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The Sports Facility Boom Magnitude Page

Costs of Built Projects | Costs of Planned Projects | Conclusion

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Estimated Costs for Already Constructed Projects

The total construction costs of stadia opening in the 1990s are a whopping $2.77 billion. Arena construction costs are estimated at an even more impressive $3.36 billion in the 1990s. Therefore, total construction costs for sports facilities in the 1990s have, to date, totaled over $6 billion ($6.13 billion). As shown in the tables, the average stadium cost $198 million and the average arena cost $153 million. Of the fourteen new stadia, eight required at least 80% public financing and only three were fully privately financed (with substantial indirect public investments). In contrast, of the twenty-two new arenas, only nine required 80% or greater public participation while eight were fully privately funded and another two needed 15% or less public funding.

Of the $6.13 billion total estimated construction costs, $3.26 billion, or 53%, were paid for or backed by public sources. However, as discussed earlier, an important difference exists between money spent on arenas and money spent on stadia. Recall that, generally speaking, arenas are much more viable as economic enterprises than stadia. Of the $3.36 billion spent on arenas, $1.32 billion, or only 39%, came from public coffers. In a stark contrast, of the $2.77 billion spent on stadia, $1.95 billion, or 70%, came from public sources. Clearly, as suggested earlier, the private sector has become very active in arena development, but far less active in stadium projects.

Public sector dollars solely for construction costs in this most recent facility boom to date total over $3.2 billion. These totals do not include ancillary costs like infrastructure improvements. These costs, almost always paid for through public funds, can be substantial. For example, Batten notes that over $60 million was spent on infrastructure improvements in Charlotte’s stadium district. Prince George’s County, outside of Washington DC, is investing $71 million into infrastructure improvements surrounding the Redskins new stadium. St Louis did not spend any money on the construction of their new arena, the Kiel Center. However, the city did spend $35 million on parking and infrastructure improvements. The city also agreed not to have any events at the city-owned arena that might compete with events at the Kiel Center, effectively ending the usefulness of that city-owned arena. In each case these figures represent public expenditures that would not have been made without these new facilities. Using a conservative estimate of $30 million in indirect public costs per facility, the total ancillary costs for the thirty-five facilities that have opened in the 1990s would total $1.05 billion. This would bring the total public investment for these thirty-five facilities to over $4.25 billion dollars.

Tables 2.1 and 2.2 summarize the costs and estimated public percentage of these costs for completed stadia and arena projects in North America in the 1990s.

Table 2.1: The Estimated Costs for Stadia Opening in the 1990s

--Source: For most facilities, the data came from a USA Today special study, "The Stadium Binge", September 6, 1996
Some data for the more recent projects came from newspaper reports.

* These facilities have received or are receiving upgrades equivalent to the construction of a new stadium. They originally opened decades ago.
** Oakland is spending a total of $225 million on renovations to both their stadium and arena. For calculations, 2/3 of these costs will be assumed to be stadium costs.

¹ This represents the estimated construction costs for these facilities. These figures do not include ancillary costs for these facilities like road and sewer improvements. These figures also represent the costs at the opening of the facility and are not standardized to any year.
² The public percentage includes those funds that are backed by public sources. Ultimately, the public is responsible for this percentage of the construction costs.

Table 2.2: The Estimated Costs for Arenas Opening in the 1990s

--Source: For most facilities, the data came from a USA Today special study, "The Stadium Binge", September 6, 1996
Some data for the more recent projects came from newspaper reports.

* These facilities have received or are receiving upgrades equivalent to the construction of a new stadium. They originally opened decades ago.
** Oakland is spending a total of $225 million on renovations to both their stadium and arena. For calculations, 1/3 of these costs will be assumed to be arena costs.

¹ This represents the estimated construction costs for these facilities. These figures do not include ancillary costs for these facilities like road and sewer improvements. These figures also represent the costs at the opening of the facility and are not standardized to any year.
² The public percentage includes those funds that are backed by public sources. Ultimately, the public is responsible for this percentage of the construction costs.

Estimated Costs for Planned Projects

Table 2.3 lists the cities and estimated costs of new stadia and arenas planned in cities across North America.

Table 2.3: The Sports Development Pipeline: Planned Sports Facilities in North America as of Summer 1997¹

--Source: For these facilities, the data came from local newspaper reports and construction costs reported in USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Financial World, and other commercial press accounts.

¹ These facilities have all been financed or have actually begun construction as of July ‘97. Other metropolitan areas have discussed options and even drawn up plans for new facilities, but they are not included here.
² Because many of these plans continue to change even as this is written, this simple designation notes whether or not the majority of financing is public or private.

Summing the costs of these planned projects suggests that at least $4.51 billion will be spent on new sports facilities in North America the next several years. As before, these costs do not include ancillary costs like infrastructure improvements which can be substantial. Also, these figures do not include other related developments that are tied to the above projects. For example, San Francisco will also see a privately financed regional mall developed in conjunction with the new football stadium. This will add at least $200 million to the construction costs for this project, but it is unrelated to the football stadium construction costs. Similarly, Seattle’s football stadium project will demolish the existing stadium in that city and add a new exhibition hall at a cost of $126 million on top of the stadium cost of $325 million.

Conclusion

North America has been building new sports facilities at a shocking rate since the 1960s. In the 1990s alone over $6 billion has been spent already on the thirty-five completed projects. Another twenty-one projects are in the development cycle now and these facilities will probably add another $3-$4 billion to the bill. While not all of these construction costs are borne by the public sector, public sources have been responsible for over half of the construction costs for these facilities. The above estimates place the total construction costs for the most recent building boom at $10.64, with approximately 53%, or $5.64 billion, the responsibility of the sector public. Adding in the estimated ancillary costs brings the public responsibility to almost $10 billion.

What is perhaps most disturbing about this building boom is that city after city with high poverty rates, rising crime rates, substantial social problems, and an increasingly marginalized inner city population continue to invest in sports facilities to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, Baltimore and Cleveland, each of which has substantial social and economic problems in their inner cities, have chosen to invest well over $200 million into sports palaces for teams whose franchise values and total revenues continue to rise to unprecedented levels. Each of these cities has also begun construction on new $200 million stadia for their football franchises as well. Other older industrial cities, like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati have set up financing packages or have laid out plans for new facilities provided mainly at public expense. Cities in the West and South, with fewer problems perhaps, but with substantial social and economic obligations nonetheless, have also shown a propensity to pursue this strategy. Phoenix will soon open a new baseball-only ballpark that cost the public at least $250 million just for construction costs. Los Angeles and her suburbs are fighting over who gets the "right" to build a new stadium for an NFL team that has yet to be found for that metropolitan area (and despite the existence of at least three stadia that could host professional football).

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