Question

currently the structure of sports economy has been significantly affected...give reason why.?

Answer 1

There has been a dramatic increase in sports facilities in the past few years. In fact, between 1991 and 2006, sixty-four new major league facilities were built (Feng and Humphreys, 2008). One high profile construction deal is Yankee Stadium, which was originally built in 1923 for $2 million. In 1973, the stadium was refurbished at a cost of $100 million (Fried, Shapiro & DeSchriver, 2008). In June 2005, the Yankees officially announced plans to construct a new Yankee Stadium. The construction cost is expected to be around $1.3 billion, which the Yankees will pay for. New York City is expected to spend $220 million on infrastructure and various other improvements across the area. The Yankees are slated to play their first game in the new facility on April 16, 2009 (Ballparks of Baseball, 2008).After several years of negotiations, the New York Mets announced plans for a new ballpark in April 2006. They received approval for $632.1 million in bonds to be used for the construction of a new facility that will be built adjacent to Shea Stadium. The naming rights of the new facility were purchased by Citigroup, Inc. for $20 million per year over the next twenty years. In return, the new stadium will be famously called Citi Field (Ballparks of Baseball, 2008).With the new Yankee stadium and the Mets’ Citi Field both expected to open in 2009, the construction trends continue to expand to greater capacities. Combined, these two facilities will host 125 luxury suites, costing upwards of $2,500 per person per game. Each suite will have a capacity of up to approximately thirty fans. The New York Red Bulls, a Major League Soccer team, are also in the midst of constructing a new facility. This facility will have 20,000 seats, with the first row being just twenty-one feet from the field. A translucent roof will be constructed to cover all 20,000 seats. According to a Red Bulls spokesman, “it will be the benchmark stadium by which all other soccer stadiums in North America are measured” (Riper, 2008).Another highly visible new construction site is that of the Dallas Cowboys stadium. The planned structure is enormous, with approximately 80,000 seats and a retractable roof. This amazing facility is set to be constructed on 2.3 million square feet. To understand the enormity of this building, the American Airlines Center in Dallas could easily be placed inside the new stadium. It will host 200 luxury suites on five different levels of the facility. Perhaps the most amazing feature is the retractable roof. When the roof is retracted, there will be an open area of approximately 256 feet wide and 410 feet long. At each end zone, a five-leaf clear glass retractable door can be opened in only 18 minutes. Each glass door will measure 120 feet high and 180 feet wide, setting a record as the tallest moving glass wall in the world. There will be 14 different ways to enter the stadium from surrounding highways. With 286 different concession areas and over 1,600 toilets, this facility is sure to attract fans from all areas of the nation (Dallas Cowboys, n.d.).While there are currently several new construction projects taking place, there are also several proposals that are failing due to the economy. The Tampa Bay Rays, for example, announced in June that they were postponing plans for a new $450 million ballpark. This particular project called for $100 million in tourist tax dollars from the county and an additional $75 million from the city. Both the county and city felt that they were “being rushed to commit millions of public dollars for the controversial project” (Moncada, 2008).