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Do Stadiums Promote Economic Growth?

Do Stadiums Promote Economic Growth?. “these arguments do not hold up precisely because the public dollar is almost always better spent on true economic development activities, if not on something else. ”. What causes cities to spend so much money on stadiums?.

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Do Stadiums Promote Economic Growth?

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  1. Do Stadiums Promote Economic Growth? “these arguments do not hold up precisely because the public dollar is almost always better spent on true economic development activities, if not on something else.”

  2. What causes cities to spend so much money on stadiums? • Political fallout of losing a team • Elite pressure • High demand, limited supply of teams

  3. Is it really so bad? Noll and Zimbalist estimate that the typical subsidy is about $10 million a year. While hefty, this is not that different from the subsidy for the arts in the top ten to twenty metropolitan areas in the United States. Certainly fewer people use museums than enjoy professional sports.

  4. DESIGNING THE (TOURIST) UTOPIA • The Happiest Place on Earth: Public Funded, Privately Owned • Democracy in the Happiest Place on Earth? • "we learn that as cities attempt to attract tourists they "commodify" tourism, which increasingly requires creating "sameness“ • Not always: marketing the unique experience

  5. When Disney Comes to Town • Epcot – experimental prototype community of tomorrow – were people would live, work and play • Disney controlled government with regulatory powers • One hitch – Florida state law requires any authority that has planning and zoning power to be popularly elected. • The problem of allowing permanent residents at Epcot is that they would want to vote.

  6. Disney’s solution to democracy • Two-tier system of government • 1st tier Reedy Creek Improvement District • One acre equals one vote • 2nd tier: 2 municipalities each having a handful of residents, all employees and their families. These residents would elect a government who would then transfer administrative responsibility for planning and zoning to Reedy Creek District

  7. What Became of Epoc • State gave Disney the powers available in 3 special districts (never been done before even in the public sector) • Florida Supreme Court ruled this was legal because it would benefit the “numerous inhabitants of the district.” • 1967 - A promise of a thriving community of 20,000 • In 1982 43 residents living in 17 mobile homes

  8. How do you become a Tourist city? Can anyone do it? Flint What are the characteristics of a tourist city? Are their different dimensions of a tourist attraction? • Eco-Tourism • Entertainment • Recreation • Relaxation • Exotic • Edgy • Touristy

  9. Eco-Tourism • Cost • Pollution

  10. Edgy? • New York (time square) • San Francisco (Fisherman’s Warf) • Los Angeles (Universal City)

  11. Homogeneity • Sameness: Safe, Familiar, Sterilized • It no longer is the case that one feels the need to travel (or "virtually" travel) to places of historical, architectural, or natural significance • Instead we go to Disneyland, Las Vegas, Sea World (CA, TX, OH)

  12. Las Vegas, as Robert Parker illustrates, now is home to 42nd Street, the pyramids, or the French Quarter to the tourist-consumer. Why travel to those places, when the "real" experience can be had in a single location? Likewise, festival marketplaces all tend to look alike, cater to the same clientele, and offer similar products. Norfolk or Boston, it seems not to much matter where one goes because the experience is the same.

  13. Vegas Baby! • The history of gambling in Vegas • Three periods • First: legalization • Second: The Mob • Third: The Corporation

  14. The story of Las Vegas is a story of Federal government action • New Deal • Military Spending • Highway Spending • Without an active federal government, Las Vegas (as we know it would not exist) • It would be a little way station between LA and Salt Lake City

  15. Is gambling the golden goose? • Slowing becoming less competition in the gaming field. • Taxes are enough to not have an income tax but we are not a rich state. • Taxes on gaming revenue is lowest in nation • Taxes from rooms must go to the tourist board • Services (education, health, child welfare) are poor • Service jobs are not always highly paid or fun

  16. Why doesn’t gambling payoff as much as we think it does? Gazel suggests that monopolitic market structures are major reason for economic losses for state and local economies when they legalize casino gambling What areas does Gazel look at?

  17. Estimating the cost/benefits is not easy • Must include negative costs • Local gambler • Noncasino visitor • Government (spending) • Crime • Gambling addiction

  18. Does it pay off? • Ripple effects of spending (Magnifying effect) • Cannibalization • Social Costs • Government costs (not estimated?) • “with few exceptions, many state and local economies in the United States have, most likely, experienced net monetary losses due to casino gambling” • Why? Because they ain’t like Vegas baby!

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