IASE/NAASE Working Paper Series, No. 08-16 Stadium Architecture and Regional Economic Development: International Experience and the Plans of Durban Wolfgang Maennig†† and Florian Schwarthoff † August 2008 Abstract For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily. The positive economic effects that the country is hoping for stand in contrast to almost all statistical ex-post studies. This contribution emphasises that these results, usually from research under-taken in the USA, can only be generalised to a limited degree. The density of sports venues in developed countries is so high, that the marginal effects of new stadia are necessarily limited. We also emphasise that stadium design around the world was not hitherto adequately targeted towards positive economic effects. The example of Durban and its plans for a new “iconic” stadium is used to illustrate fundamental principles of stadium design and their embedding in a re-urbanisation process that have to be undertaken in order to consciously achieve positive regional economic effects. JEL Classification Codes: L83 Keywords: Demand for sport, soccer, mono-functional arenas, multifunctional stadia This paper is also available as Hamburg Contemporary Economic Discussions, No. 04-2006. †University of Hamburg, Chair for Economic Policy, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany, E-mail:
[email protected], phone: +49 (0)40 42838 - 4622, fax: +49 (0)40 42838 - 6251 ††GMP Gerkan Marg & Partners International Hardenbergstrasse 4-5, D-10623 Berlin, Germany, Tel +49 30 614855,
[email protected] Wolfgang Maennig & Florian Schwarthoff Stadium Architecture and Regional Economic Development: International Experience and the Plans of Durban Abstract: For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily.