| By: |
Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross);
Robert Baade (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College) |
| Abstract: |
Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in late August 2005, and
debates are now underway across the country concerning strategies for
reconstructing the City. A key to redevelopment involves encouraging former
citizens and businesses to return. Both of New Orleans’s professional sports
teams, the National Football League Saints and the National Basketball
Association Hornets, have taken up residence in other cities, and the question
of what the city should provide in the way of financial accommodation to
encourage them to return should be considered in devising a reconstruction
plan. Infrastructure to facilitate professional sports and mega-events
constitutes a significant fraction of capital budgets for even the largest
cities. New Orleans has hosted a disproportionate share of mega-sports events
in the United States given its size and demographics. An important question
concerns whether these events have contributed enough to the New Orleans
economy to justify reinvestment in infrastructure to restore New Orleans’s
place as a leading host of professional sports and mega-events in the United
States. A careful review of the evidence suggests that the redevelopment
efforts of New Orleans are better directed at first providing infrastructure
that will encourage the return of its middle class citizenry and the
restoration of its culture. Playing host to professional sports and
mega-events does have symbolic significance, but it is arguable that the city
cannot afford to invite guests until it has the means to accommodate them. |
| Keywords: |
sports, public finance, economic impact, New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina |
| JEL: |
H25 H71 H40 L83 Q54 |
| Date: |
2006–02 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0603&r=spo |