Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Public Management and Policy Dissertations Spring 3-7-2017 Minor League Metropolis: Urban Redevelopment Surrounding Minor League Baseball Stadiums Eric Joseph van Holm Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/pmap_diss Recommended Citation van Holm, Eric Joseph, "Minor League Metropolis: Urban Redevelopment Surrounding Minor League Baseball Stadiums." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2017. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/pmap_diss/63 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Public Management and Policy Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MINOR LEAGUE METROPOLIS: URBAN REDEVELOPMENT SURROUNDING MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STADIUMS A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty by Eric Joseph van Holm, MPPA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy Georgia State University Georgia Institute of Technology May 2017 Copyright © Eric Joseph van Holm 2017 MINOR LEAGUE METROPOLIS: URBAN REDEVELOPMENT SURROUNDING MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STADIUMS Approved by: Dr. Cathy Liu, Adviser Dr. Jesse Lecy Public Management and Policy Public Policy and Management Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Maxwell School Georgia State University Syracuse University Dr. Ann-Margaret Esnard Dr. Juan Rogers Public Management and Policy School of Public Policy Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Ivan Allen Liberal Arts College Georgia State University Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Joseph Hacker Public Management and Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University Date Approved: March 7th, 2017 To my parents, who instilled in me a love of baseball by suffering through many an afternoon at the ballpark with a squirming child. And to my wife, Clare, whom I look forward to sharing the same suffering with someday. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My long journey towards a doctorate has not been taken alone. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee for your tireless advice and guidance throughout the arduous process. The rigor and meticulousness you brought to my project has improved my dissertation and future research immensely. Dr. Cathy Liu, thank you for your support and mentoring; I will never forget that I first proposed what eventually became the quantitative analysis in your class my second semester. Dr. Jesse Lecy, I am in your debt for years of advice and guidance, and I look forward to continued opportunities to work together in the future. Dr. Hacker, the daily conversation and occasional beer have helped to keep me sane throughout the journey to finishing the program. Dr. Rogers, your comments, particularly on the foundations of the project, have improved it immeasurably and will continue to shape my approach to future research questions. And Dr. Esnard, you joined the committee in a moment of crises and I will always be thankful for that, but your comments throughout the research were irreplaceable. Graduating would have been impossible without the love and support of my family. I would like to thank my wife, who (then my girlfriend) moved across the country to help me pursue my goal. I could not have survived the program without you, and I look forward to the bright future we have built together. To my parents, thank you for your support and encouragement as I took an uncertain leap. Emily, your sarcastic support (and love) has been invaluable; I am so very glad to have you as a sister and a iv friend. And to my brother, who beat me to this accomplishment by over a decade in a much more difficult field; you have provided a wonderful example of intellectual inquiry. I would like to thank the many friends that have helped me to overcome the multitude of challenges involved in earning this degree. Sandy Zook, Chris Wyczalkowski, Rahul Pathak, Bryce Farbstein, Mahmoud Elsayed, Sherman Cooper, Xi Huang, Chris King, and Obed Pasha, I could not have endured through the first classes let alone comps without you all by my side. Here’s to the many years of continued intellectual growth and exchange we have ahead. And to all those I have worked with as part of the LEAD program across the years, I thank you for the time we spent together. I’d like to offer a special thanks to Wes Wynens, Jeff Davis, Alison Southern, and Stacey Doremus for their management of the programs through its tremendous and well deserved growth; I know the sky is the limit. Any list of names of those I have spent time with as part of LEAD will be incomplete, but thank you to Camille Barchers, Ross Beppler, Simone Johnson, Janille Smith-Colin, Hommood Alrowais, Courtney Di Vittorio, Newton Chan, Rylan Wolfe and the many more individuals with whom I have shared the program. The hours we spent together were often the most enlightening and enjoyable part of my week. I would like to acknowledge and thank Georgia State University for the funding of my dissertation through the Andrew Young School Dissertation Fellowship and the Georgia State University Dissertation Grant. In addition, I have received funding for the project from the Mercatus Center, both in the form of a research grant and the Visiting Dissertation Fellowship for the 2016-17 academic year. The Mercatus Center has provided financial and intellectual support to me throughout my graduate studies, and I v would like to particularly extend my thanks to Erica Celler, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch, and Bethany Stalter for your assistance, generosity, and friendship over the years. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix SUMMARY x INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Urban Context 2 1.2 What is Minor League Baseball? 5 1.3 Theoretical framework 11 1.4 Organization of Remaining Paper 14 LITERATURE REVIEW 16 2.1 Urban Redevelopment and Renewal 16 2.2 How the Public Subsidizes Stadiums 20 2.3 Why the Public Funds Sports Stadiums 23 2.4 The Politics of Sports Subsidies 30 2.5 Summary 34 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 36 3.1 Data Sources 37 3.2 Stadium Locations 40 3.3 Evaluation 50 3.4 Summary 65 CASE STUDIES 67 4.1 Research Methodology 67 4.2 Case Study of Toledo, Ohio. 73 4.3 Case Study of Louisville, Kentucky 89 CONCLUSION 104 5.1 Results 104 5.2 Interpretation. 108 APPENDIX A. Minor League Baseball Structure 119 APPENDIX B. Control Cities Without Stadiums 122 APPENDIX C. Index for Case Selection 124 APPENDIX D. Interview Questions 125 REFERENCES 126 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Range of CBSAs hosting Minor League Baseball 10 Table 2.1. Stadia Construction Costs 20 Table 2.2. Summary of Stadium Evaluations on Urban Redevelopment 27 Table 3.1. Stadiums and Cities in Sample 39 Table 3.2. Summary Statistics in 2000 44 Table 3.3. Location Analysis Regression 46 Table 3.4. T-Test for Changes from 1990 to 2000 49 Table 3.5. Dependent Variables 56 Table 3.6. Full Sample Results 59 Table 3.7. Matched Sample Results 62 Table 3.8. Non-Facilities Sample 64 Table 4.1. Description of Tracts Treated in Toledo 81 Table 4.2. Pre-Treatment Status of Toledo Tracts 81 Table 4.3. Percent Changes in Treated Tracts since 2000 83 Table 4.4. Changes in Downtown Toledo Through 2015 85 Table 4.5. Economic Census Data for Toledo 86 Table 4.5. Pre-Treatment Status of Louisville Tracts 97 Table 4.6. Change in Treated Louisville from 2000 to 2010 98 Table 4.7. Economic Census Data for Louisville 99 Table 5.1 Codes for Qualitative Research 107 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Stadium Spending by League 8 Figure 1.2 Change in Stadium Cost 9 Figure 3.1. Standardized Differences 61 Figure 4.1. Toledo, Oh: Population (and National Rank) 75 Figure 4.2. Toledo, OH: Median Home Values 75 Figure 4.3. Toledo Treatment Area 80 Figure 4.4. Treatment Tracts to Zip Code 43604 87 Figure 4.5. Louisville, KY: Population (and National Rank) 90 Figure 4.6. Louisville, KY: Median Home Values 92 Figure 4.7. Percentage of African-Americans in Louisville 92 Figure 4.8. Percentage African-American by Tract in Louisville 2000 92 Figure 4.9. Louisville Treatment Tracts 94 Figure 4.10. Treatment Tracts to Zip Code 40202 99 Figure 5.1. Relationship of Qualitative Codes 108 ix SUMMARY Special Activity Generators have been a policy popular with governments across the country seeking to revitalize lethargic downtowns. Sports facilities, a widespread form of Special Activity Generators, have been shown to be incapable of generating regional economic benefits, but are able to generate urban redevelopment. While sports facilities are well studied by academics, minor league stadiums have not been the focus of significant research despite the larger number of such projects. My dissertation uses a sequential explanatory mixed methodology to answer whether minor league baseball stadiums are successful as Special Activity Generators. I first use a quantitative analysis of sixteen stadiums built around the year 2000 which finds a significant effect of the stadium on nearby neighborhoods in comparison to the rest of the city. However, that growth is created by concentrating redevelopment, not creating unique activity. Two case studies clarify that the stadiums were critical to the observed redevelopment efforts, but also that there is a need for thorough planning and collocated amenities prior to construction in order to maximize the results from the public investment. x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Major league sports facilities have been a central focus of urban scholars for the past three decades but the arenas and stadiums of the minor leagues have received far less attention.