A considerable amount of the material you read in this class deals with the theoretical advantages and disadvantages
of publicly-funded stadium projects, with some brief case study examples thrown in for illustration. This assignment
is a chance for you to study one particular city’s experiences with this process in greater detail. You will choose one
city and stadium (sport) from a list of places (see page 3 below) that have engaged in one of these projects for a
professional sports team during the past few decades. Your task will then be to write a twelve to fifteen-page
(double-spaced) research paper that consists of the following information and narrative.
1. A one-page, single-spaced, executive summary (extended abstract) describing the major findings of your research.
As a general rule, an executive summary should consist of several original paragraphs that inform its reader of the
most important information that its author discovered in composing her work without repeating anything from her
research paper (or progress report, see below) verbatim.
2. A brief (one-page) overview of the history of stadium-building in your city prior to the 1990s.
3. A description of the local growth coalition members (e.g., team and league representatives, regional political and
economic elites, public opinion leaders, media personalities, community activists) involved in the negotiations and
controversies that led up to the decision to build the project in question.
4. The major arguments and evidence cited by each actor in favor of, or in opposition to, granting the subsidy to
construct the stadium or arena.
5. The political process that was employed to adopt the stadium-building plan.
6. The sources of the money used to fund any subsidies for the project, as well as any other relevant financial or
commercial details of the plan that was eventually approved.
7. An evaluative or speculative conclusion concerning whether the city has reaped, or will soon reap, sufficient
financial or image benefits to justify the costs of the stadium-building project.
This research paper is NOT a quantitative cost-benefit analysis; the narrative concerning the politics of your project
should take precedence in your report over describing its economics. However, you should be familiar with the
concepts behind, and politics of, cost-benefit analysis as described in the relevant chapter of Mintrom. This paper
will require a considerable amount of outside research; perusing the team’s and league’s web sites for information about
your stadium, and consulting the local newspaper’s archives. Although there is no absolute minimum number of
sources that is required for this assignment, your instructor believes that it cannot be completed using fewer than
eight to ten high-quality sources of information. The quality of your research materials counts as much as their
quantity; online encyclopedia entries (like those on About.com or Answers.com) and non-professionally edited
material (like from Wikipedia or Ballparks of Baseball) are NEVER acceptable sources for an academic paper!
Helmke Library’s main web page has a useful set of discussions (listed under “Research Tools”) that can help sort
the gems from the dross in the online information universe; you should consult them, a librarian, or your instructor
for assistance in finding useful academic or professional pieces if you are having trouble tracking them down.
NOTE: a detailed research
paper progress report (status update) of approximately one-half to one full single-spaced page is due by 11:00 PM
on October 13. (One way to think about this update is as a “draft executive summary” as it must encapsulate the
most important information about your subject that you have encountered thus far in your research.) As the syllabus
indicates, the entire project is due on December 1.
I will give you a month to write this paper, however, as you are writing this paper, I will keep you update with the material you have to look at. Also, I will need you to give me a one half single space page that report the progress of the paper on Oct. 13
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