Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Goldwater has made no direct comment so far, but posted this May 8th - Do sports teams really drive economic growth?:
http://goldwaterinstitute.org/blog/d...conomic-growth
As an extensive 2008 review of the peer-reviewed economic studies published over the past 20 years concludes: "No matter what cities or geographical areas are examined, no matter what estimators are used, no matter what model specifications are used, and no matter what variables are used, articles published in peer reviewed economic journals contain almost no evidence that professional sports franchises and facilities have a measurable economic impact on the economy."
One of the main reasons sports teams and the facilities in which they play are not drivers of economic growth is because they don't create new economic activity. Instead, they displace other forms of economic activity. |
I don't know if I believe that, though. Plenty of people will visit a city to attend a sporting event where they might otherwise spend that money elsewhere on a different trip, etc.
Every summer I do a baseball trip where I hit up 4-5 different cities. If cities like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, etc. didn't have MLB teams I would not be visiting them.
Similarly, I'm sure any number of people on these message boards (including myself) who live outside Calgary can talk about times they visited the city to watch a Flames game. I'll drive three hours to see the Flames play on a Saturday night. If there are no Flames, I'm staying in Edmonton and doing something else.