Abstract
Migrants play a vital role in economic development, and city amenities play an important role in attracting migrants. This paper explores the role of one such amenity—major league sports stadiums—plays in intra-U.S. migration decisions. We use Internal Revenue Service tax-filing data and stadium construction data for major sports stadiums between 1991 and 2014 to create an unbalanced panel of migration flows between 439,386 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) pairs. Analyzing migration patterns over various time windows following the construction of new sports facilities, we find little evidence that new sports facility construction or the aggregate expenditures on new sports stadiums draw migrants between U.S. MSAs. We find weak evidence that suggests stadium construction acts as a deterrent to migration. Our primary conclusion is that spending on stadiums is not only ineffective in attracting migrants, but the opportunity cost associated with stadium construction likely reduces the ability of MSAs to attract migrants through the provision of other amenities or public goods.
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Appendices
Appendix A: New stadium and arena construction
City | Venue | Sport | Opening Year | Cost (Nominal $) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Atlanta, GA | Turner Field | Baseball | 1997 | $209 million |
Atlanta, GA | State Farm Arena | Basketball/Hockey | 1999 | $213.5 million |
Baltimore, MD | Camden Yards | Baseball | 1992 | $106.5 million |
Baltimore, MD | M&T Bank Stadium | Football | 1998 | $223 million |
Boston, MA | TD Garden | Basketball/Hockey | 1995 | $160 million |
Boston, MA | Gillette Stadium | Football | 2002 | $325 million |
Buffalo, NY | KeyBank Center | Hockey | 1996 | $127.5 million |
Charlotte, NC | Bank of America Stadium | Football | 1996 | $248 million |
Charlotte, NC | Spectrum Center | Basketball | 2005 | $260 million |
Chicago, IL | Guaranteed Rate Field | Baseball | 1991 | $150 million |
Chicago, IL | United Center | Basketball/Hockey | 1994 | $175 million |
Cincinnati, OH | Paul Brown Stadium | Football | 2000 | $445 million |
Cincinnati, OH | Great American Ballpark | Baseball | 2003 | $290 million |
Cleveland, OH | Progressive Field | Baseball | 1994 | $175 million |
Cleveland, OH | Quicken Loans Arena | Basketball | 1994 | $100 million |
Cleveland, OH | FirstEnergy Stadium | Football | 1999 | $283 million |
Columbus, OH | Nationwide Arena | Hockey | 2000 | $175 million |
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | Globe Life Park (Defunct) | Baseball | 1994 | $191 million |
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | American Airlines Arena | Basketball/Hockey | 2001 | $420 million |
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | AT&T Stadium | Football | 2009 | $1,300 million |
Denver, CO | Coors Field | Baseball | 1995 | $300 million |
Denver, CO | Pepsi Center | Basketball/Hockey | 1999 | $187 million |
Denver, CO | Empower Field at Mile High | Football | 2001 | $400.9 million |
Detroit, MI | Comerica Park | Baseball | 2000 | $300 million |
Detroit, MI | Ford Field | Football | 2002 | $500 million |
Houston, TX | Minute Maid Park | Baseball | 2000 | $250 million |
Houston, TX | NRG Stadium | Football | 2002 | $352 million |
Houston, TX | Toyota Center | Basketball | 2003 | $235 million |
Indianapolis, IN | Bankers Life Fieldhouse | Basketball | 1999 | $183 million |
Indianapolis, IN | Lucas Oil Stadium | Football | 2008 | $720 million |
Jacksonville, FL | TIAA Bank Field | Football | 1995 | $121 million |
Los Angeles-Anaheim, CA | Honda Center | Hockey | 1993 | $123 million |
Los Angeles-Anaheim, CA | Staples Center | Basketball/Hockey | 1999 | $375 million |
Louisville, KY | KFC YUM! Center | College Basketball (Downtown, professional scale) | 2010 | $238 million |
Memphis, TN | The Memphis Pyramid | Basketball | 1991 | $65 million |
Memphis, TN | Fedex Forum | Basketball | 2004 | $250 million |
Miami, FL | American Airlines Arena | Basketball | 2000 | $213 million |
Miami, FL | loanDepot Park | Baseball | 2012 | $634 million |
Milwaukee, WI | American Family Field | Baseball | 2001 | $400 million |
Minneapolis, MN | Target Center | Basketball/Hockey | 1990 | $104 million |
Minneapolis, MN | Target Field | Baseball | 2010 | $555 million |
Nashville, TN | Nissan Stadium | Football | 1996 | $264 million |
Nashville, TN | Bridgestone Arena | Hockey | 1999 | $144 million |
New Orleans, LA | Smoothie King Center | Basketball/Hockey | 2001 | $114 million |
New York-Newark, NY-NJ | Prudential Center | Hockey | 2007 | $375 million |
New York, NY | Citi Field | Baseball | 2009 | $830.6 million |
New York, NY | Yankee Stadium | Baseball | 2009 | $1,500 million |
New York, NY | Metlife Stadium | Football | 2010 | $1,600 million |
New York, NY | Barclays Center | Basketball | 2012 | $1,000 million |
Oklahoma City, OK | Chesapeake Energy Arena | Basketball | 2002 | $89.2 million |
Omaha, NE | CHI Health Center Omaha | College Basketball (Downtown, professional scale) | 2003 | $291 million |
Orlando, FL | Amway Center | Basketball | 2010 | $480 million |
Philadelphia, PA | Wells Fargo Center | Basketball | 1996 | $210 million |
Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field | Football | 2003 | $512 million |
Philadelphia, PA | Citizens Bank Park | Baseball | 2004 | $458 million |
Phoenix, AZ | Talking Stick Resort Arena | Basketball/Hockey | 1992 | $96 million |
Phoenix, AZ | Chase Field | Baseball | 1998 | $354 million |
Phoenix, AZ | State Farm Stadium | Football | 2006 | $455 million |
Pittsburgh, PA | PNC Park | Baseball | 2001 | $273.5 million |
Pittsburgh, PA | Heinz Field | Football | 2001 | $263 million |
Pittsburgh, PA | PPG Paints Arena | Hockey | 2004 | $319.7 million |
Portland, OR | Moda Center | Basketball | 1995 | $262 million |
Raleigh, NC | PNC Arena | Hockey | 1999 | $158 million |
St. Louis, MO | Enterprise Center | Hockey | 1994 | $170 million |
St. Louis, MO | The Dome at America’s Center | Football | 1995 | $280 million |
St. Louis, MO | Busch Stadium | Baseball | 2006 | $365 million |
Salt Lake City, UT | Vivint Arena | Basketball | 1991 | $94 million |
San Antonio, TX | Alamodome | Basketball/Football | 1993 | $186 million |
San Antonio, TX | AT&T Center | Basketball | 2002 | $186 million |
San Diego, CA | Petco Park | Baseball | 2004 | $453 million |
San Francisco, CA | Oracle Park | Baseball | 2000 | $357 million |
San Francisco, CA | Levi’s Stadium | Football | 2014 | $1,300 million |
San Jose, CA | SAP Center | Hockey | 1993 | $162.5 million |
Seattle, WA | T-Mobile Park | Baseball | 1999 | $517 million |
Seattle, WA | Lumen Field | Football | 2002 | $430 million |
Tampa, FL | Amalie Arena | Hockey | 1996 | $139 million |
Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium | Football | 1998 | $168.5 million |
Washington D.C | Capital One Arena | Basketball/Hockey | 1997 | $175 million |
Washington D.C | Fedex Field | Football | 1997 | $250.5 million |
Washington D.C | Nationals Park | Baseball | 2008 | $693 million |
Appendix B: Alternative model specifications and robustness analysis
In Tables B1 to B3, we include measures for the share of 18 + population w/ bachelors degree and the unemployment rate at both the origin and destination MSA. Table B1 shows the results for 4-Year Migration Following New Stadium Construction. Table B2 shows the results for 2-Year Migration Following New Stadium Construction. And Table B3 shows the results for 4-Year Migration and Stadium Construction Costs.
In Table B4, we include a measure of institutions in our estimation model. We quantify institutional quality using Stansel’s (2019) Economic Freedom Index (EFI) for U.S. MSAs. The MSA EFI is published for 5-year periods and the aggregate index contains three sub-indices: Government Spending, Taxation, and Labor Market Freedoms. We measure differences in EFI across MSAs using gaps, defined by ratios of indexes. For example, the economic freedom gap is defined as,
for \({\text{MSA}}_{i}\) to \({\text{MSA}}_{j}\) at time t. A gap value of one means that the quality of institutions in MSAi is the same as in MSAj. Gap values greater than one reflect higher quality local institutions in the origin MSA. We focus on new stadium cost as the explanatory variable of interest and construct a similar gap measure based on inflation adjusted new stadium costs for MSA pairs averaged over matching 5-year periods.
Table B4 presents the results of fixed effects OLS regression, controlling for economic freedom as a measure of institutional quality. Institutional quality does impact migration; however, these results once again fail to reject the null hypothesis that stadium construction influences migration. The confidence intervals around the construction expenditure variable are tightly bound to zero. Our point effects for economic freedom and income are in-line with the initial findings from Arif et al. (2020).
Tables B5 and B6 present the results of models in which we change the migration window from two or four years post-construction to the same year the stadium was built (Table B5) and two years before the stadium was completed (Table B6). Similar to our previous findings, stadium construction has no significant relationship with net migration. In the same year (Table B5) that the stadium opens, we observe a small increase in migratory inflows, but those are matched by an increase in migratory outflows.
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Arif, I., Hoffer, A., Humphreys, B. et al. New sports facilities do not drive migration between US cities. Econ Gov 23, 195–217 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-022-00271-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-022-00271-4