The Benefits Of Publicly Funded Stadiums

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Publicly funded stadiums have been a hot topic of discussion in recent years. With the costs of arena construction increasing across all sports except the National Hockey League, the major questions concerning this issue seem to revolve around whether a publicly funded stadium is a good investment for a city or not. Most of the literature and research into the matter seems to suggest that it is not.

However in some cases, civically funded stadiums or arena construction can be a wise investment for certain areas. A situation where this would be the case is when a stadium is built in an area where it has the potential to or a strong likelihood of revitalizing the surrounding neighborhoods. Baltimore, Maryland for example. The building of the Baltimore Orioles new stadium led to the revitalization of the area around the ballpark and the waterfront. New businesses such as restaurants and shops flocked to these areas, which brought new jobs and revenue into the city. Additionally, the newly revitalized areas helped to increase tourism to the city (the waterfront area …show more content…

For example, several years ago a stadium was built in Chester, PA for the Philadelphia Union. The stadium was to be the starting point of a major renaissance for the city of Chester. Flash-forward to the present and little to no progress has been made. A new team training facility is being built but that brings little benefit to the local community. The stadium has failed to bring in the new businesses that were expected. This could occur for a number of reasons, lack of public interest in the team, poor team performance or simply poor planning on the city government’s part. So, while there are some situations where civically funded stadiums can be successful, city leaders need to carefully plan and prepare to avoid results that ultimately become detrimental to the

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