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Left on Base: Minor League Baseball Stadiums and Gentrification

Urban Affairs Review

Published online on

Abstract

Researchers have analyzed stadiums as an urban redevelopment tool for two decades but little work has studied what effect sports facilities have on gentrification. This article attempts to fill that void in the literature, using a multicity panel study to understand how minor league baseball stadiums affect the immediately surrounding areas on measures of redevelopment and gentrification. Regression results show that census tracts near a new minor league baseball stadium saw significant increases in the median income and slower growth in the share of minorities, but no change in the median rent or the overall rate of residential turnover. These findings indicate that minor league baseball stadiums create elements of both economic growth and demographic change, an outcome that deserves consideration when planning similar projects in the future.