In the Continued Pursuit of Stadium Initiatives Following Past Failures: An Analysis of the Los Angeles Farmers Field Proposal

Superficially, it appears paradoxical that the city of Los Angeles does not have a National Football League (NFL) franchise, especially considering the city’s status as the second-largest media market in the United States. Currently, the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is leading a proposal for a new, state-of-the-art, 68,000-seat outdoor football stadium in downtown Los Angeles, along with a significant renovation of the neighboring convention center, in order to return the NFL to the city. According to official documents, the $1.2-billion project would be financed completely through private investment (Pamer & Healy, 2012). In addition to the familiar criticisms aimed at nearly every major sports facility proposal, pro-stadium officials must disassociate the present plan from past Los Angeles football endeavors. In this study, we analyzed AEG’s organizational perception management strategies through a content analysis of the proposed stadium’s official website and authorized social media outlets. Four primary themes emerged from an analysis of website social media communications. These themes represent AEG’s primary communicative objectives and include: legitimating the project; educating citizens about the project; connecting to Angelenos; and calling potential advocates of the plan into action. Implications of this study and directions for future research are provided

Civic Paternalism in Political Policymaking: The Justification for No-Vote Stadium Subsidies

Direct democracy practices such as initiatives and referenda are increasingly ignored or circumvented by political leaders who allocate subsidies toward new professional sport stadium developments. In a democracy, such a means of governing may be problematic if the outcome is unreflective of the public will. The existing literature makes several theoretical connections for this line of political decision-making, including urban growth machines and trustee–delegate representation. In this paper, these concepts are integrated with empirical evidence to support the conceptualization of civic paternalism, a term that provides partial description of the political decision-making process. Civic paternalists justify their decisions by arguing that a city’s continued vibrancy and growth optimize community benefit while remaining acutely aware of their decisions’ political consequences. We illustrate the concept of civic paternalism by drawing from interviews with political leaders associated with one of the most recent cases of the no-vote subsidy

What is the Value of Public Goods Generated by a National Football League Team: A CVM Approach

Using the Contingent Valuation Method, this paper estimates the value of public goods the National Football League’s Jaguars produce for Jacksonville, Florida, including the value of elevating Jacksonville to major league status. It also estimates the incremental value of public goods potentially produced by a National Basketball Association team in Jacksonville. The present value of public goods created by the Jaguars is $25 million or less, far below subsidies provided to attract the Jaguars. For a basketball team, the figure is less than$12.7 million. Sports public goods probably cannot justify the large public expenditures on stadiums and arenas.

Fan Mobilization and the Minnesota Sport Stadium Campaign

As state and local government subsidies to professional sport organizations have increased over the past three decades, economic arguments have been crafted to justify these subsidies such as Crompton’s (2004) claims of increased community visibility, enhanced community image, stimulation of other development, and psychic income. The purpose of this study was to examine the public relations strategy of a professional sport organization campaigning to secure public funding for a new stadium. Specifically, authors focused on the use of press releases by the Minnesota Vikings, a National Football League team, over the three seasons preceding the completion of their successful sport stadium campaign. The authors identified the arguments made by the team to garner support for the stadium plan during the Vikings’ campaign. Using a qualitative research method, 71 press releases were collected, examined, and coded by investigators. Findings were discussed to provide insight into these four alternative justification arguments

Global Perspectives on Democracy and Public Stadium Finance

Arenas, ballparks, and stadiums built for professional sports teams or mega-events all around the world often come with large public costs. In democratic states, citizens are assumed to have a role in public policymaking, but previous research suggests the strength of this role can vary case-to-case. To examine the incidence of public stadium finance and public participation across the geopolitical landscape, a collective case study was employed and organized into regime type (i.e., full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, authoritarian regimes). The results of the study show clear contrasts in the financing mechanisms within and between regime types. Additionally, each case-study grouping contained examples of citizen-led public participation, though the efficacy of these democratic actions is questionable. This review complements the growing literature on public policy and stadium finance by assessing public engagement in current stadium-subsidy debates around the world

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology