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Description:
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Abstract
Over the course of the last two decades there has been a great period of stadium construction amongst the four major American sports leagues . The bulk of the funding for said construction has come from public sources . Amongst politicians , taxpayers and economists there has been significant debate as to whether the public financing of these stadiums is a prudent public policy decision . Arguments in favor of public financing for sports stadiums have hinged on the assumption that the construction of new stadiums will have a positive impact upon revenues . Our study looks to investigate the validity of this assumption . We seek to determine the best methods of forecasting gate revenues both in the wake of a newly built stadium as well as in a period many years after their construction . From these results we hope to glean some useful information regarding the impact of newly constructed stadiums on demand for professional sports . Our results suggest that new stadiums provide a significant and positive shock to gate revenues . However , these shocks are not permanent and tend to wane over time . |