Yale Bowl, SoFi is a 70,000-seat oval, but SoFi rigidly segregates its fans in the fashion of a Roman amphitheater. SoFi has 12 entry points. Eight are for general admission. The other four points are reserved for different grades of VIPs, who also enjoy their own reserved entrance gates and premium parking options.

Over a single generation, we have moved from sporting venues that encouraged interaction of all social and economic classes to Roman-style spaces that create rigid boundaries between spectators.

But Romans built stadiums in the same way they had constructed their society. Everyone in an amphitheater understood why they sat where they did. Their seat placement corresponded to their position in an explicitly and intensely stratified social hierarchy, with generally accepted rules determining people’s status.

In America, however, we now segregate groups of people watching the same event in the same building without determining whether that separation is consistent with the values around which we organize our public life.

Our failure to consider this question matters for two reasons. First, citizens in Oakland, Tampa, Washington, D.C., and Anaheim—where the socially stratified Honda Center sits across the parking lot from the mingling crowds of Angel Stadium—are now considering whether to spend public money on new stadiums. It is hard to imagine how taxpayers can justify paying for a structure that makes our society less cohesive and less democratic unless they also understand what offsetting social good such buildings advance.

Second, growing economic inequality may soon challenge Americans’ tolerance for the special access and privileges wealthy people receive when they attend a sporting event in a public building. If Americans can come to some sort of agreement about how we want to watch sports, we may again find a way to embrace the common principles that bind the people of a diverse country together.

Just like Romans did.

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Stadium Development in Sports

Introduction.

Around the world, stadiums have played a major role in the sports industry as avenues for recreation and entertainment for people. While on one hand, they cost much money to build, on the other hand, millions of revenues are collected depending on the publicity, attendance, and popularity of events or games that take place in them. In addition, various benefits such as job creation, elevation of a city’s pride, and status accrue from a stadium. Further, they represent the evolution of technology witnessed by advancement of engineering in the construction of state-of-the-art structures as compared to the past. Besides, both modern states and developing countries contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the sports industry which focuses on innovation, investment, and infrastructure realized through modern stadiums (Price). In addition, they have modernized marketing by showcasing sport through corporate support of various games broadcast on TV. Further, different competitors endorse fast-food companies of their choice, such as KFC, Burger King, and McDonald’s, thus utilizing sport in the stadium to offer ventures and products. This paper analyzes the development of the stadium, its origin, effectiveness, and impact on the hospitality industry.

The Background to the Development of Stadium

While different governments and kingdoms have evolved across the world, stadiums remain among structures whose origin correlates to the ancient Roman Empire, which was the original inventor of these ventures. This was an enclosure with a large space for exhibitions and athletics, which had an elaborate sitting area for fans or spectators. Also, stadia are derived from ‘stade’, a Greek word denoting a measurement unit of 180-185 meters called footraces where events took place. Besides, its origin is based on the mythological hero Hercules during the Roman Empire who through his exertion set the competition distance for athletes during the first Olympic Games. In 776 BC, the track length was set at six hundred feet, exceeding the early distance of 192 meters, which was unanimously accepted and referred to as ‘Stadion’ (Spampinato). Therefore, the first stadium was a rudimentary elongated “U” shaped athletics field in the VIII BC, comprising 192 and 32 meters in length and width respectively. For example, the Olympia stadium in Greece had a capacity of 45,000 people (Spampinato). Also, it had two entrances for judges and spectators who cheered and watched the athletes.

With time sport became very popular and as a result, many stadiums were built in different towns with similar dimensions and were used for chariot and horse-racing games. For instance, these structures can be found in Ephesus, Delphi, and Athens where the Panathenaic stadium was constructed in 331 BC (Gold and Gold). Consequently, it was rebuilt in 1896 for first festivals that were later known as Olympics. Further, it was renovated in 2004 when Greece held its international competitions.

Features of Stadium Development

The architectural design has undergone tremendous changes from the early structures to the present-day modern stadium. It started with the elongated “U” built through the excavating of tiers on level ground and sometimes along a slope. These were models by both the Romans and Greeks for the public, used for amphitheater and theatre performances. Started in the 5th century in Greece, the former comprised of basic cores, orchestra and scene (Spampinato). It was arranged in a semi-circular natural slope towards the performance site, scene, and beyond; to the surrounding landscape turning into the central and most integral part of the theatre. For example, the Epidaurus theater extended into the Peloponnesus mountains while Hellenistic Taormina reached the Etna area, thus showing how these structures shaped the landscape of their surroundings. The Roman amphitheater was built in the 1st century and it was different and modern as compared to the ones in Greece (Spampinato). All tiers were elevated and it consisted of superimposed rows that were in a raised level making spectators focus on the central area or arena during the fights of gladiators. Verona Arena, the Colosseum, Flavian, and Arles amphitheaters are some of the examples of the stadiums during ancient times. Although the transition from Greece to Rome did not lead to immediate changes, the introduction of the circus led to the evolution of sports and the origin of hippodrome and stadium during the 1st and 2nd centuries (Spampinato). The “U” in previous models was drawn but instead, its open side was closed. Also, the area for spectators was made of stones and the tiers made of wood were arranged in a slope. The tracks were separated by low central boulders and pillars at their exterior that showed the turning points. The circuses were built near the palace and did not only serve as sports grounds but also, were used for public festivities.

Build in the IV century during the Roman Empire, the Constantinople and Maxentius were among the largest stadiums in ancient history. These circuses were characterized by large dimensions that could accommodate crowds of more than 200,000 people (Spampinato). However, as time went by their original purposes lost meaning and they became avenues for public events. As a result, the importance of sports shifted and as Christianity started spreading, some games were banned as they were deemed as forms of paganism. For instance, Emperor Theodosius prohibited the competitions which were known as festivals in 394 A.D (Gold and Gold). This went on until the Renaissance period when the sport was reintroduced with the entry of modern football where teams consisted of 27 players without any rule.

Modern Stadiums

During the 19th century, the first football clubs and other sports federations were introduced. Combined with the industrial revolution in Europe, especially in Britain, football and rugby became popular in cities where populations had dramatically increased due to urbanization. As such, modern stadiums became part of public policy and financing through the engagement of the people on subsidy debates geared towards their construction (Kellison et al. 321). Therefore, there was a need for various municipalities and governments to construct facilities that could accommodate the large population of spectators. Consequently, the early structures were meant to host large crowds who could watch live events and there was no T.V or radio coverage. Tiers were of concrete with small areas for special people to sit as the majority of the spectators crammed into the embarkments standing. On the contrary, Britain became the first country to build a football facility that had rectilinear stands that ran parallel to the pitch which was modeled into a stadium for the Games of 1908 held in London. This structure had continuous tiers that were placed along the athletic track perimeter.

The Commercialization of Stadiums

From the 1950s to the 80s various disasters resulted in the stadiums, specifically in Britain. For instance, the 1989 Sheffield Hillsborough overcrowding mayhem, wooden stands fire, and violence from hooligans led to the death of many people as indicated in the Taylor Report (Sampson). This led to the UK government prioritizing spectators’ safety thereby introducing new measures to be adopted in all structures and they had to be all-seater. The recommendations from the Taylor Report were adopted by other European countries, thus leading to the modern, accessible, safe, and comfortable structures that attracted a diversified group of spectators (Sampson). As a result, a business opportunity arose and the sponsoring of these activities. Besides, the latest report by the Federation for International Football Association (FIFA) on European clubs’ player transfer reveals how soccer has become a lucrative business. Consequently, 7.35 billion USD was realized from the turn over, an increase of 5.8 percent compared to 2018 (Barros Filho et al. 1). Further, the football market in Europe for 2017/2018 reached 28.4 billion Euros. In addition, the football sector in Brazil contributed 0.72 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, translating to R$ 11 billion (Barros Filho et al.). In spite of the economic aspect of the teams, soccer spectating has remained one of the major entertainments and leisure activities in society. This can be realized against the background of better facilities and services offered to the clients by respective stadiums.

Current stadiums are flexible and are attune to commercial activities. These have become business ventures where specific modifications must be met during their construction (Kennedy and Kennedy). To exploit big crowds during sporting events, they have been built with sophisticated technology that comprises mobile roofs, playing fields, and stands that can be converted to the requirement of an event. Also, stadiums are designed to offer high lighting standards aimed at enhancing television broadcasting. As a result, this has led to sports’ popularity and promotion of the prestige of cities through the internet and TV adverts. People can view photos and unique features of stadiums, which are classified by sports bodies. Their architectural and technological designs remain the key features considered during the award to host international events.

There are many benefits that accrue from modern stadiums, especially in the developed states across the world. Kennedy and Kennedy give an example of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) as a body at the forefront of upgrading and modernizing stadiums to communal hubs, thus enhancing spectator experience during matchdays (95). Further, the introduction of surveillance and stewardship during games has increased security and safety which has boosted the popularity of sports. Also, the provision of catering services and modern accessible technology such as free WIFI has attracted more people from the non-sports communities (Kennedy and Kennedy). As a result, there is generation of more revenues from the sale of tickets, restaurants, and games coverage by media companies.

In addition, stadiums have led to easy accessibility to hospitality services such as food and accommodations, and other leisure activities during matchdays. The renovation and remodeling of stadiums Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain saw the new structures becoming avenues for fans to consume football brands as well as the image rejuvenation of both cities. Events packages and hospitality form part of the sources of revenues for the two clubs (Ginesta). Therefore, they improve the image of the cities and their popularity among the fans. Besides, the National Football League in the US has led to many benefits. While it has increased revenue, its popularity has led to 32 teams benefiting from equity derived from the perceptions of the consumers on the league’s brand name. For example, the Cowboys have secured multiple sponsorship deals with the Ford Centre, Nike, and the STAR running into hundreds of millions of dollars. This has enabled them to sell naming rights, thus contributing to their enormous revenues (Abreu and Spradley). This has enabled the teams to have bargaining power for funding of stadiums in host cities, thus increasing local revenue sources.

Stadium Development and Sports Business

The development of modern stadiums is a lucrative venture that forms an integral part of the sports business. Activities such as advertising campaigns and marketing are conducted in the stadiums. Many companies engage in promotions in numerous ways depending on the venue size and type of events. Further, they form avenues for reaching a mammoth of consumers where sports and beverage companies promote their brands. To generate profits and cover costs, many soccer clubs use stadiums to generate revenue, hence remaining competitive. They achieve this through the matchday sale of tickets, commercial and broadcasting rights (Silveira et al. 50). This is realized through the availability of a modern stadium with the latest technologies and other amenities to attract more people. Besides, there is a correlation between the venue, identification with the club, and loyalty by fans, which has an impact on sports consumer purchasing decisions (Silveira et al.). Combining all the aforementioned factors illustrates the role that stadiums play in the business of sports.

The Effectiveness of Stadium Development

While many countries display their advancement in architectural technology through the construction of various projects, modern stadiums have spurred tremendous economic growth across many cities in the world. To this end, their development has been effective in promoting sports. While highlighting the impact of the clubs in the UK Premier League due to good stadiums, Roberts et al. (575) asserts that they have become drivers of the local economy in their respective cities. Further, by using the example of Swansea City soccer club, they point out the regional economic impact of the team to be around 46 million Euros and the creation of 216 jobs (Roberts et al.). Moreover, stadiums development is effective in the fact that teams use the infrastructure to make investments aimed at its expansion and maintenance. Besides, during match days, local economies rise due to the revenues realized from sport-related activities such as tourism and tickets sale during the events.

The latest technology in modern stadiums has not only led to the development of the surrounding cities but also, the communities within. Conversely, due to the consumption of large amounts of energy by the venues, managements are changing to green energy as the environmentally safe sources. As a result, major football clubs in Europe have changed their power consumption by installing battery storage systems. For instance, the Arsenal club in the UK has embraced this technology, which provides an alternative to electricity to the surrounding region, generating revenue and supporting the country’s climate change goals (Price). It uses a lithium-ion battery charged by electricity to generate surplus power that is supplied to consumers and used in the stadium. Ajax FC in the Netherlands and the national team have embraced the technology that does not only provide energy but a back-up during games in case of a blackout. The batteries from Nissan are reusable, thus enhancing the car battery circular economy (Price). This development has been effective because due to unpredictable weather, renewable energy was not plausibly leading to the postponement of matches during such moments making broadcasting and other franchise lose money.

Another area where the development of stadiums has been effective is in sports brands and their influence on the behavior of consumers. As a result, game attendance is attached to the credibility of a team due to its label association or sponsorship. Besides, there is a relationship between clubs and leagues through brands. Therefore, decisions made by the management are tailored to retain and promote both team and individual brands (Kunkel et al. 317). Further, consumers who consists of spectators and fans remain the main target for investors in sports. For instance, in the US Major League Baseball, the 30 teams that compete have a brand value of over 24.3 billion dollars. However, individual franchises have their own contributions to the league. For example, Tampa Bay is valued at $485 million while the New York Yankees has $ 2.5 million (Kunkel et al.). This motivates the management to assist various teams to generate revenues, thus maintaining the relationship which is beneficial to both groups.

Reflections on the Impact of Stadiums on the Tourism Business in the Hospitality Industry

Stadiums have become the major contributors to the development of cities. They generate income from a range of sources such as sales, rent, and advertisements. Further, they impact the surrounding communities indirectly by offering employment opportunities in their restaurants, leisure parlors, and other training facilities. For instance, in South Africa, stadiums in Durban and Cape Town have contributed to the hospitality industry through their tourism efforts. The hosting of the World Cup in 2010 showcased the country and its wildlife as international newspapers and channels highlighted Durban and other areas like KwaZulu-Natal during the competition (Castellanos-García and Jose). In addition, in the attempt to use their stadiums optimally, Spanish clubs have ensured that events packages and hospitality activities are included during games at the venues. This has transformed the stadiums into business avenues commodities that spectators need tour guides to explore various areas and services offered (Ginesta). Therefore, modern stadiums are not only places for watching matches, but also, they are luxury avenues for visitors to explore and enjoy.

Conversely, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has negatively affected the industry, where bars, restaurants, and hotels around stadiums whose main source of revenue was match days’ traffic make losses. Therefore, the loss of spectators has not only led to decreased sales, but also, spillover effects such as loss of jobs and fewer tax collections by governments, thus leading to financial recession. As a result, I foresee a bleak future in the hospitality industry as the curfews are imposed and games are played in empty stadiums.

In conclusion, the development of stadiums from the ancient structures during the Roman Empire to the modern facilities which have become the sources of pride and prestige for many cities have undergone tremendous transformations. Further, benefits to spectators during match days such as free Wi-Fi, improvement of surveillance which has enhanced their security has led to the increase of the fans, thus generating more revenue. In addition, modern stadiums have enabled clubs to attract sponsorship from different brands and own TV rights. Besides, they have created jobs for many people who are employed to work at different facilities inside. On the contrary, the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 has destabilized their functions and as a result, job losses and lack of spectators have led to the dwindling of revenues.

Works Cited

Abreu, Marcos A., and Brandon D. Spradley. “The National Football League’s Brand and Stadium Opportunities.” The Sport Journal , 2016.

Barros Filho, Marcos A., et al. “The Influence of Service Quality on Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions of Football Spectators: A Study in Pernambuco Football.” Journal of Physical Education , vol. 32, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-12.

Castellanos-García, Pablo and Sánchez Santos, José. Public Sector and Professional Sport . Sports and Economics, FUNCAS, 2019.

Ginesta, Xavier. “The business of stadia: Maximizing the use of Spanish Football venues.” Tourism and Hospitality Research , vol. 17, no. 4, 2016, pp. 411-423.

Gold, John R., and Margaret M. Gold. Olympic Cities: City Agendas, Planning, and the World’s Games, 1896 – 2020 . Routledge, 2016.

Kellison, Timothy, et al. “Global Perspectives on Democracy and Public Stadium Finance.” Journal of Global Sport Management , vol. 5, no. 4, 2019, pp. 321-348.

Kennedy, Peter, and David Kennedy. Football in Neo-Liberal Times: A Marxist Perspective on the European Football Industry . Routledge, 2016.

Kunkel, Thilo, et al. “The Effect of League Brand on the Relationship Between the Team Brand and Behavioral Intentions: A Formative Approach Examining Brand Associations and Brand Relationships.” Journal of Sport Management , vol. 31, no. 4, 2017, pp. 317-332.

Price, Sam. “The Modern Stadium: A Hub for Sustainable Development – Sustainability Report.” Sustainability Report –The Inside Track on Sport Sustainability , 2019. Web.

Roberts, Annette, et al. “What is the Value of a Premier League Football Club to a Regional Economy?” European Sport Management Quarterly , vol. 16, no. 5, 2016, pp. 575-591.

Sampson, Mark. “The Transformation of Elite-Level Association Football in England, 1970 to the Present.” QMRO Home , 2017.

Silveira, Marcelo P., et al. “Factors Influencing Attendance at Stadiums and Arenas.” Marketing Intelligence & Planning , vol. 37, no. 1, 2019, pp. 50-65.

Spampinato, Angelo. “Architecture: Stadium History.” World Stadiums . Web.

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Page One Economics ®

The economics of subsidizing sports stadiums.

"The idea that sports is a catalyst for economic development just doesn't hold water."  —Robert Baade, sports economist

Professional sports give people pride and a sense of community. But who should pay for the stadiums? From 2008 to 2010, three NFL stadiums were built: the $710 million Lucas Oil Stadium for the Indianapolis Colts, the $1.1 billion AT&T Stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, and the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium for the New York Jets and Giants. 1 The newest NFL stadium is the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings (2016), of which $498 million was paid for by the state and city governments. 2 Of course, the controversy rests on the fact that any government subsidy for building a new stadium is funded by taxpayers.  

It's All About Spending

Proponents say that subsidizing sports stadiums is justified because of the economic impact it will have on the community. First, sports stadiums are huge construction projects. In fact, they are often compared to the medieval cathedral in their attempt to dominate the skyline and inspire civic pride. 3 And, like the cathedrals of old, they are expensive, massive building projects that require years of intensive labor. Proponents of a new stadium often laud the project's ability to generate new construction jobs. For example, the proposed stadium for the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California, was predicted to cost $3 billion and add 22,000 construction jobs to the economy of Los Angeles, California. 4  

Although construction jobs eventually disappear once a stadium is built, once the games begin, so does consumer spending. For example, more than 3.5 million people 5 saw the St. Louis Cardinals play at Busch Stadium in 2015 (the second-highest home game attendance in Major League Baseball that year). 6 Baseball fans who attend games also pay for parking, eat in restaurants, and buy food and drink at the ballpark. All that spending generates revenue and jobs for the local community. And, as those parking attendants, restaurant workers, and stadium workers spend their earnings, the money circulates again through the economy. Economists call this the multiplier effect, whereby one dollar of spending (by consumers, businesses, or government) creates more than one dollar in economic activity. The estimated economic impact of those millions of people who attended St. Louis Cardinals home games in 2015 was $343.9 million. 7  

A potential new stadium also holds the promise of new development taking root nearby. Such development might include new restaurants and bars as well as condominium and office space. As interest in the area grows, the value of existing commercial and residential property is likely to improve. In a similar vein, stadium construction can be proposed as an economic-development initiative by choosing to build in a blighted or underdeveloped area. The hope is that the new economic activity and increased traffic will lead to revitalization of that area. In addition, all the extra spending and income gets taxed when it is spent and earned and respent again. The tax revenue then offsets at least some of the cost of the subsidy. Finally, proponents often suggest that professional sports and new stadiums help build civic pride and can be beneficial marketing tools for the city's image as people around the country (and the world) watch games televised from the new stadium. In fact, many consider the presence of a professional sports team to be a status symbol and essential to being considered a first-tier city.

The Economist's View

In spite of all of these economic arguments, economists generally oppose subsidizing professional sports stadiums. When surveyed, 86 percent of economists agreed that "local and state governments in the U.S. should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises." 8 Perhaps economists just do not like sports? Actually, many economists love professional sports—including former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, an ardent Washington Nationals fan. 9 Rather, it is the provision of taxpayer money in the form of subsidies that economists generally oppose. In a 2017 poll, 83 percent of the economists surveyed agreed that "Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated." 10 In their book, Sports, Jobs, and Taxes , Roger Noll and Andrew Zimbalist present a comprehensive review of stadium investments. In all cases, they find a new sports facility to have extremely small (or negative) effects on overall economic activity and employment. Furthermore, they were unable to find any facilities that had a reasonable return on investment. 11 Sports economist Michael Leeds suggests that professional sports have very little economic impact, noting that a baseball team (with 81 regular-season home games per year) "has about the same impact on a community as a midsize department store." His research suggests that if every professional sports team in Chicago (including the Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks) were to suddenly disappear, the economic impact on Chicago would be a fraction of 1 percent. 12

Consider the Opportunity Costs

In their critique, most economists highlight an important pitfall when considering the economic impact of stadiums: the failure to include opportunity costs. The opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative when a decision is made; it is what is given up. In the case of sports stadiums, both "seen" and "unseen" economic activity should be considered. The unseen spending, however, tends to be overlooked. Consumer spending at a sports stadium is easy to see—it is obvious and measurable. What is unseen, however, is how consumers would spend their dollars otherwise. If they were not spending on sporting events, they would instead spend on museums, movies, concerts, theater, restaurants, and so on. Because consumers tend to have limited entertainment budgets, dollars spent at a new stadium would not be new spending but rather diverted spending.

Taxpayer money to subsidize a stadium also has opportunity costs. An economist might ask, "Of all the things my city could do with $500 million, is a sports stadium subsidy my best option?" Government can choose to spend taxpayer money on a variety of things: roads, bridges, airports, police, education, environmental improvements, parks, and walking paths, just to name a few—all of which have benefits for society. Economists often suggest options that increase productivity and see this spending as investment . For example, government spending on infrastructure (e.g., airports, highways, and bridges) could increase productivity because it reduces the cost (in time and money) of transporting goods and people from one place to another. 13 Second, spending on education is seen as a form of human capital investment. Human capital is the knowledge and skills that people obtain through education, experience, and training. The education that students receive in school and college (and further training and work experience) increases their productivity. Economists prefer these types of investment because increased productivity has the potential to increase the rate of economic growth and increase the standard of living .

Building sports stadiums has an impact on local economies. For that reason, many people support the use of government subsidies to help pay for stadiums. However, economists generally oppose such subsidies. They often stress that estimations of the economic impact of sports stadiums are exaggerated because they fail to recognize opportunity costs. Consumers who spend money on sporting events would likely spend the money on other forms of entertainment, which has a similar economic impact. Rather than subsidizing sports stadiums, governments could finance other projects such as infrastructure or education that have the potential to increase productivity and promote economic growth.

1 Hare, Erik. "Stadium Frenzy Ignores Economics." MintPress News , May 8, 2014; http://www.mintpressnews.com/stadium-frenzy-ignores-economics/190351/ . 

2 Roper, Eric. "Taxes to Pay for Now-Open U.S. Bank Stadium Rebound, Thanks to Gamblers." Star Tribune , July 22, 2016; http://www.startribune.com/taxes-to-pay-for-u-s-bank-stadium-rebound/387999002/ .

3 Schalter, Ty. "Why NFL Stadiums Are the Modern Day Cathedral." Bleacher Report , April 26, 2012. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1159057-why-nfl-stadiums-are-the-modern-day-cathedral . See also the following: Geisendorfer-Lindgren, Peter. "Stadiums, Cathedrals: Marks of Their Eras." Star Tribune , September 2, 2016; http://www.startribune.com/stadiums-cathedrals-marks-of-their-eras/392207411/ . McKenzie, Sheena. "Sports Stadium Architecture: Welcome the New Temples of Pleasure." CNN , January 20, 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/15/sport/sport-stadium-architecture/index.html?hpt=hp_c5 . 

4 Slowey, Kim. "Inglewood Mayor: Near-$3B Rams Stadium to Add 22K New Construction Jobs." Construction Drive , January 15, 2016; http://www.constructiondive.com/news/inglewood-mayor-near-3b-rams-stadium-to-add-22k-new-construction-jobs/412203/ . 

5 Cumulative attendance.

6 Kirn, Jacob. "Cardinals Playoff Games to Have Big Impact on Economy." St. Louis Business Journal , October 5, 2015.  http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2015/10/cardinals-playoff-games-to-have-big-impact-on.html . 

7 See footnote 6.

8 Whaples, Robert. "Do Economists Agree on Anything? Yes!" Economists' Voice , 2006, 3 (9), pp. 1-6. 

9 Steinberg, Dan. "Ben Bernanke Is a Huge Nats Fan." Washington Post , September 27, 2012; https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/ben-bernanke-is-a-huge-nats-fan/2012/09/27/964d483c-08ba-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_blog.html?utm_term=.3c929678c51d . 

10 Responses are weighted by each expert's confidence. See IGM Forum. "Sports Stadiums." January 31, 2017; http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/sports-stadiums .

11 Noll, Roger G. and Zimbalist, Andrew, eds. Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums . Brookings Institution Press, 1997.

12 Bergman, Ben. "The NFL in L.A.? Get Ready for Near Zero Economic Impact." KQED News, February 27, 2015; https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/02/27/new-nfl-team-unlikely-to-have-big-economic-impact-in-southern-california/ .

13 Miller, Matt and Bullard, James. "Bullard: Infrastructure Plan Could Boost Productivity" (video). Bloomberg.com, November 18, 2016; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-11-18/bullard-infrastructure-plan-could-boost-productivity .

© 2017, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.

Investment:  The purchase of physical capital goods (e.g., buildings, tools, and equipment) that are used to produce goods and services.

Standard of living:  A measure of the goods and services available to each person in a country; a measure of economic well-­being. Also known as per capita real GDP (gross domestic product).

Gross domestic product (GDP):  The total market value, expressed in dollars, of all final goods and services produced in an economy in a given year.

Productivity:  The ratio of output per worker per unit of time.

Subsidy:  A payment made by government to support a business or market. No good or service is provided in return for the payment.

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The Economic Impact of Sports Stadium Building Essay

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Economic relations at the micro and macro levels solve the problem of goods and services production, distribution, and consumption among the consumers. Various branches of a country’s economy are related and they have to cooperate for the benefits of whole society. However, in practice, there is no level welfare within a community. A sports market is closely connected with health, education, tourism, and construction spheres. The essay presents the analysis of the economic impact of sports stadium building. The benefits and disadvantages of such big investment projects are evaluated as well. Traits, main participants, and concerned persons of sports facilities and prognoses for market development are defined.

Do Sports Stadiums Benefit the Economy?

Economics studies the production, allocation, and consumption of deficient resources in relation with demands of a person, organizations, or governments. The macroeconomics is concerned with the interactions of the economy of the entire planet, and microeconomics applies to individuals of a particular community. There are different branches of the economy that are connected with one another. For example, the sphere of sports is related with tourism, fitness, and education and it can bring profits through the interrelation with these fields.

The purpose of the economic analysis is the business processes and its social, economic effectiveness together with ultimate financial results. Objective and subjective factors influence these processes through a system of economic activities and indices.

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Comprehensive analysis can increase the scientific validity of business plans, procedures, and standards during their development. Likewise, it is helpful in the overall evaluation of business plans implementation, the effectiveness of material and manpower resources usage and optimal management decisions monitoring. Consequently, the economy analysis is an important element of an enterprise management. The features of economic analysis are the detection and estimation of objective factors that characterize business, their hierarchy, and correlation. All events and processes in business are interrelated directly and indirectly. The positive analysis gives a description of the issue and explains it through the relations of causes and effects.

The national economy is divided into branches, and it receives revenues from producing goods and services for the local and foreign demands. The sports sector of both amateur and professional levels contributes to the state budget through stadium building, providing new work places, hotel reservation, food service, or transportation. However, building a sports stadium is sufficiently controversial project for investments and it depends on seasons, guest teams, and service for tourists. A common question exists in the professional sports: it receives public funds to build private facilities and promise significant financial benefits in return. However, in general, expenses are greater that the income.

Sports’ Impact on the Economy

The sports industry as a branch of the economy cannot be discussed only within one city or state. Of course, it influences microeconomics rates as it provides new jobs and raises the local revenue. This market links states and nations because of the tourism, transportation, or capital investments affecting the economy as a whole.

Thus, a number of advantages make the sports industry a sphere of profit. Thus, sports industry is an important sector of the economy and it has the tendency of growth within North America and the European Union. For example, in 2010, it contributed 20,3 billion euro to the English economy (AMION, 2013). The sports market provides the additional employment. Thus, 440,000 of jobs in England are provided by the sports sector. Likewise, it increases the connection within the neighboring states and cross the Atlantic as well. Countries that have lower income will develop the sports industry faster than countries with higher revenue, which leads to the economic balance (SpEA, 2012, p. 5). Moreover, athletics is related to others sectors like fitness and health consultancy, tourism (hotels, restaurants) and media entertainment. Owing to this connection, these niche sectors can benefit by supplying sports demands. For instance, the United Kingdom has a specialization at professional sports, Austria in tourism, and countries of Northern Europe emphasize on sports education (SpEA, 2012, p. 5).

Participation in different kinds of sport has individual and community advantages. Thus, a person can improve one’s health, increase the emotional well-being, and improve self-discipline and self-esteem (AMION, 2013). Moreover, interest in a sport among the young people can reduce crime and deviant behavior within the community. The popularization of walking and cycling can reduce the air pollution, which also benefits the environment. Volunteering has a significant effect not only on the economy (2,7 billion euro in 2011 in England) but also on the moral values together with national pride in sports achievements (AMION, 2013). Thus, athletic activity is beneficial at every level of society and it unites individuals and international organizations under common goals of health and entertainment. However, the sports market has to provide the high spending rates for contribution to the microeconomics. In reality, it only realigns money within a region.

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Sports Stadiums’ Effect on the Economy

A sports construction activity can be estimated with a help of economic theories. A modern free-market is based on the competition between producers; therefore, the better product will be in demand. Moreover, the local sports related goods and services production has more preferences because of employment, earnings, profits, or taxes. The attention has to be on the variety of products and services that a city or country can provide. Thus, it will reduce risks, dependence on import and increase the local economic indices.

The theory of the stadium benefits for a city characterizes the tax increase by ticket sales and business traffic. However, it requires approximately $200 million to build a new stadium (Schwartz, 2000). The ticket and related revenues are spent in cinemas and restaurants. The players rarely spend their salary in a city because they seldom live where they play. For more evidence of the little stadium advantage, it is worth to mention about the anticipation and real outcome. In the middle of the 1990s in Baltimore, Maryland, a new football stadium investments were $177 million and only $33 million of benefit; therefore, experts contrasted the sports subsidies (Gold, 2015).

The sport stadium is a big project that requires a large sum of investments and that has several types of economic impact. Thus, there are direct, indirect expenditures and psychological effects; still, it remains to be controversial project about the influence on the local economy. For example, the jobs in stadium service are mostly low waged and seasonal. However, 2000 craft workers were employed to build the $100 million stadium for the Chicago Cubs in Phoenix, Arizona (Rentilly, 2013). Opinions about the stadium advantages differ, but they mostly remain negative. Nevertheless, the professional sport can be interesting for the taxpayers who will pay for sports facilities to keep the home team in a city or take a new one for residence (Schwartz, 2000).

The government interest in sport-related constructions still increases. President Obama proposes the finance of stadiums between 2016 and 2015 by $542 from taxes (Gold, 2015). However, these projects have been provided by taxpayers and not by the team owners or sponsors who have funds. In other words, common citizens pay for the controversial projects that will give benefits for them mostly during seasons. A stadium will not function all the year round, and benefits do not compensate for its financing and maintenance. Therefore, teams interested only in earnings do not want to invest in such unprofitable business. Moreover, there is a competition between the cities for sport franchises, and every team wants a stadium only for themselves. Thus, there is no difference for the fans and spectators who will share the stadium. They simply want a comfortable place to view the game or support their favorite team.

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The Evaluation of the Stadium Investments

The United States public has financed 101 new facilities for sports over the last 20 years (Gordon, 2013). In the Hamilton County, Ohio, the budgets of the police and education were curtailed, and baseball and football stadiums for $805 million were built. In addition, one out of seven citizens of Hamilton County lives below a living minimum rate. Why are the unprofitable projects still financed by the government through the taxpayers? The politicians speak about public benefits; the team owners want their stadium that will increase the franchise cost. The local authorities subside finance of construction for keeping a team in its home city. However, this advance cannot hold it from leaving and the team uses a stadium mostly occasionally. The stadium becomes a private property; therefore, it has limits for access even though it is built with public money. However, people are so much engaged in athletics that they will pay for the team facilities despite infringement of other social spheres. Moreover, the city stadium increases the citizens’ pride and brings the national or international attention (Gordon, 2013). People are so much engaged to have the stadium for their team or attract the new players of monopoly league that they are willing to finance this controversial affair. The illusion that if a city builds a stadium that attracts popular sport teams still supports the promises of benefits in future. The filling of pride for a city and national attention are more attractive for people and they will eagerly pay to maintain new facility for entertainment.

In conclusion, a sports market is a fast growing and beneficial sector of local and international economy. It has the connection with various sectors contributing to the development of tourism, education, transportation, health care, employment, and construction. Experts have different opinions about the benefits that sports facilities, their construction, and reconstruction can provide; however, most of them are negative. Such big projects as stadiums and arenas that are mostly built on the public taxes become the teams’ property. The expenses on the building maintenance that give profits mostly occasionally are incomparably bigger than the sums of investments. The promises of employment increasing and tourists revenue for local economy have seasonal character and they are mainly exaggerated. Thus, only teams and their owners gain the preferences of the private stadium by increasing their franchise appeal. However, the sports facilities development by means of public funds does not lose pace, even despite the finance reduction of social and municipal expenses. Pride, attention from others, and desire for entertainment draw people to pay for such unprofitable projects for the community. The public remain indifference to governments’ changes and does not influence the decisions.

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Sport Facility: Football Stadiums As A Case Study Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Sports , Soccer , Safety , Stadium , American Sports , Football , Law , Security

Words: 1800

Published: 11/27/2021

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Introduction The stadiums are at the core facilities of the professional football or soccer game; these stadiums are the places where the action takes place, locations of the highs and lows of the game, and where history is created. Quality football stadiums are essential for the health and safety, comfort, and protection of the players, officials, fans, media and stadium staff. From the time of Rome and Ancient Greece, the stadium idea has advanced significantly to consider the necessary needs of an extensive range of sporting regulations. In about three decades ago, football stadiums were constructed for a number of sports such as athletics, however, modern designs emphasis on the specific requirements of the game (UEFA 2011). The stadium construction should enclose the pitch to maximize the comfort effect without affecting the safety of the involved people.

Football Stadiums Aspects

According to UEFA (2011) recommendations, football stadium design must concentrate on the necessity of creating people-friendly constructions that offer ultimate degrees of safety and comfort. In current sporting facilities comparisons, most football stadiums are considered as architectural emblems in most cities and have a huge influence on the neighboring infrastructure and communities (UEFA 2011). The stadiums aim to benefit the neighboring societies and intended as family-friendly target for football games and other sporting actions. They are created to capitalize on their profitable prospective, through integration of a broad variety of usages and facilities. For safety and health reasons, current stadium design employs the newest technological improvements to provide the preeminent potential facilities to match public expectations of improved match day experiences (UEFA 2011). In English game, the stadiums are one aspect that continues to deposit the regulations and makes other nations or football league envy of the intercontinental football society. Despite of league state, stadium capacity or occupancies; the manner in which the pitches of English football stadiums and clubs are run guarantees that multitude safety, convenience and comfort are globe level as standard (The FA n.d). Therefore, while eyes are glued on the players on the ground, it is the responsibility and the watchfulness of the personnel off the area of play that guarantees that the spectators across the nation enjoy the match in safety and convenience. The health and safety team ensures that safety management is identical, in spite of the capacity of any soccer ground. The principles of health and safety of football stadium in English world are commissioned by football organizations and implemented by a team of football safety experts (The FA n.d). For health and safety regulation, football commissions have stipulated that football stadiums must be constructed using quality material and resources of international standards. The construction is based on the local technical, international and legal set of laws applicable. In other regions, steel is the ideal choice for the major construction of the wall and body, while other nation’s strict fire policy or cost or availability prevent steel usage (UEFA 2011). UEFA (2011) recommended that all stadiums must have totally incorporated safety and protection responsible for the whole structure and its environments. It is fundamental that safety be core and responsible personnel must strategize complete aspects of safety of the venue (UEFA 2011). The most important aspects concerning to the proper management of health and safety in a stadium are structural safety, architectural design, fire safety and prevention, operational safety, and barriers of rival spectators (UEFA 2011).

Football Stadiums Key Health and Safety Regulations

Basic principles Regulations are projected to make planners of football events conscious of the responsibilities and duties before, throughout and after events concerning safety and defense at the sports ground (FIFA.com n.d). Safety management in football stadium was produced by the Football Licensing Authority (FLA). The FLA guidance recognizes and concludes jointly good performance on security personnel, management events, occasion organization and getting ready for complements, incidents and expands on the recommendation on safety administration in the safety at football pitches (The FA n.d). The Football Safety Officers Association (FSOA) role is based on improving security by giving out best action, improving and encouraging the function of security personnel within football and recurrently enhancements of their proficiency (The FA n.d). The stadium code of conduct shall contain provisions that help to reduce the risk of any spectator behaviour that may threaten safety, security or good order. If these provisions are violated, the offender(s) shall be punished in accordance with the host nation’s laws and subject to eviction and/or banning from stadiums (FIFA.com n.d). Successful stadium safety and security strikes the right balance between stadium design and stadium management. Guidance on new builds and stadium refurbishments can be found in the FIFA publication Football Stadiums– Technical Recommendations and Requirements, which should be used as a reference for all FIFA events together with the latest version of this document. The laws, regulations, ordinances and administrative directives in place for the construction and technical facilities of stadiums shall be respected (FIFA.com n.d). It is the responsibility of the stadium operator to make the safety of all those visiting the venue paramount (UEFA 2011). When it comes to contingency planning, there is no room for complacency. Access and exit to and from the seats, both in normal and emergency situations, needs to be carefully planned in consultation with the relevant specialist consultants and the local authorities. It is generally required that all seating complies with current safety regulations before stadium operating licences will be granted (UEFA 2011).

Stadium risk assessments and emergency plans

The stadium security of officer is responsible for the production of risk assessments for all matches including any ancillary activities, such as opening or award ceremonies. Input should be provided by local and, when required, national authorities and all relevant emergency services, such as fire, civil emergency and ambulance services (FIFA.com n.d). The local emergency services are required to prepare an emergency plan (also known as an emergency procedure plan or major incident plan) for dealing with any major incident occurring in or around the stadium. It is the responsibility of the senior national security advisor to ensure compliance with this requirement (FIFA.com n.d). The first aid and emergency services, police, stewards and fire service may be provided with rooms for their command centres. These rooms shall offer a view of the stands and – provided this is possible in the design of the stadium – other areas deemed to be of interest with regard to safety and security (FIFA 2008).

Entry to the stadium

This section describes the conditions of entry into the stadium by visitors and accredited persons. It should include the requirements of producing a valid ticket or accreditation and, where requested, proof of identity. Furthermore, stadium visitors and accredited persons must submit to searches and agree that access is limited to those areas of the stadium as specified on the ticket or accreditation (FIFA.com n.d).. Prohibited items: This section deals with all items that stadium visitors and accredited persons are not permitted to use, possess, hold or bring into the stadium. Prohibited items are loosely grouped into the following categories: any object applicable as weapon, illegal substances, items of racists, or xenophobic, animals, recording cameras and any objects affecting spectators view (FIFA.com n.d). Access to the stadium should be facilitated by an efficient network of routes for private transport, and if possible, by suitable links to public transport in the vicinity of the stadium (FIFA 2008).

Evacuation Routes

Emergency evacuation routes, one inside and one outside the stadium, must be agreed upon with the local security forces (police, stewards, fire service, first aid and emergency services). The external evacuation route shall have two lanes and be negotiable by vehicle (FIFA 2008).

Safety Barriers

Safety barriers are to be erected in the sectors of stadiums in which standing spectators are to be admitted. Partitions between the standing and seated areas and between the different sectors shall be used to prevent spectators from moving from one sector to another (FIFA 2008).

Personnel Safety

The match organisers must guarantee in cooperation with the local police authorities the safety of the participating teams and their officials – as well as the FIFA match officials – during their whole stay, from arrival to departure (FIFA 2008). A seat, not only more comfortable than standing for a full 90 minutes of play, also provides the spectator with territorial space and a zone of protection. It also serves as an important and strategic safety measure in that there can only be one valid ticket per allocated seat, and troublemakers can easier be identified through the assistance of CCTV (FIFA 2008). A team of stewards – consisting of male and female employees – must be deployed. These stewards must have reached the full legal age and be responsible adults. They should also have prior experience of the tasks allocated to stewards, particularly at football matches (FIFA 2008).

Necesities of the regulations

These regulations are intended to make all match organisers aware of their duties and responsibilities before, during and after matches. These regulations contain the safety measures that match organisers, associations and clubs must take to help to prevent crowd disturbances and to help to ensure a minimum of safety and order within the confines and vicinity of the stadium (FIFA 2008).. The regulations also detail the structural, technical, organisational and operational measures that must be carried out when a football match is hosted in a stadium. Match organisers, associations and clubs must take all reasonable measures necessary to ensure safety in and around the stadium. Associations and clubs are responsible for the behaviour of the persons entrusted with the organisation of matches (FIFA 2008).

Reference List

FIFA (2008). Safety Regulations. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/51/53/98/fifa_safety_regulations_en.pdf UEFA (n.d.). UEFA Guide to Quality Stadiums. Retrieved from http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/EuroExperience/competitions/General/01/74/38/69/1743869_DOWNLOAD.pdf FIFA.com (n.d.). FIFA Stadium Safety and Security Regulations. Retrieved from http://www.ffu.org.ua/files/ndocs_443.pdf The FA (n.d.). Rules & Governance: Stadium Safety. Retrieved from http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/more/stadium-safety

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Ranking the Five Biggest Sports Stadiums in Russia

No comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Sports

Russia has always been an incredibly passionate country that cares about how its athletes perform at major events. Between the Olympics, football, and other sports, Russians are always competing at the top end with sportsmen and sportswomen from Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world.

In recent years, Russia has made an effort to improve the aesthetics and capacity of its stadiums. While their venues do not match up to the huge NFL stadiums in the United States, there are many large venues in Russia as well. Below is a ranking of the five biggest sports stadiums in the country.

1. Luzhniki Stadium

The Luzhniki Stadium is the largest sporting venue in all of Russia. With a capacity of 81,000, the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex is also one of the nation’s oldest arenas.

Located in Moscow within the Luzhniki Olympics Complex, the stadium has hosted many famous sporting events in its history. This stadium was the venue for the UEFA Cup final in 1999, the UEFA Champions League Final in 2008, and other international sporting events.

During the 2018 World Cup, which took place in Russia, the Luzhniki was the host for seven matches, including the final. Several local teams use the stadium as their home venue, including main clubs from Moscow.

All of CSKA Moscow and Torpedo Moscow use the stadium for their home matches, including in the Russian league and in European competitions. On occasion, the stadium hosts non-sporting events like concerts.

2. Krestovsky Stadium (Gazprom Arena)

The Krestovsky Stadium is one of the newer sporting venues in Russia, as it was built in preparation for the 2018 World Cup that was held in the country. Featuring both a retractable roof and a retractable pitch, this St. Petersburg-based stadium is a true marvel of modern architecture.

A total capacity of almost 68,000, which can rise to 80,000 for concerts, makes the stadium the second-biggest sporting venue in Russia. That is why many matches take place at the Krestovsky Stadium, despite it being a relatively new venue.

The first game at this stadium was held in 2017 when FC Zenit St. Petersburg took on FC Ural. Veteran football star Branislav Ivanovic has the honor of scoring the first goal at the Krestovsky Stadium.

Significant matches in competitions such as the FIFA Confederations Cup, FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euros took place at this venue. The Krestovsky Stadium is also slated to host the 2022 UEFA Champions League final.

3. Volgograd Arena

Another football stadium, the Volgograd Arena is the third-largest sporting venue in the country. Located in the city of Volgograd, this ground was built on the site of the old Central Stadium.

A capacity of 45,500 means this ground can host some of the biggest capacity events in Russia. The Volgograd Arena was built in 2018 and hosted several matches in the 2018 World Cup.

Even though the stadium is an impressive architectural structure and the most modern sports facility in Volgograd, the Volgograd Arena does not get as much use as many Russians were expecting.

This stadium hosts games for the local Rotor Volgograd team, which does not have a significant reputation outside of Russia. Aside from Rotor Volgograd games, the stadium also hosts festivals, cultural events, and concerts.

4. Otkrytie Bank Arena

The Otkritie Bank Arena, also called the Spartak Stadium, is a ground with a capacity of about 45,500 situated in the North-Western part of Moscow. One of the most well known football teams in Russia, Spartak Moscow, plays its home matches here.

Built due to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Otkritie Bank Arena is a relatively new stadium. The first event at the ground took place in 2014, which was more than four years after the 200 million euro construction project to build the stadium began.

This stadium hosted matches during the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017, along with the FIFA World Cup in 2018. The round of 16 games between England and Colombia at the World Cup is the highest profile game hosted at this stadium.

Given the stadium is in a less densely populated part of Moscow, there is ample space outside the ground for fans to gather before and after matches. Spartak Moscow plays all its Russian league and European games at this ground, while other sporting, cultural, and musical events also take place here.

5. Ak Bars Arena (Kazan Arena)

Featuring the largest outside screen in the world, a capacity of over 45,000, and a sleek design, the Ak Bars Arena in Kazan is one of the most impressive new constructions in Russia.

Opened in 2013 to the tune of $450 million, the stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Universiade in 2013. The Kazan Arena was also selected for the 2017 Confederations Cup.

Not only is this stadium a top-class venue for sporting events, but it also hosts concerts, festive events, corporate events, and more. Visitors can enjoy highly-rated restaurants near the stadium, while tours of the Kazan Arena are available most weeks.

Football team Rubin Kazan, which has won two Russian championships in its history, plays its home matches at the Ak Bars Arena.

Watch a Russian Sports Game in Person

If you are a fan of soccer, you may watch games from the Russian league on television every now and then. While experiencing the matches in this way is a lot of fun, you cannot beat the experience of being there in person.

With so many incredible and high capacity stadiums, along with the improving quality of the Russian league, attending a game has never been easier. If you have the means, spending a few days in Russia is a wonderful way to spend your vacation.

Between the history of Moscow, the stunning architecture of St. Petersburg, and the passion of Russian sports fans inside the Luzhniki or Krestovsky stadiums, you are likely to have an experience you will never forget.

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Inside a new wave of sports stadium construction

 Professional sports teams from across the country have brought forth a series of new sports stadium proposals and requests for renovations. Some plans have faced pushback — but in Utah, support for plans to construct a new hockey arena is enticing the Arizona Coyotes to move to Utah from the desert state.   

The Coyotes arrived in Arizona in 1996 and called three arenas home, with the latest being the Arizona State University Mullet Stadium, the National Hockey League’s smallest arena. In 2023, the team lacked voter support to build an entertainment district in Tempe, leaving the team unsure about their future in the Grand Canyon State.  

Marc Ganis, the President of Sportscorp Limited, said it’s rare for a professional sports team to move from its existing market, but adds that the Coyotes have been a franchise with deep rooted problems and over the years they’ve struggled to find a permanent home.  

“I would expect that team to relocate, they've been at this for a very long time,” Ganis said. 

The news of the potential relocation announcement marked a dreadful reality for hockey fans and the growth of the sport among youth.  

“I think it would hurt hockey immensely here if they leave,” Steve Wright said. “I think it would still grow and thrive to a certain extent, but I think that growths going to be stifled.” 

 In late March, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed into law  SB 272  and  HB 562 . 

SB 272 helps build an NHL arena by allowing the city to raise sales tax to help provide funding towards the downtown sports facility.

The owner of the Utah Jazz has been trying to lure an NHL team. 

HB 562 would help revitalize Utah State Fairpark and provide $900 million for a new baseball stadium. The city does not currently have a Major League Baseball team.  

SEE MORE: Oakland A's to play in Sacramento before final move to Las Vegas

In the last ten years, at least 24 sports stadiums were built or renovated.  

“I think we're in, in the middle of a potential construction boom,” Smith College Economics Professor Andrew Zimbalist said.  

He said the first sports stadium wave happened in the 1950s, followed by the 1990s, and now the 2020s.  

“It should go on probably for the for the rest of this decade,” Zimbalist said. “All this is about is maximizing revenue for the team owner.” 

The Arizona Diamondbacks are seeking funding to repair Chase Field. The Major League Baseball team opened its doors in 1998 and is the fourth oldest park in the national league. 

The team released a statement to Scripps News.  

"Approaching its 30th year, Chase Field requires extensive upgrades for a modernized fan and player experience, encompassing renovations to infrastructure, public areas, and facilities to accommodate Major League Baseball as well as growing global events and concerts," the team wrote. "Our fans' affinity for Chase Field is one driving factor behind ownership’s willingness to invest hundreds of millions in stadium renovations and our dedication to continuing to work together with state, city, and county officials to secure a sustainable public/private solution well before our lease ends in 2027."

Last year , Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed off on a $500 million spending plan to repair and upgrade the Milwaukee Brewers stadium.  

In June of 2023, the Buffalo Bills  broke ground  on a new stadium and the Tennessee Titans followed in  February of this year .

SEE MORE: Sale of Baltimore Orioles unanimously approved by MLB owners

In December of 2023, voters approved a 1% sales tax over the next six years to build a new arena for the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s estimated to cost at least $900 million.   

In New York City, officials approved a plan for a $780 million soccer stadium. 

The Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox have proposed plans for a new stadium but have faced resistance. 

In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin  introduced a $2 billion plan  for a “world class entertainment district” to lure the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals. The proposal was killed by opposition.  

In Missouri, voters rejected a sales tax to help build a stadium for the Kansas City Royals and a renovation for the Chiefs. 

Whether the stadium is publicly or privately funded, Zimbalist said tax payers nearly always help foot the enormous construction tab.  

“Always it's the case that taxpayers are going to be paying for something, some part of it, but sometimes they pay for the lion's share and sometimes they pay a fairly modest proportion,” Zimbalist said.  

Several of the proposals brought forth by teams include futuristic designs, VIP sections, tech savvy stadiums, entertainment districts with shopping, restaurants, hotels, and gambling areas. While the designs can create excitement, Zimbalist highlights the importance of remaining realistic and ensuring the plans are possible, adding that the devil is in the details.  

“The plan itself could just be a wild dream,” Zimbalist said.   

The undertaking of stadium construction combined with recent trends of inflated construction costs can lead to additional expenses that exceed the estimated cost of the plan.  

“It used to be a lot cheaper to build sports facilities, you could build a really terrific sports facility 20, 25 years ago for $300 million, now that number is frankly closer to $3 billion,” Ganis said.  

While some sports fans support helping pay for a new stadium or arena some believe the owners should pay for the entire cost of a new sports facility.  

“I think it should be shared,” Wright said.  

“Leave the taxpayers out of this, owners, you guys got to figure this out,” Jake Jessup said.  

Sports teams pitching new proposals often tout the plan will help create jobs and attract new tourists, but Zimbalist warns that the economic impacts are limited.  

“Economic Research on the impact of stadiums and teams coming to a city suggests that the city should not count on there being increased revenues; it simply doesn't happen very often," he said.

According to Ganis and Zimbalist, the major winner of a new stadium are the players and the owners when scrutinizing finances.   

Michael MacCambridge, the author of The Big Time: How the 1970s Transformed Sports in America, argues that sometimes the value a team brings to a city and its fans is difficult to quantify.  

“I think that there is always an argument about what sort of value a baseball team or a football team brings to a community and the fact that it's hard to quantify financially doesn't mean that it isn't real,” MacCambridge, said.  

In Arizona, as Coyotes fans grapple with the new reality, many are chalking up the loss as one that’s going to hurt the growth of the sport.  

“A lot of the hockey programs out here are supported by the Coyotes to the extent that some of them are ex-players or even coaches,” Wright said.  

The Coyotes may be playing their last game on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.  

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Bulls, White Sox, Blackhawks reportedly near Stadium broadcast deal

Reinsdorf had been expected to make Stadium a player for broadcast rights.

Three Chicago sports teams are reportedly nearing a new broadcast rights deal with Stadium that could begin as soon as this fall.

NBC Sports Chicago currently holds the broadcast rights for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, but that deal expires in October.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday a deal with Stadium could be announced as soon as this week.

“The teams continue to have discussions and conversations about future broadcast plans and will have an announcement about those plans when appropriate,” White Sox senior vice president of communications Scott Reifert said (via the Sun-Times ).

https://twitter.com/JeffAgrest/status/1780029594449420504

The deal had been expected by many analysts, given White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf helped create Stadium in 2017, and acquired majority control in 2023 (however, he also owns a 50% stake in NBC Sports Chicago). The multiplatform sports network has its offices and studio in the United Center, home arena for the Bulls and Blackhawks.

According to the Sun-Times , Stadium would convert to a regional sports network. While Stadium has a streaming platform in place, it would require over-the-air broadcast partners to carry games.

Reinsdorf had been expected to make Stadium a player for broadcast rights given the current problems with the RSN business model. Diamond Sports Group, which operates 19 regional Bally Sports networks, filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Several NBC Sports regional networks have also lost broadcast rights deals, and NBCSCH could join that list this week.

Some analysts had speculated the expiration of the NBC Sports Chicago contract would help jump-start Stadium into the RSN world.

There’s a possibility the current NBC Sports Chicago contract could be extended six months, meaning the Stadium deal would take effect for the start of the 2025 MLB season.

Stadium made news last week when it signed a deal to stream games for the Savannah Bananas exhibition baseball team.

[ Chicago Sun Times ]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.

Jeff Pearlman: ‘Why does [Stephen A. Smith] have to have an opinion about everything?’

"Stop ****ing talking like you know, cause you actually don't know on this subject."

Philly radio host Glen Macnow announces retirement

"Now it's time to put down the headset."

Al Michaels says hockey is hardest sport to call

"Without question, hockey on radio is the hardest."

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The History of Moscow City

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In Latest Gambling Scandal, Some See Glimpse of Sports’ Future

The N.B.A. banned a player for life for betting on games, a practice some worry could become more prevalent with the rise of wagering on sports.

By Kevin Draper and Tania Ganguli

Bill Bradley, the basketball Hall of Famer and former United States senator known as a staunch opponent of legalized sports betting, was speaking about the topic back in January. But he might as well have been predicting the future.

“Well there hasn’t been a scandal, yet,” he said, discussing how professional sports have become ever more entwined with the gambling industry in recent years. “So the worst has been avoided, but all of the conditions are there for the untoward to occur.”

On Wednesday, the National Basketball Association confirmed the untoward had occurred, issuing a lifetime ban to Jontay Porter, a seldom-used backup forward for the Toronto Raptors. The league said Mr. Porter wagered money on his own team to lose, pretended to be hurt for betting purposes and shared confidential information with gamblers.

“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of N.B.A. competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport,” Adam Silver , the league’s commissioner, said in announcing Porter’s punishment.

There are those who worry that Porter is just the tip of the iceberg across American sports, and that unless everyone — leagues, players, unions, politicians, betting companies — gets together to prevent further betting scandals, the very viability of professional sports is at risk. The Porter case was all the more unsettling because it came just weeks after baseball’s biggest star, Shohei Ohtani , was connected to a gambling scandal when his longtime interpreter was accused of stealing millions of dollars from him to pay an illegal bookmaker.

“When sports lose the perception that they’re honest, their sport dies,” said Fay Vincent, the former Major League Baseball commissioner who played a key role in barring Pete Rose, the career hits leader, from the sport for life in the 1980s because he bet on his own team’s games.

Sports leagues and gambling companies argue that betting will take place whether or not the law allows it, so legalizing and regulating it protects the games by making it much easier to identify suspicious wagers. (Gambling on sports is now legal in 38 states.) That is what the N.B.A. said happened with Porter. Suspicious wagers on a game involving Porter were brought to the N.B.A.’s attention, according to the league, “by licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets.” A few weeks later he was gone from the sport.

Porter’s agent did not respond to a request for comment.

However, if not for the significant size of the bet, it is not clear that any actions by Porter would have been detected.

About 15 people in the N.B.A.’s offices and four or five lawyers are involved in the league’s efforts to educate players about its gambling policies, and to monitor and enforce those policies. The league has relationships with private organizations that monitor gambling, such as U.S. Integrity and Sportradar, as well as state gambling regulators and betting operators, all of whom can alert the league to suspicious activity that might involve players or other league or team personnel.

The N.B.A.’s investigation found that somebody associated with Porter bet $80,000 that, essentially, he would perform poorly in a game on March 20. These kind of wagers, known as prop bets, are not directly related to the outcome of the game. Instead they are wagers on specific in-game possibilities, like whether a player will score a certain number of points. Prop bets are often combined into a single wager called a parlay. Such bets have extremely low odds, but give high payoffs if successful.

Against the Sacramento Kings on March 20, Porter played just three minutes before leaving with what the team said was an illness. The $80,000 bet on his performance by his associate would have resulted in a $1.1 million payout if the suspicious activity hadn’t been detected, the league said.

There are few sportsbooks in the country that would even take an $80,000 bet on a prop parlay, let alone one involving a player like Porter.

The N.B.A. said its investigation also found that, from January through March, Porter placed “at least 13 bets on N.B.A. games using an associate’s online betting account.” Three of the bets were multigame parlays that involved Raptors games — he did not play in any of those games — and all were bets that the Raptors would lose.

Porter was a marginal player in the N.B.A., not necessarily the type who could be guaranteed to affect whether his team won or lost. But the individualized nature of many prop bets means more players are able to have a more direct impact on whether a wager is successful. The president of the N.C.A.A. has said that he would like to ban prop bets involving college athletes.

Mr. Vincent said he was not particularly confident that the current legal apparatus around sports gambling — consisting of different league regulations and varied state laws — combined with a public mostly excited to pull out their phones and bet $10 on a game, was an effective system to prevent or catch all problematic wagers. The N.B.A., like most professional leagues, has pushed for a federal law that would regulate all sports gambling in the United States, though that does not seem likely in the near term.

“I’m 85 years old so I won’t be around, but I don’t think the next 20 or 30 years is going to be a pretty story about gambling in the sports world because the money is going to be so enormous, and wherever the money is enormous the corruption follows,” he said.

The N.B.A. spends a lot of time educating its players on the rules around betting, especially the prohibition against wagering on basketball. The league does not allow the gambling companies it partners with to offer bets on its development league, the G-League, because it does not want to open up the possibility of players making less money than those in the N.B.A. being tempted to wager on their own sport. Last year, players in the National Football L eague and the National Hockey L eague were suspended for violating betting rules.

And yet Porter, who received these trainings and earned around $2.7 million in his N.B.A. career, which began in 2019 — and whose brother, Denver Nuggets wing Michael Porter Jr., will earn $33 million this season — still risked banishment.

Jontay Porter posted often on social media about trading stock options and cryptocurrencies, and co-founded a company to teach others to do the same. Devin Mills, a professor in Texas Tech University’s Department of Community, Family and Addiction Sciences, said it was not uncommon to see those interests overlapping with sports betting.

Mills said sports betting, similar to trading stock options and cryptocurrencies, was associated “with this kind of this characteristic where individuals study and really think they can beat the system because they know the game, they know the players, and there is some sort of trend analysis.”

Trading options, speculating on cryptocurrencies and betting on sports are all activities that can now be accomplished with a few clicks on a smartphone. They have all exploded in popularity in the last few years, especially with younger men who spend a lot of time online.

It is the crux of the problem for professional sports leagues, which encourage their fans to bet at the same time that they warn their players away from it.

“Do we have to help them identify an alternative activity to stimulate their mind and emotions, so they aren’t seeking the rush through betting?” Mills said.

Jenny Vrentas contributed reporting.

Kevin Draper writes about money, power and influence in sports, focusing on a range of topics, including workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct and doping. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected] . More about Kevin Draper

Tania Ganguli writes about money, power and influence in sports and how it impacts the broader culture. More about Tania Ganguli

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Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds  highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports.

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