Big League City: Big League States | The real advantage is held by the sports teams

This is a follow up to "Big League City: Small Cities."

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Over the decades many teams have left their city and state for locales far away, such as the Indianapolis Colts moving from Baltimore, the Arizona Cardinals from St. Louis, the Houston Oilers to Nashville, and the ur event of the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA and the NY Giants to San Francisco.  There are many others, such as the Philadelphia A's to Kansas City to Oakland to Las Vegas.

But there is a more subtle competition between states that teams can take advantage of when their team is in a metropolitan area that spans state lines. 

A few weeks back there was a blockbuster announcement wrt the Kansas City Chiefs search for a new stadium.  A couple years ago, Missouri voters chose not to support a sales tax for the team.  Partly this was because it was paired with an underdeveloped proposal for the baseball team too.

But one advantage a team has on the border with another state is playing the states off each other for the best deal.  Sometimes it's a subterfuge, sometimes it's the real thing.  

Rendering for a new Commanders stadium.

The New York Giants and the New York Jets play in New Jersey.  

The New Jersey Nets basketball team moved to Brooklyn and has had some difficulties establishing a new fan base ("Who Are the Brooklyn Nets Fans?," GQ).  Although they make it up with international fans ("Brooklyn Nets Boast 'Tremendous' Global Fanbase," Sports Illustrated, "Nets’ international popularity turned them into NBA’s ambassadors," New York Post).

he Washington Commanders play in Maryland, not DC, and their headquarters is in Virginia.  The team has played Virginia, Maryland, and DC against each other, ending up with a forthcoming stadium in DC.  

Just last year, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin tried to land the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals teams--which were based in Maryland before 1997.  

The Philadelphia 76ers have their arena in Philadelphia and their practice facility in Camden, New Jersey.  The Carolina Panthers, based in NC, proposed a practice facility in SC. 

Intra-metropolitan area moves can be economically significant.  Teams went through a period of leaving the center city and moving to the suburbs, then returning (while some are still moving out to the suburbs like the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco 49ers, and the Buffalo Bills).

Most economic research, conducted at the metropolitan scale, doesn't find much economic benefit from teams, as households have a budget for entertainment, and what they spend on sports attendance usually comes at the expense of other forms of entertainment.

DC.  As one example, in DC coming out of a multi-decade period of disinvestment in the 1990s, that the basketball and hockey teams moved back to the city was a big deal.  It helped speed up development in the east end of the city, brought new businesses to restaurants and retailers, and provided a reason for suburbanites to "re-sample" the city.  Something similar happened with the Washington Nationals, although that team moved from Montreal.  But there was a proposal for a stadium in Virginia, and the city would have lost out from the push it gave to development in the Navy Yard.

The Barclays Center. | AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams

Brooklyn.  Similarly, the Nets moving from Newark to Brooklyn anchored a new arena in Brooklyn, giving the borough some development energy vis a vis Manhattan ("The Barclays Effect," Politico, "Brooklyn brings it: Barclays Center set to make an instant impact as NYC entertainment option," Global News), home to the Knicks in basketball, Rangers in hockey, and of course the Yankees baseball team, a perennial World Series competitor ("A Nascent Rivalry for the Fans, Too," NYT).   

Still what matters is how that new energy is harnessed.  DC doesn't make much in taxes from the teams, but it has reaped a fair amount of development of office, retail, and housing, an undeterminable amount generated by the teams.  This is probably true for other similar sited facilities across the country.

Intra-city moves.  Another wrinkle is moves within a city.  For example, the Baltimore Orioles from a neighborhood-anchored stadium to a facility within Downtown.  It could leverage new development in a manner that the neighborhood site wouldn't support.  

I also think that Philadelphia would have benefited if the 76ers moved Downtown from its car centric location to one well served by transit.  Besides the transit benefits, it would have provided new energy to a Downtown that still lags.

Kansas City Chiefs.  A few weeks ago there was the earth shattering news that the Kansas City Chiefs will leave Missouri--voters in KC had rejected a sales tax referendum to fund a new stadium--for a blockbuster deal in Kansas, with financial benefits DOUBLE than typically received ("Kansas still has time to reverse course on an awful stadium subsidy," Washington Post).

The state of Kansas is set to smash records for public-financed stadium deals, joining D.C. in that ignominious pantheon. The tentative agreement the state has made with the Chiefs directly provides $2.775 billion in public funding. This is likely far below the final price tag, with one estimate putting the total public cost at $6.3 billion over 30 years.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) insists that the agreement includes “no new state taxes” and “no impact on the current state budget.” If it’s true that Kansas can give billions of dollars to the Chiefs without raising anyone’s taxes, that raises the question of why Kansas couldn’t spend this magic money on highways or education — or return it to the taxpayers it was taken from.

Washington DC is prepared to provide about $1 billion in infrastructure and other improvements.  The State of New York is paying more than $1 billion for a new Buffalo Bills stadium.  

Kansas: now is a Big League State.  The Post argues that the team is worth almost $7 billion and the owners over $25 billion so they should be able to pay for it themselves.  But Kansas really wanted it, to be a "Big League State" ("'A game-changer for Kansas': Kansas leaders react to Chiefs' move across state line," KMBC/ABC).

The Chiefs will build a new, $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County. The team will also open a new headquarters and training facility in Olathe, Kansas. "Today, Kansas won the Super Bowl," Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said. "This is a huge win for Kansas." Masterson said the boost is something Kansas really needed. He said he is excited for the deal and what it means for fans, the team and the state.

"This will create thousands of construction jobs, billions in economic activity and bring millions of new visitors to our state," Masterson said. "Best of all, this incredible deal will not cost Kansas taxpayers one penny.

Besides the price tag, the forthcoming move is seen as a slap in the face of the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, as well as Missouri more generally.  It's not like Missouri wasn't offering a lot of money for them to stay ("Chiefs fans blast 'dumb' decision to turn down $1.5billion to stay at Arrowhead for $3b Kansas stadium," Daily Mail), and they didn't believe the team was interested in moving across state lines.

St. Louis Cardinals fans offer their thanks for the memories with a sign among the empty seat at Busch Stadium during the St. Louis Cardinals-New York Giants football game in afternoon on Sunday, Dec. 14, 1987 in St. Louis. The sign is in reference to the team’s owner, Bill Bidwill, plans to movie his football team to another city. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Missouri is still a Big League State with professional baseball in Kansas City, and baseball and hockey teams in St. Louis.  

Although St. Louis' Big League status took a hit when the football Cardinals left in 1988 ("The end of the 'Big Red' in St. Louis," KSDK-TV).  They recovered when the Rams moved to the city from LA--only for the Rams to return to LA 10 years later ("The LA Rams 10 years after return continue to build something special," USA Today) .  Although with this move, St. Louis got a big legal settlement ("Deal finalized to divide Rams settlement money in St. Louis," AP).

Indiana versus Chicago for the Bears.  The Chicago Bears have been working for a couple years for a new stadium deal but the city and state is still on the hook for $550 million in debt on the last renovation.  The City wants to keep the team, but the state hasn't been inclined to come up with incentives.  

As part of the process, the Bears bought the old Arlington Race Track in the suburbs with plans to move there.  One hang up has been an unwillingness for the local jurisdictions like the school district to give up a lot of tax concessions ("The Bears' Indiana feint may be paying off — in Arlington Heights," Crain's Chicago Business).  The team is asking for $835 million in incentives (A New Stadium and Mixed-Use District in Arlington Heights: Economic & Fiscal Impact Report, HRA).

More dough in Indiana? (The metropolitan area of Chicagoland includes Indiana).  The Bears have electrified the discussion by announcing they're looking at neighboring Indiana, a stretch but still part of "Chicagoland," for a new stadium ("Pritzker keeps door open to Bears as Indiana stadium threat heats up," "Indiana governor name-checks Bears in state of the state address,"  "Pritzker keeps door open to Bears as Indiana stadium threat heats up," "As the Bears mull a move, Indiana lawmakers make way for a new stadium authority," Crain's Chicago Business).

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun tonight used his pursuit of the Chicago Bears as an applause line and validation of his state’s appeal to businesses.

After mentioning recent expansions by U.S. Steel in Gary and BP in Whiting during his annual state of the state address, Braun said: “It’s not surprising that another organization noticed Indiana is open for business: the Chicago Bears.”

Like the Kansas deal for the Chiefs, this has come as a shock to Chicago-focused stakeholders.

Chicago:  Multiple stadium requests add up to a lot of money.  One of the problems for Chicago is that it faces multiple demands for sports stadium/arena subsidies.  The men's soccer team will self-fund its stadium but probably wants infrastructure and other improvements.

• a new White Sox baseball stadium ("MLB team facing relocation after 131 years with $2bn ballpark on rocks and mogul plotting takeover," talkSport, "White Sox Lose Stadium Direction With MLS’ Fire Claiming ‘The 78’," Forbes).

Owners of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks plan a $7 billion development of the area around the United Center, at center, including a new concert hall, restaurants, retail, hotel rooms and apartments. 

• a new arena for the Chicago Bulls basketball team ("Bulls, Blackhawks Owners Plan $7 Billion Development Around Chicago’s United Center," CoStar)
• and soccer stadiums for men ("Chicago Fire stadium plans revealed for $650 million facility in Chicago," CBS) and women ("Chicago Stars are not letting a poor 2025 stop them from dreaming about a stadium and the future," New York Times).

and the teams each compete with each other for development deals. 

Teams, not the localities, are in charge.  As mentioned earlier, a problem for government is that the teams, not the government drive the discussion ("Another example of RFPs versus plans and letting developers set the agenda: stadium projects in Chicago") and in certain situations, there are counterparties like Indiana, that want to play too.

Indiana is already a "Big League State" with the Indianapolis Colts football team and Indiana Hoosiers basketball team.  Plus the state university, Indiana University, looks to become a football power, when football had always been a poor relation to basketball.

But this can be a way for the Indiana side of Chicagoland to play bigger and harder, when certain parts of the area need real help (see the discussion of Gary and Elkart here, "Community revitalization initiatives for smaller communities | marginal attraction of people and commerce even in small amounts makes a difference").  One plus, the South Shore Line, the nation's last interurban transit service, still runs between Chicago and Northern Indiana, and it's about to launch an extension a bit deeper into Indiana. 

Conclusion. I think we can look at state competition for teams at two scales.  )1) Large scale moves such as the Oakland Raiders move from California to Nevada or the Colts from Maryland to Indiana.  (2) And Intra-metropolitan area competition for teams is a subtly different wrinkle on team relocation and subsidy deals.

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Past entries on professional sports and cities include:

-- "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities," 2021

-- "Revisiting "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities" and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team + Phoenix Coyotes hockey," 2022-- "Stadiums and arenas as the enabling infrastructure for "money-making" platforms," 2014
-- "Good quote on arenas and stadiums as "performing arts centers" attractions for cities," 2024
-- "Sports facilities and the reproduction of retail space often doesn't work for the locals," 2025
-- "You get what you plan for: the multi-use Miami Hard Rock Stadium versus typical football stadiums | Washington Commanders," 2025
-- "Another example of RFPs versus plans and letting developers set the agenda: stadium projects in Chicago," 2025

Former Albuquerque Mayor David Rusk dies at 85

 -- "David Rusk, former Albuquerque mayor and son of US secretary of state, dies," Albuquerque Journal

Rusk was mayor rom 1977 to 1981 and among his accomplishments was an expansion of public transit hiring women for important positions in government, and investments in arts and culture.

But his impact was more important nationally, after his term ended.  He contributed significantly to the national discourse on urban revitalization, calling attention to suburban sprawl and how it depopulates and defunds center cities.

Rusk took positions in the federal government, was a consultant,  wrote many books on urban problems, especially around sprawl and defunding of center cities.

Two of his books remain important and have for decades.

Inside Game Outside Game: Winning Strategies for Saving Urban America and Cities without Suburbs, discussed rebalancing suburban-centric metropolitan areas towards center city revitalization. 

The theses were that cities over focused on anti-poverty programs rather than growth and growth management, which should be facilitated by  sharing tax revenues, and planning growth and housing at the regional scale.  

Separately, Baltimore Unbound attributes the city's problems to concentrated poverty and segregation vis a vis the Metropolitan area.

Big League City: Small Cities

Past entries on professional sports and cities include:

-- "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities," 2021

-- "Revisiting "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities" and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team + Phoenix Coyotes hockey," 2022-- "Stadiums and arenas as the enabling infrastructure for "money-making" platforms," 2014
-- "Good quote on arenas and stadiums as "performing arts centers" attractions for cities," 2024
-- "Sports facilities and the reproduction of retail space often doesn't work for the locals," 2025
-- "You get what you plan for: the multi-use Miami Hard Rock Stadium versus typical football stadiums | Washington Commanders," 2025
-- "Another example of RFPs versus plans and letting developers set the agenda: stadium projects in Chicago," 2025

While I write a lot about government and how it makes decisions, it's been very rare that I've ever been an insider on specific acts.  (It happens but not very much.)  

The book Big League City by David Holt, formerly chief of staff to then Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, is an insiders tale of how Oklahoma City entered "the Big Leagues" by having the Seattle SuperSonics team move to OKC, renamed as the Thunder. 

(Unfortunately, the book is out of print.  I paid a lot for my copy.  Now I'm p*** there is a much cheaper copy available today on Amazon!)

Note that as of 2018, Holt has been serving as the Mayor of OKC.

While reading it, I was struck by a couple points I identified in the culture-based revitalization series I wrote in association with a project that the EU National Institutes of Culture Washington Chapter did in Baltimore ("Richard Layman Reflects on EU in Baltimore and Blog").

Liverpool and setting bold goals.  Writing about Liverpool, I noted that they were bold and visionary in their master plan by declaring their aim to be named a European Capital of Culture in that EU program, years before the UK was even slated to host the event ("Liverpool regeneration as a process for regaining relevance at the regional, national, and global scales").  

That gave them years of additional preparation time over cities that only answered the call once it became official and so Liverpool had a big advantage.  They held the event in 2008.

Bilbao and action in the face of unplanned opportunities.  Similarly, I wrote about the value of being open to serendipity, having a plan and framework in place, but the flexibility to respond to new opportunities as they are presented.  

The example I used was Bilbao and its recruitment of the first international location of the Guggenheim Museum.  Graz, Austria was the city that the Guggenheim approached, and the citizens said no.  

Bilbao leapt to action, having a broader plan, implementation organization and financing mechanisms already in place.

Getting the Museum repositioned Bilbao as an international destination for architourism--but it was a lot more than that, see "Why can't the "Bilbao Effect" be reproduced? | Bilbao as an example of Transformational Projects Action Planning."

Oklahoma City: Metropolitan Area Projects.   OKC is no less bold than Liverpool and Bilbao in having created and is continuing to implement a robust plan for building its core.  

I've mentioned a bunch of times that OKC is one of the most innovative cities in the US because of how it continues to invest in big infrastructure projects through a program called Metropolitan Area Projects, funded as pay as you go with sales taxes ("Change isn't usually that simple: The repatterning of Oklahoma City's Downtown Streetscape").  

Former Mayor Mick Cornett has written a book, partly on MAPS, called The Next American City about investing in the nation's smaller cities.  I highly recommend it.

MAPS has been through four cycles formally, but they have used the same process for arena investments, and they don't call it MAPS. 

Oklahoma City: determined to get a professional sports team

Chesapeake Arena: Ready for action.

Building relationships with the leagues.  Mayor Cornett leveraged his participation in the US Conference of Mayors to set up appointments with the leaders of the NBA and NHL, and was able to do it without drawing publicity.

Building an arena.  Hoping to land a pro team, one of the MAPS initiatives was building a suitable arena.  The city's hired consultant said maybe they could land a hockey team, but basketball was out of the question, due to OKC's small media market.

Building a reputable ownership group.  While Cornett had been a tv sports reporter, he knew little about ownership circles.  To make a credible effort to land a team, a group of well monied people with connections to sports had to be constructed.  

(Note that this is why Nashville's efforts to land an MLB team are likely to fail.  They don't have money behind them.  They are pushing their bid based on sentiment, when dollars and cents are what matters. See: "MLB expansion: Nashville group led by Dave Stewart makes a pitch for Music City," NYT.)

It turned out that a member of the Gaylord Family--they owned the Daily Oklahoman and hospitality interests including the Grand Ole' Opry in Nashville and convention hotels around the county--had been a part owner of the San Antonio Spurs.  When meeting, the NBA Commissioner suggested that Cornett meet with him, Clay Bennett.

The arena as an available venue | demonstrating the potential for success.  Then, in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for the pro basketball team the New Orleans Hornets to play in their city, OKC was able to jump in and offer an already outfitted arena to host--and the minor league hockey team there had few conflicts when it came to the already set 2005 basketball schedule. 

The Hornets ended up in OKC for two seasons, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. 

It was very successful, the arena mostly was sold out and the team had better attendance than most of the league.  So the Hornets owner wanted to stay in OKC but couldn't because of other commitments.  The 2007-2008 season was dark in Ford Arena ("Looking Back: the Oklahoma City Hornets," Daily Oklahoman),

Hockey as the next step after the Hornets?  Even after the great success of the Hornets, OKC's Mayor didn't think the city had a strong enough case based on the local market size and the potential for television revenues to host an NBA team permanently.  

Therefore they were prepared to settle for a hockey team.  But by the time the Hornets returned to New Orleans, the window for hockey expansion had closed.

Seattle SuperSonics wanted a new arena, were rebuffed.  While OKC had an arena capable of hosting a team, owners in Seattle needed a new "platform" as the KeyArena was aging, and the city and state weren't willing to subsidize it.  

Disappointed, the Seattle-based owners sold the team to a group of OKC businesspeople that had been constructed to buy a team.  They agreed to continue to make the case for a new arena in Seattle, and then only after rejection, could they move the team.  Subsequently the city and state didn't offer subsidies, and despite a strong effort by fans to keep the team, and later, lawsuits, the team was free to move ("10 years ago today, the Sonics moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City," Seattle Times).

FWIW, 12 years later the Seattle Kraken hockey team began play, after a new arena was constructed under the old KeyArena roof ("Seattle Kraken put community first, hockey second in lead-up to inaugural season," USA Today).

In the mean time: more improvements to the OKC arena.  In the meantime, OKC used the MAPS process to put more improvements into the arena and to build a standalone practice facility.  (More recently the city has voted to tax itself again for yet a newer arena.)

We know how it turned out: OKC got the team.  With sound leadership, since their launch in the 2008-2009 season, they made the NBA Championship Finals once while losing, made it into the playoffs a number of times.

In 2025, after 16 years, the team won the NBA Championships for the first time, with analysts saying they will continue to contend for years to come.

Becoming a big(ger) league city.  Sports as popular culture.  Holt's thesis is that in the post-industrial economy, culture is key, athletes and teams and the fanfare around teams keeps sports top of mind, and therefore having professional sports teams helps to define, position, and bring attention to your community.

No question that since the NBA is increasingly a worldwide phenomenon, people all over the world are aware of Oklahoma City and they likely wouldn't have otherwise but for the team.

He admits that perhaps pride in having city "membership" in the "guild" of cities with professional teams matters more to cities originally without a team or with a limited number of teams. That in the case of OKC and Seattle, the latter wasn't as motivated to come up with public funds for an arena, because they already had professional football and baseball teams, for which they already provided hundreds of millions of dollars, and that OKC, without any professional team at all, was highly motivated.

How much does a professional sports shape local identity and national positioning?  Does a pro team matter more to smaller cities?  I just don't know.  

Partly the city is a massive suburb because of wanton annexation.  By the 1980s, it no longer had a strongly defined Downtown core.

MAPS was a response to United Airlines rejecting the OKC airport as a site for a major maintenance facility, because executives couldn't see wanting to live there because of the lack of amenities.  

The city definitely was shattered moreso in 1995 when the Murrah Federal Building was blown up by a domestic terrorist.  

Such an act would have a major effect on any city and its self-confidence and sense of worth.  OKC was no exception.

Yet the city continued to push forward and overall, MAPS changed the reality and the narrative, and provided a multitude of reasons for locals and visitors to go Downtown--a watercourse on the Oklahoma River, a revitalized Bricktown neighborhood--or to live in the city--MAPS2, called MAPS4Kids rebuilt schools across the city, attracting new residents to the core.  Etc. 

From a community pride and self-worth perspective, despite those setbacks, because of its place in the natural gas and oil industries, the city was already a major economic player.  Although the fossil fuel industry is known for its peaks and valleys ("Oklahoma City, Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake Energy (now in bankruptcy)"). People from those industries were key investors in the Thunder and other civic ventures.

Nonetheless, many people didn't consider OKC a city in the same way as a place like Boston because of the swath of suburbs.  In fact, So there was definitely a lack of self-confidence, which to the city's credit, resulted in self-investment.

As metropolitan areas grow, economic acknowledgement comes from professional sports teams.  Charlotte has football and basketball ("Sports pumped millions into Charlotte's economy in 2024," Axios), although the first basketball team moved to New Orleans and was replaced, while Raleigh has pro hockey.  Jacksonville landed a football team.  Tampa Bay baseball and hockey, with the hockey team being especially successful.  In Nashville, the Titans football team moved from Houston and the Predators hockey team.  

Earlier rounds brought teams to cities like Atlanta, Dallas. Denver, and Houston.  Some owners even founded their own leagues, later merging with the established leagues in basketball and hockey, to form teams.

While the Denver Broncos were born in 1959 and Nuggets basketball team in 1973, the MLB didn't join the city until 1993.

Many say the Colorado Rockies baseball team sparked the revitalization of the LoDo district, but the reality is that it was more about accelerating what was already happening (maybe like with the Wizards and Capitals in DC ("S").  The Rockies merely took advantage of and credit for its success ("Is LoDo still thriving? Here’s how Coors Field helped shape a developing Denver neighborhood," Colorado Sun).

Of course, speaking to the veracity of Holt's points, Denver has received a great amount of national and international publicity as a result of its championship in 2023, and then and continued dominance of Nikola Jokić, winner of multiple MVP awards. 

DC: The arena and revitalization of the East End.  Even though I argued for years that the move by the teams to DC from the suburbs weren't the reason that the Downtown East End began revitalization, eventually I conceded that the move was a vote of confidence in urban living and commerce, and it helped reposition DC's image vis a vis the suburbs, just before residential choice trends began revaluing center cities after many decades of denigration ("Pollin: With Opening of MCI Center, 'I've Got Everything I've Ever Done in My Life on the Line'," Post, 1997, "Without Verizon Center, does Chinatown still thrive?," Washington Business Journal, 2016).  Like in Denver with the Rockies, no question it accelerated improvements.

Same with the Washington Nationals stadium in SE DC.  It didn't spark the revitalization there, it was already happening.  But it accelerated it, and like the basketball and hockey teams, provided another reason for suburbanites to visit and sample the city.

Not all small cities landing teams get a major boost to identity.  On the other hand, smaller cities like Salt Lake haven't been redefined because of pro basketball and hockey teams, nor Memphis and Portland with their basketball teams.  Memphis has its identity around music, Portland around its "weird" identity, and Salt Lake is branded by it being the home of the LDS Church.  Did Raleigh, NC, part of a cluster of universities and research institutions, change significantly because of the arrival of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team?

But yes, the cities have more recognition worldwide because of the teams being based there.  How and if it pays off is the question.

Losing teams is often a blow.  As Baltimore shrunk relative to other cities, its Colts football team moved to Indianapolis, and in St. Louis, the Cardinals football team moved to Arizona.  Communities do express angst when teams leave, and often endeavor greatly to keep them. Back in the day, even NYC suffered a blow to city identity and pride as the Giants moved from the Bronx to SF and the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

My position on smaller cities and teams, and smaller cities and minor league teams has changed.  Because I have long been against subsidy of big league teams by cities, I've downplayed the value of those teams in terms of "community pride" and positioning.  

Definitely, All Star Games and Super Bowls don't make the localities much money ("NBA All Star Game in Salt Lake, economic development hype | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the Pirates baseball team economics") and the overall economic contribution of team is minimal, because households set a certain amount aside for entertainment spending, and dollars spent on sports events just mean less spending on other options.

Unless teams experience a large number of fans visiting from out of town ("Win or lose, Steelers playoff game scores millions for Pittsburgh’s economy," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette),

OTOH, when you're Greensboro, NC or Louisville, KY, having a minor league baseball team downtown can be a big deal, and in those cities and many others, minor league teams have helped to spark downtown reinvestment and visitation in important ways ("Ballpark Boom: New minor league stadiums spring up across the region," Federal Reserve of Richmond, "Funding ballfields: Some cities build minor league ballparks without using taxpayer money," ABC13, "How Baseball Revitalized a Venerable Mill Town," Temerity Capital Partners).

Note though that like the revitalization and investment framework deployed by Liverpool, Bilbao, and Oklahoma City, the most successful cities with minor league teams have developed those facilities as but one element of a broader program.  

More recently, the move of the minor league Red Sox team from Pawtucket, Rhode Island to Worcester, Massachusetts has been an issue ("The PawSox Moved, but Pawtucket Has Yet to Move On," New York Times).

Maybe in those cases, subsidy is more warranted because of actual revitalization impact, when it is much more ethereal when it comes to the big pro teams, which aim to capture as much of the revenue stream that is possible deriving from their presence and presentation of events.  Although, sometimes like in Greensboro, public funds aren't used, instead local foundations step in.

An aerial rendering shows a proposed $250 million mixed-use development that would bring housing, a boutique hotel, retail, restaurants and more to the area around Slugger Field in downtown Louisville

Interestingly, as private equity becomes a greater force in minor league baseball, with firms owning multiple teams ("A new group is buying up minor league baseball teams at a feverish pace. What’s the end game?," NYT), the firms are developing "sports and entertainment district" proposals comparable to those of professional teams ("$250M+ redevelopment would bring housing, retail near Slugger Field in downtown Louisville," Louisville Courier-Journal).

Maybe the difference is between small cities and really small cities.  Compared to Greensboro or Louisville, OKC is a metropolis. 

Hagerstown Boxcars ("Downtown ballpark reshaping Hagerstown’s image, draws fans and new development," Hagerstown Herald-Mail)

More than a decade in the making, the prospect of a downtown ballpark surprised many. A year and a half later, the roughly $90 million project draws rave reviews for its amenities and for reshaping perceptions of downtown Hagerstown. New businesses opened and housing proposals are surfacing, though many long-time owners and managers say the game-night effect on existing shops remains mixed.

Fort Myers, Florida.  After the Boston Red Sox moved its pre-season facilities out of the city and after failed efforts to land soccer teams, the city is tearing down the stadium ("Fort Myers To Demolish City of Palms Stadium, Salvage Historical Elements for New Development," ESPN).

Noblesville, Indiana, 27miles outside of Indianapolis, opened an arena with a capacity of 3,400 that hosts an NBA G Team ("A ‘Boom’ for Noblesville: The Arena at Innovation Mile to open Aug. 8," Current).

The facility is part of Innovation Mile, a 600-acre business and technology hub in Noblesville. The first public music event at The Arena at Innovation Mile will be a free concert Aug. 23 featuring Signs of Life: The American Pink Floyd. The group is a Pink Floyd tribute band.

Jensen said the Arena at Innovation Mile at 14157 CJ Way will create a $2 billion revenue stream for Indiana over the next 30 years.

The city has 75,000 residents and the arena cost $93 million.  That level of economic impact seems high.  Or another way, $2 billion over 30 years isn't that much on an annual basis.  Even $67 million per year seems like a high estimate.

Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Is building a new arena for the Kalamazoo Wings minor league hockey team and the hockey team from the local university ("‘A once-in-100-year opportunity’: Ground broken on $515M Kalamazoo Event Center," Kalamazoo Gazette).  

The new space will show off both the Western Michigan University brand and a true Kalamazoo identity, Johnston said.

“Today isn’t just about turning over a shovel of dirt or ice. It’s about turning a page in our city’s story,” said K-Wings GM Toni Will. “This groundbreaking represents the culmination of years of vision, dedication and most importantly teamwork across our entire community from city leaders and business partners to fans, families and volunteers.

“This project exists because so many people chose to roll up their sleeves and work together. … We are laying the foundation for a stronger, more vibrant Kalamazoo together.”

With double the capacity of the Noblesville arena, they are forecasting "only" $52 million per year in new economic activity

A blast from the past

Blog reader Will sent me a 15-20 year old photo featuring me on the far left, when I was younger and healthier.  

I don't remember the after party, but he says it was after he and I led a Capitol Hill alley tour for Cultural Tourism DC.W

We finished at Cafe Berlin on Massachusetts Avenue NE but I don't think we went to a couple of the nearby alleys there on the northeast side.

I sure remember that event.  At the start there were 125-150 people.  It was massive.  I never led a tour that big.  

I'm sorry I didn't have a portable microphone, nor a photo of the original group--which kept slimming down as the tour proceeded.

Trump's F****** with Culture and Civil Society Harms the Nation and Washington DC

Normally government moves pretty slow. The pace at which President Trump is destroying institutions and enriching his family, while spending much of his time playing golf, staying up late, and tweeting, is unprecedented. It's almost impossible to keep track.

Good thing he had the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 blueprint to destroy progressive leaning government! ("The year Trump broke the federal government," Washington Post).

Including attacking nonprofit, progressive leaning organizations ("Trump's Secret War Against Vital Nonprofits," Alliance for Justice, "What is Trump doing to US nonprofits and philanthropies?," Devex. "Progressive Nonprofits Condemn Trump’s Targeting of George Soros and His Foundations," Chronicle of Philanthropy, "Senate GOP Ramps Up Attacks on Left-Wing Nonprofits," NonProfit Quarterly).

MAGA-fying civic education ("Trump Administration Announces New Civics Effort With MAGA-Aligned Groups," NYT) plus prayer in schools ("Trump wants prayer back in schools. Boston has a cautionary tale," Boston Globe).

And specific attacks on "blue" states although not limited to culture ("Trump is waging war on Democrat-led states," Globe).

Banner at the Kennedy Center calling it the "Nation's Cultural Center."  Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI.

Because the arts and education are seen as dominated "by the left" the Trump Administration has been militant about defunding organizations that support or practice these disciplines.

The same goes for nonprofit organizations involved in human services, agriculture and other fields.

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House on 9 December in Washington DC, where the East Wing once stood. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

Here's a line up of some of the destruction.

• Kennedy Center ("Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center is showier, emptier and more political" Washington Post).  Each week it gets worse as the KC gives free space to FIFA, discounts rentals for conservative conferences, sees artists continuing to cancel scheduled performances, adds his name to the Kennedy Center and last week, the National Opera leaving the facility and ending its co-management agreement ("Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy Center," NYT).
• Smithsonian Institution ("Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’," Guardian. "White House threatens Smithsonian funds in sweeping content review," Post) which started by targeting the National Museum of African American History and Culture ("Trump Once Praised the Black History Museum That He Is Now Attacking," New York Times) and the National Portrait Gallery ("Smithsonian rejects Trump’s attempt to fire National Portrait Gallery director," Guardian, "National Portrait Gallery makes changes to Trump part of 'America's Presidents' exhibit, NBC).  
• This has a chilling effect on museums more generally ("As Trump Targets the Smithsonian, Museums Across the U.S. Feel a Chill," NYT).
• Defunding "left leaning" public media: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR ("Congress rolls back $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid," NPR, "Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes to shut itself after funding cuts," CNN).
• Defunding the National Endowment of the Humanities ("Congress Moves to Protect NEA and NEH Funding," Artnet), National Endowment of the Arts ("Sweeping cuts hit NEA after Trump administration calls to eliminate the agency," NPR) and the Institute for Museum and Library Studies ("Libraries and museums get federal funding back after Trump cuts," NPR).
• Museums more generally   According to the NYT, one-third of the nation's museums have lost some government funding since Trump's second term ("Facing Funding Cuts and Censorship Threats, Museums Band Together," NYT).
• K-12 Education including the dismantling of the Department of Education without Congressional approval, and the defunding of a wide variety of programs including foreign languages ("Trump's Threat to Bilingual Education," Progressive), the support of charter schools and private school vouchers wreaking havoc on traditional public education systems ("Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities," White House, "Public Education Under Threat: 4 Trump Administration Actions To Watch in the 2025-26 School Year," American Progress. "Trump Redirects Millions to Historically Black Colleges, Charter Schools," NYT), and encouraging changes to curricula, especially wrt ethnic studies (don't forget the 1776 Curriculum from his first term), ("How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught," NYT).
• Universities are being attacked, using the playbook of Hungary's Orban ("Forging, Bending, and Breaking: Enacting the “Illiberal Playbook” in Hungary and Poland," Perspectives on Politics, "What the Republican ‘siege’ on New College means for the future of Harvard," "How Harvard became Trump’s perfect target," Boston Globe) attacking "diversity, equity, and inclusion" initiatives, advocating for conservative classes, claiming anti-semitism ("‘Attack the universities’: Inside the Trump and MAGA war on Harvard," Boston Globe, "Universities Need a New Defense," Chronicle of Higher Education), severely cutting back on scientific and general research ("Harvard says majority of research funding canceled by Trump has been restored," Boston Globe), seeking payoffs ("MIT Rejects Proposed Federal Compact," Inside Higher Education), and reducing the matriculation of international students, forcing some universities to make major cuts ("nternational student enrollment decline could cost $1 billion," CNN).

• National Park Service cultural interpretation aimed at not fully explaining negative elements of US history like slavery or extermination of Native Americans ("National park visitors to be encouraged to report ‘negative’ depictions under new order," NextStar). Plus aiming to defund and privatize national parks and other public lands.

And building grandiose monuments to his ego

• Tearing down and rebuilding the East Wing of the White House ("Trump’s Vision of a Mar-a-Lago on the Potomac Upends an American Ideal," NYT, "White House lays out nine-week timeline to win approval for Trump’s ballroom," Washington Post), counter to the historic preservation legal process.  To facilitate this he fired all the members of the oversight body that reviews federal projects in the city ("White House fires entire commission that reviews designs for federal buildings," NPR).
• It gets worse, he has plans for the West Wing too ("Ballroom architect reveals Trump is plotting to destroy West Wing," Daily Beast)
• He wants to build an Arc de Triomphe/Triumphal Arch in Washington, "in honor of the 250th Anniversary of the United States" ("Trump says building DC triumphal arch is domestic policy chief’s ‘primary thing’," Guardian, "Trump says construction of the ‘Triumphal Arch’ to begin in ‘2 months’," Politico)

President Donald Trump addresses a dinner for donors who have contributed to build the new ballroom at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. | John McDonnell/AP Photo

• Renaming the Institute of Peace ("US Institute of Peace renamed after Trump," BBC) and the Kennedy Center ("All the Kennedy Center cancellations since Trump’s name was added," Post).

Photo: Nathan Howard, Reuters.

• He's put his face on banners affixed to federal buildings ("Massive banners with Trump’s face are adorning some federal buildings in DC. Democrats are crying foul," CNN), changed the dates of free access to National Parks to include his birthday, and put his mug on the National Parks annual pass ("National Park Service will void passes with stickers over Trump's face," NPR).

Massive banners with Trump’s face are adorning some federal buildings in DC. 

Democrats are crying foul.  CNN photo.

• Last year, he had a war parade for himself ("3 takeaways from the military parade and No Kings protests on Trump's birthday," NPR) and he keeps whining that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize--although maybe that's not a cultural issue.

Armored vehicles drive during the Army's 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C. 

Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images

• And he wants his face on coins even though the law says living people can't be so honored.

The U.S. Mint released three prototype designs for a $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump 

to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary this year. 

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In DC, he also wants to take over the public golf courses ("Trump’s self-serving takeover of D.C. public golf is bad news for all," The Athletic/NYT).

A wrinkle on corporate headquarters: leaving the city as buildings age

State Farm four building complex in Richardson, Texas. Dallas Morning News photo.

In the late 1990s and 2000s there was for a time the move of corporate headquarters from the suburbs to the city such as Compuware and Quicken Loans in Detroit, Panasonic in Newark, etc.  

Plus Amazon's HQ2 quest focused on places well connected by transit, even if Arlington County, just outside of DC, is a suburb. GE to Boston ("Corporate headquarters relocating to the center city: GE chooses Boston," 2016), etc.

At the same time, firms still moved out of the city.  

For example, the wage tax in Philadelphia makes it hard to attract large businesses, although Comcast stays committed.  Plus, suburbs often lure city-based businesses with incentives ("Real Estate Giant CoStar Group Chooses Arlington for its Headquarters" Arlington County).

State Farm's suburban Dunwoody complex does have a subway connection, but most people get there by car.

And while Amazon was looking for an urban location, State Farm in Dallas and Atlanta built new complexes that were road-centric, given the small footprint of transit in those cities ("Businesses moving back to the center: not a universal trend," 2015).

Plus headquarters moving to city areas, but not directly in the city ("Boeing to move "headquarters" to Northern Virginia," ) but close to airports ("Do tax incentives pay off? : Illinois; Tennessee; Rosslyn + "The Airport Access Factor"").

In 2015, Mercedes-Benz moved to a suburban location in Atlanta--makes sense as they are a car company, but they still have a bus division (which isn't super active in the US compared to Europe).  They are further consolidating operations from around the country to Atlanta as well ("Mercedes-Benz relocating 500 jobs to Sandy Springs HQ, plus new R&D facility," Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

Downtown Dallas, with the Fountain Place building shown in the background, has the second-highest office vacancy rate of any downtown in the nation.

Dallas is seeing firms move to the suburbs to new buildings ("The reckoning: Downtown Dallas must wrestle with future after AT&T exodus," Dallas Morning News, "Dallas Is Booming—Except for Its Downtown," Wall Street Journal).

Companies are abandoning this neighborhood and its aging office towers. They are heading to the Uptown district or the thriving suburbs, often over concerns about crime and homelessness. Left behind are defaulted loans, foreclosures and deeply discounted property sales.

The building ATT is in today. 

Real-estate investors purchased $51.7 million worth of office property in downtown Dallas in the first three quarters of this year, compared with $1.8 billion in Dallas’s suburban markets, according to data firm MSCI.

The building ATT will be moving to is the former HQ campus of Electronic Data Systems. Although they may tear it down and build new. 

... Many of the forces weighing on downtown Dallas—from remote work to homelessness—are afflicting other urban core neighborhoods. Businesses and investors have fled the downtown districts of St. Louis, San Diego and Portland, Ore., for the relative tranquility of neighboring suburbs.

Also see "The reckoning: Downtown Dallas must wrestle with future after AT&T exodus," Dallas Morning News.

“If you look at the average large building, like something over 50,000 square feet, the median age is roughly 45 years old,” Triolet said. “The problem is in the (Central Business District) in the ’80s — people wanted the biggest and most glamorous. So, they made the floor plates bigger, and they wanted to make it a contest of who could build the tallest buildings.”

Corporate trends have swung another way. Toyota, American Airlines and now AT&T are examples. Companies want shorter and more horizontal buildings. Skyscrapers give way to campuses. It’s easier to sell smaller separate buildings than large high-rises, Triolet said.

Downtown buildings have aged, and more recently there hasn't been a lot of new construction, especially on a speculative basis, because of high interest rates and the discombobulation of the commercial office real estate market as a result of covid and the rise of work from home--although this is changing some, as more businesses are requiring workers to come back to the office, at least for a few days each week.

Cities have always had to deal with suburbanites fear of the city when it comes to working and visiting.  Covid related declines in quality of life and an increase in crime has also led firms to the suburbs, such as in Portland ("A Fire Sale of Portland’s Largest Office Tower Shows How Far the City Has Fallen," WSJ).  

After Digital Trends moved out of the U.S. Bancorp Tower in Portland, Ore., the technology publisher didn’t hold back about why it left. The property, once a premier address in the city, was afflicted with “vagrants sleeping in hallways of vacant office floors.” They were “starting fires in stairwells, smoking fentanyl and defecating in common areas,” according to papers the company filed in a lease-termination lawsuit.

Two years later, the city’s biggest office tower stands more than half empty. U.S. Bank, the largest tenant whose parent company’s name is on the building, pulled most of its employees out last year after more than a century in the city. The 42-story tower was recently put up for sale. The building affectionately known as Big Pink because of its pink-hued Spanish granite and pink glazed glass has an asking price of about $70 million, according to brokers. That is more than 80% below what the owners paid for it a decade ago.

Interestingly, the suburban office market still has problems, even though it doesn't in Dallas and certain other cities.  Large complexes, like the State Farm in Dallas, with the rise of work from home during and after covid, don't need so much space ("This company is trying to sublease over 400,000 square feet of office space in D-FW," Dallas Morning News). 

DC's office market is weaker because of the shrinkage of the federal government, so many buildings are being looked at for conversion to residential ("Washington D.C.’s Stockpile of Old Offices Makes It a Mecca for Housing Conversions," WSJ).  Could this be an option for cities like Dallas, St. Louis, and San Diego?  Salt Lake has one such building just opened ("A 1960s SLC office tower reopens as luxury apartments, showcasing reuse as path to new housing," Salt Lake Tribune).

Cities, sustainable mobility users, and snow

Snow clearance is hard, requires planning, and is maddening when you're trying to get around ("Why can’t Toronto remove snow like Montreal? The answers may surprise you," "No wonder it's taking so long to clear the snow, we planned it that way," Toronto Star).

For many years, around December and later I've written entries about snow clearance as the walking-biking-transit city. Rather than recap them, here's a list:

-- "Winter snow clearance in the Walking CIty," 2025

-- "Snow, winter and the "Sustainable Mobility City"," 2019

-- "A "maintenance of way" agenda for the walking and transit city," 2010
-- "Snow reminds us of the necessity of a "maintenance of way" agenda," 2013
-- "Testimony on the Winter Sidewalk Safety Amendment Act of 2011," 2011
-- "Level of service and maintenance requirements in planning #2: winter maintenance of bike paths," 2012
-- "Night-time safety: rethinking lighting in the context of a walking community," 2014
-- "Planning for Winter Weather," 2015
-- "Cataloging the various failures to remove snow in the walking/transit/bicycling city," 2015
-- "Who knew?: there is a Winter Cycling Federation and annual conference," 2015 
-- "Focusing on what's most important: snow on sidewalks or snow on cars?," 2016
-- "Winter preparedness, planning and the Walking/Biking/Transit City," 2019
-- "Walking City Wintertime: Snow and strollers in Toronto," 2019

People stand at a bus stop near Logan Circle in Washington in 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post)

I haven't been motivated to do so much this year because Salt Lake's Valley, and even the mountains although that's changing, has gotten so little snow that a shovel has been unnecessary.  

Although this photo from the Washington Post keeps reminding me.  

Many of Salt Lake's bus stops are just uncovered benches while Calgary and other cities like Winnipeg ("'If you're waiting for a bus, it is brutal' but should the city invest in heated shelters or service?," CBC) have enclosed bus shelters that are heated in the winter.  

Montreal has a special network of winter cycle paths that they commit to keeping clear after snow storms.  Arlington Virginia has a program promoting winter cycling. Many communities, including DC and Montgomery County for the Capital Crescent Trail, have snow clearance programs.  Minneapolis was one of the first cities to include maintenance of way as an element of its bicycle master plan.  Salt Lake and many cities have a winter Bike to Work Day.

An enclosed shelter at Overlea Boulevard and Thorncliffe Park Drive. Like other aspects of the system, there’s concern that using the new facilities could pose a risk if COVID-19 case peak again in the fall and winter. Steve Russell / Toronto Star.

Toronto has introduced some heated shelters, with the justification that they make it easier for disabled users to use regular transit ("TTC installs 16 new heated and enclosed bus shelters," Toronto Star).

Apparently, Pittsburgh isn't getting a lot of snow, but like my blog entries, the mayor is trying to plan ahead after clearance failures ("Mayor outlines snow removal concerns," "One-third of Pittsburgh's plows were unavailable during weekend snowstorm: 'We have to invest in our fleet'," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).  

Similarly, the Boston Globe editorializes, "The disappearing snowplow," in support of state legislation providing financial incentives for snowplow operators so that they continue to operate. 

Toronto failed spectacularly with snow clearance last year, and this year doesn't look to be better ("Toronto could make snow clearing significantly better, report finds. But the city says it can’t afford to," Toronto Star, 2025 Winter Storm Response and Winter Maintenance Program Review: Recommendations and Implementation Plan).

According to the new report from Oakville-based consultants Municipal VU Consulting Inc., a system that offers “the fastest cleanup and the highest level of service reliability” would be the most expensive, at $130 million a year, $94.4 million of which accounts for having extra staff and equipment on standby.

Liisa Nisula, an East York resident, struggles with snow-covered sidewalks in the Danforth-Coxwell area in Toronto, Thursday, February 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

A lot of the coverage on last year's problems in Toronto focused on how inadequate snow clearance makes it especially hard for the disabled and those with children to get around ("People with mobility issues struggle to navigate sidewalks as cities rush to clear snow," "The magic of the snow is gone. Now we’re left with unplowed streets, dog-yellowed piles and road salt in our hair," Toronto Star). 

Other reports that schools stay closed "longer than they need to" partly because lack of snow clearance makes it hard for kids to walk to school ("Students' choice: Walk in the road or walk on the snow-covered sidewalk," Fox13).

This year, I hope the cities to the east of Utah are doing better on snow clearance for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users.

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Dealing with blizzards can be more than a matter of sustainable mobility, it can be about emergency management more generally and physical safety ("Buffalo Leaders Weren’t Ready for Blizzard That Killed 31, Report Says," NYT).

Five months after a blizzard devastated western New York, killing 31 residents of Buffalo, a report released on Friday cited multiple failures in the ci

Emergency warnings from city officials did not adequately convey how life-threatening the storm would be, the report said. City officials didn’t spread the word about the county’s travel ban for cars quickly enough and didn’t adequately stress the dangers of walking outside. And as the storm raged on, coordination between city, county and state officials became strained.

... The city’s response did not take into account the economic disparities that have existed in Buffalo for decades, they said. Those inequities meant, for instance, that many low-income residents could not afford to stock up on extra food before the blizzard, and as a result, risked driving or even walking out into the snow to get supplies for Christmas dinner.