The financing of sports arenas : the games played off the field : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

This paper grew out of my interest in two areas: sports and business. Unfortunately, my first love, sports, is now becoming a big business. Major league sports are now dependent upon stadiums and the revenue they generate. Unfortunately, these stadiums and their "creative" financing packages have serious ramifications on the local communities. Due to all the speculation surrounding stadiums and how they are financed, I decided to analyze this topic. This project examines the following areas: sources of financing, benefits of sports stadiums and sports franchises, and survey results from local businesspeople to determine the impact of the Indianapolis Colts on the community. This paper is supposed to illustrate the following concept: that sports franchises cannot support the costs of stadium construction and public investments in these projects cannot be justified.