Research Article Critque
Saturday, November 20th, 2010 | Assignments for TLEP 4830
Professional Sports Facilities, Franchises and Urban Economic Development Critique
Abstract: Accuracy of implications discussed regarding whether sports facilities create revenue for cities, as well as hundreds of jobs. Also covered is the justification as to whether or not sports facilities and franchises help out an urban area, financially or internally.
In the article titled Professional Sports Facilities, Franchises and Urban Economic Development, written by Dennis Coates and Brad R. Humphreys, the two authors argue that the buzz around sports facilities generating revenue, has actually never been proven. They also suggest that many urban area sport facilities lose money as opposed to generating revenue.
Now, in the beginning of the article the authors seem to have valid points, suggesting that facilities are costing millions of dollars to construct and are need of replacement every 20-30 years. They also talk about how the majority of the budget comes from the public sector, not private like many believe. It was not until the middle to end of the article that I believed that Coates and Humphreys’ were beginning to scrounge for possible reasons or answers to why sports facilities may not draw in revenue.
They began speaking about how consumers, after the sports facility has been constructed, are now spending their money on tickets and food at sports games and not at other entertainment hot spots in the area, as they would have normally. I agree that if a sport facility is built that consumers will spend their money of different types of entertainment, but to me this is how business works, it is not a loss of economic revenue. I don’t care what type of facility is built, gym, restaurant, daycare, car wash, all facilities built will, at least for a moment, cause visitors and residents to change their spending habits. Coates and Humphrey also suggest that when it comes to working, those in the sports facility will spend less time being productive at work because they are too busy watching and discussing the game. Since no research has currently been done on such a topic, I will continue to believe this as being false. In my opinion the same amount of work would be done at a sports facility as there would be at any other establishment. The most ridiculous argument that I feel the two authors made was stating that the cost of subsidizing the facility may come at the expense of other public workers, meaning fewer police men and firefighters on the street. They even went on to state that it could all result in a weaker education system, lower productivity and lower incomes! While many of the points brought up I felt were valid, such as the large amounts of money it takes to build the facilities, many points I also felt were just absurd. In many topics the authors even admitted to their not being any scientific studies to prove their statements, such as their being less work productivity and a higher cost of subsidizing the facility. Many times I felt the authors were trying too hard to find areas that supported their theory of the negative impacts of sports facilities.
Also discussed within the article was the issue of mega events, Olympics, Super Bowls, and so on. On this subject I definitely agreed with the authors fully, for the first time. They too had mixed feelings as to whether the events were positive and beneficial financially. It was concluded that employment and financials rise briefly, but the aftermath for say the Olympics, is very wary. It is up to the city to decide how it will handle the mass crowd, followed by a large amount of buildings left empty, so in the end it is suggested that positive economic benefits are going to be weak.
Overall I felt the article was definitely well written and had many strong points. Though I did not agree with all the suggestions made I still feel it is a strong article and I would suggest it to others who are interested. One area I wish would have been focused on more by the authors would have been the sense of pride that comes to the community while having a sports team in the area.