Live + Work + Play: Engaging and Revitalizing the Broader Urban Community Through Sport

As most professional sports leagues continue moving towards a minor league model in an effort to develop athletes right out of high school as opposed to drafting players from the college ranks, the question of where these new developmental league teams will hold games opens the door for smaller market cities to land the stadiums where these teams will compete. If cities are to make a bid for a developmental league team, the tax payers should see a return on their investment in any stadium or practice facilities that are constructed. Given the reality that sports stadiums are largely taxpayer funded, how can stadiums be conceptualized to blur the line between public and private space giving citizens maximum accessibility and utilization of the stadium so the city can see a return on its investment? In order to provide a monetary return on the taxpayer investment and benefit the local community, these future sporting venues and accompanying facilities should be intentionally designed to engage the broader community throughout the year and serve as a catalyst for urban growth and economic development within its surrounding neighborhood. These multi-purpose sports complexes would feature a more accessible design allowing the stadium and surrounding landscape to become utilized year-round by both the developmental league team and the broader community. This design will not only consider the needs of the sports team, but also the surrounding community. This design will hopefully become a blueprint for major professional sports venues moving forward

Sport Stadiums and Environmental Justice

This book explores the local environmental impact of sports stadiums, and how that impact can disproportionately affect communities of color. Offering a series of review articles and global case studies, it illustrates what happens when sport organizations and other public and private stakeholders fail to factor environmental justice into their planning and operations processes. It opens with an historical account of environmental justice research and of research into sport and the natural environment. It then offers a series of case studies from around the world, including the United States, Canada, Kenya, South Africa, and Taiwan. These case studies are organized around key elements of environmental justice such as water and air pollution, displacement and gentrification, soil contamination, and transportation accessibility. They illustrate how major sports stadiums have contributed positively or negatively (or both) to the environmental health of the compact neighborhoods that surround them, to citizens’ quality of life, and in particular to communities that have historically been subjected to unjust and inequitable environmental policy. Placing the issue of environmental justice front and center leads to a more complete understanding of the relationship between stadiums, the natural environment, and urban communities. Presenting new research with important implications for practice, this book is vital reading for anybody working in sport management, venue management, mega-event planning, environmental studies, sociology, geography, and urban and regional planning

Sport Stadiums and Environmental Justice

This book explores the local environmental impact of sports stadiums, and how that impact can disproportionately affect communities of color. Offering a series of review articles and global case studies, it illustrates what happens when sport organizations and other public and private stakeholders fail to factor environmental justice into their planning and operations processes. It opens with an historical account of environmental justice research and of research into sport and the natural environment. It then offers a series of case studies from around the world, including the United States, Canada, Kenya, South Africa, and Taiwan. These case studies are organized around key elements of environmental justice such as water and air pollution, displacement and gentrification, soil contamination, and transportation accessibility. They illustrate how major sports stadiums have contributed positively or negatively (or both) to the environmental health of the compact neighborhoods that surround them, to citizens’ quality of life, and in particular to communities that have historically been subjected to unjust and inequitable environmental policy. Placing the issue of environmental justice front and center leads to a more complete understanding of the relationship between stadiums, the natural environment, and urban communities. Presenting new research with important implications for practice, this book is vital reading for anybody working in sport management, venue management, mega-event planning, environmental studies, sociology, geography, and urban and regional planning

Stadiums and sports entertainment districts on the landscape : an urban sports-anchored entertainment development model

With sports stadiums being built at an incredible rate, particularly since the 1990s, the need to examine how these facilities (and the development around them) impact cities is crucial to understanding changing urban landscapes. By creating a two-dimensional spatial model of all Major League Baseball stadiums and their surrounding entertainment districts built since 1992, I assess what components these ballparks share and what sort of development is common between them. Additionally, I apply this spatial model to two Major League Baseball stadium case studies, Petco Park in San Diego, and Busch Stadium III in St. Louis to determine the accuracy of the model. Finally, I investigate a third stadium, the English Premier League's (soccer) Tottenham Hotspurs still-in-construction stadium, to assess the international and multi-sport validity of my model. For each case study site, I sought common themes in their public promotion, including whether gentrification (or any of its various synonyms) was encouraged by their respective projects. This is done by reviewing government and planning documents related to development plans, media reports, and any historic or contemporary imagery publicly available. The purpose of this research is to create a model capable of explaining how new stadiums and sports-anchored entertainment districts are situated within urban landscapes and to address how gentrification plays a key role in shaping American and global cities.Includes bibliographical reference

Mobility and land-use system in the sport mega-events. The case of the Cagliari stadium (Sardinia, Italy)

The evaluation of the mobility of the Sport infrastructures associated with Mega Events (SMEs), as football stadiums, and, in particular, the modal choices adopted by participants, are the focus of this study. Mobility, geographical aspects and urban planning that characterize a city hosting the SME are the main fields of investigation. In particular, in Italy there is a limited collaborative convergence among technical and scientific principles and the rules expressed by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), to which an obsolete regulation for the accessibility of sports facilities refers. The progressive awareness of the communities on the fundamental role of sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, reduction of air pollution, also deriving from the impulse of the 2030 objectives, highlights how it is illusory to think of reaching them without gradual changes in the lifestyle of the communities themselves through political rules of urban development. Furthermore, the pandemic and the recent energy crisis highlighted the need to develop integrated systems - considering geographical, urban and regional planning, transport and mobility issues capable of innovating to improve planning activities and the quality of urban life

Mega-Events and Housing Costs: Raising the Rent while Raising the Roof?

This paper examines the relationship between hosting mega-events such as the Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup and rental housing prices in host cities. If mega-events are amenities for local residents, then rental housing prices can serve as a proxy for estimating residents’ willingness to pay for these amenities. An analysis of rental prices in a panel of American cities from 1993-2005 fails to find a consistent impact of mega-events on rental prices. When controls are placed on the regression models to account for nationwide annual fluctuations in rental prices, mega-events generally exhibit little impact on rental prices in cities as a whole and are as likely to reduce rental prices as increase them. Somewhat stronger evidence exists, however, that mega-events affect rental prices outside of the center city in a fundamentally different manner than in the city core.sports, stadiums, franchises, impact analysis, mega-event, housing

Mega Sporting Events – ‘A double edged sword’

Mega sporting events are beginning to be hosted more frequently in ‘developing’ countries. They are often portrayed by leading politicians from these countries to be a major turning point in development. However, they can negatively impact some vulnerable members of society. This thesis analyses how mega sporting events impact the development of vulnerable communities in host cities and evaluates whether they foster a sustainable path to development.There are three main stages to the thesis. Firstly, an assessment of a less economically developed host city – Rio de Janeiro is conducted. Then examples of more economically developed host cities – Cardiff and London are assessed. Finally, a comparison is then made of the impact of mega sporting events on the case studies showing similarities and differences. The thesis adopts the approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis. It analyses the phenomena of mega sporting events and how vulnerable communities experience the processes of pacification, exclusion and gentrification that were used by local authorities in cities when mega sporting events were hosted.The thesis argues that although mega sporting events are often believed to provide some positive economic boost, the economic impacts of the mega sporting events particularly in developing countries are often damaging. The social impact on development by mega sporting events is also felt far worse by vulnerable communities who are often excluded totally by the events and see their rights and capabilities impacted. The thesis concludes that mega sporting events at present do not foster sustainable paths to development for developing countries. In order for them to be less damaging to vulnerable communities in host cities, principles from the capabilities and rights based approach need to be respected by local authorities, whilst organisations such as FIFA and the IOC should be required to stop prioritising their own financial gain at the expense of these communities

Minor League Metropolis: Urban Redevelopment Surrounding Minor League Baseball Stadiums

Special Activity Generators have been a policy popular with governments across the country seeking to revitalize lethargic downtowns. Sports facilities, a widespread form of Special Activity Generators, have been shown to be incapable of generating regional economic benefits, but are able to generate urban redevelopment. While sports facilities are well studied by academics, minor league stadiums have not been the focus of significant research despite the larger number of such projects. My dissertation uses a sequential explanatory mixed methodology to answer whether minor league baseball stadiums are successful as Special Activity Generators. I first use a quantitative analysis of sixteen stadiums built around the year 2000 which finds a significant effect of the stadium on nearby neighborhoods in comparison to the rest of the city. However, that growth is created by concentrating redevelopment, not creating unique activity. Two case studies clarify that the stadiums were critical to the observed redevelopment efforts, but also that there is a need for thorough planning and collocated amenities prior to construction in order to maximize the results from the public investment

What is event led regeneration? Are we confusing terminology or will London 2012 be the first Games to truly benefit the local existing population?

The term regeneration means keeping the locality available for the same social classes and improving the infrastructure for their benefit, however examination of previous games including Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 has shown evidence of renaissance, referring to ‘upgrading’ the social structure of the area. The property prices in both cities rose as a result of the hosting of the games for both home owners and renters thus changing the social structure of the areas in questions. This term, renaissance, was used by Mace et al, (2007) in their paper about the urban changes to east Manchester. A further term called social rejuvenation is more appropriate because it implies an intervention in the continuing decline of as area without specifying for whom the improvements are intended thus allowing the market forces to determine the social makeup, and therefore avoiding accusations of letting the locals down through unfulfilled promises. This paper examines in detail both Sydney 2000 and Barcelona 1996 Olympic Games organisers’ strategies in developing their cities in order to host their respective games and in doing so the effects these plans had on the demographic structure of the local populations. Lessons learned are then made into recommendations for London 2012 where already communities are being displaced and the social structure is in danger of changing, with the promised ‘regeneration’ of East London (ODA, 2005) therefore never materialising