New Sports Stadiums, Community Self-Esteem, and Community Collective Conscience

Abstract

Sports economists have created a sizable literature on the costs and benefits of publicly funded major-league sports stadiums. This research suggests a growing consensus that stadiums provide little economic advantage for local communities. In response, some stadium supporters have modified their tactics to increasingly avoid claims of tangible economic benefits. Instead, they insist that new stadiums offer communities more intangible social benefits. These alleged intangible benefits can take many specific forms but usually have something to do with a community’s self esteem or its collective conscience. This article draws on the authors’ primary research in 10 U.S. cities that are involved in different stages of new stadium construction. The authors demonstrate how local elites socially construct ideas such as community self-esteem and community collective conscience to help them reap large amounts of public dollars for their private stadiums.

The Economic Impact and Civic Pride Effects of Sports Teams and Mega‐Events: Do The Public and the Professionals Agree?

“…Eckstein and Delaney (2002) suggest that local elites, in order to gain public support, promote ideas such as community self-esteem and community collective conscience to help them reap large amounts of public subsidy for their private stadiums. For instance, since 1995 over 100 sports facilities have opened in the United States, with the majority receiving direct public funding.…”

“…The owners of sports teams justify public funding by arguing that sports teams (a) generate a local economic impact by creating jobs and by increasing local incomes, and (b) provide civic pride and intangible benefits to the host community. Eckstein and Delaney (2002) suggest that local elites, in order to gain public support, promote ideas such as community self-esteem and community collective conscience to help them reap large amounts of public subsidy for their private stadiums.…”

Elite interviews: critical practice and tourism

“…Elite interviews are extremely important in seeking to understand and potentially change the impacts of business and political decision-making in tourism (Jenkins, Hall, & Mkono, 2014;Thomas, 2012). For example, elite interviews have been used to shed light on why hallmark events are held and/or stadiums developed with public monies despite a wealth of evidence that highlights their uneconomic nature (Delaney & Eckstein, 2003Eckstein & Delaney, 2002). In addition elite interviews are integral to what is referred to in the social marketing literature as upstream behavioural change, i.e.…”

A service quality framework in the context of professional football in Greece

“…Crompton (2004) reported that the public sector supported 64% of the total cost, approximately $15.2 billion, of stadium construction in the four major professional sports leagues between 1961 and 2003. This was done to help deliver economic and social benefits to the local community -job creation, tax revenues and community self-esteem (Sparvero & Chalip, 2007;Eckstein & Delaney, 2002).…”