In preparation to withstand Hurricane Milton, officials decided to use St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, as a shelter. Thousands of exhausted storm personnel and first responders. Reports say they abandoned the plan after realizing the strength of the storm could prove too strong for the dome-shaped building. stadium.
they were right.
But the destruction of Tropicana Field's Teflon-coated fiberglass roof is a problem that goes beyond the cost of repair and is a precursor to a larger problem.
The design and construction of elite sports facilities such as ballparks, stadiums, and arenas built for MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams has focused solely on generating revenue through the installation of premium (and expensive) seating. Ta. There are also corresponding amenities within the venue, many of which are adjacent to redevelopment plans in the form of shopping, restaurants and nightlife. However, academic research primarily shows that these venues do not: economic promise It often comes in the form of public subsidies or tax incentives for team owners.
Unfortunately, this design imperative, a focus on both in-game and annual revenue generation as catalysts for revitalization, falls short of a long tradition of prioritizing the needs of the residents of the communities in which these venues reside. is taking over. When elite professional sports venues are built, in whole or in part, with public funds, they need to provide other forms of value to local residents beyond the expected economic benefits.
Today, the communities where these venues are located need infrastructure that enables a resilient response to impending natural disasters and the ability to store and rapidly distribute emergency supplies to local residents. Major sports venues could be designed in a way that provides value to local residents by reducing risk and contributing to a resilient response. The increasing intensity and frequency of natural disasters may present an opportunity for those involved in promoting, approving, designing and constructing these elite facilities to rethink their purpose.
Some venues already reflect the intention to incorporate this purpose. For example, the design of Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium includes the ability to capture 2 million gallons of rainwater to minimize the chance of the area collapsing. flood.
Major sports venues located in densely populated areas. dodger stadium in los angelesNew Hampshire Motor Speedway, and other local facilities have also served as vaccine distribution hubs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, the NFL and FEMA announced a partnership in which four of the league's stadiums will be designated as “Mission Ready Venues” to serve as emergency response hubs should the communities in which those stadiums are located be hit by a weather-related disaster. announced that he had been selected. disaster.
While this announcement is certainly welcome, it remains to be seen how these existing venues will be able to deliver on this promise. Nevertheless, these are positive examples of the potential of these facilities to serve their host communities beyond the wins and losses that occur within the facility. But if the damage done at Tropicana Field is any indication, current venues are not yet ready to meet this pressing but unmet need.
The construction of large-scale sports venues has become a hot topic in various cities across the country. from nashville to chicago to cleveland to washington to las vegas And yes again st petersburgthis issue sits somewhere on a spectrum with team owners lobbying for a new venue on one end and construction on the verge of breaking ground on the other. This new wave of game venue rhetoric will require key decision makers—team owners, local politicians, league executives, and federal officials—to work together to effectively and efficiently respond to a variety of emergencies and related needs. This is an opportunity to incorporate enabling design elements and associated infrastructure.
Officials from the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and NASCAR, in consultation with officials from the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA, among others, will establish design standards that will allow these venues to provide preemptive assistance to local residents. and probably should be mandated. Provide communities with resilient responses to a wide range of disaster and health care delivery needs.
In late May, the Rays released the first rendering of the stadium they plan to build adjacent to Tropicana Field. Approved by the St. Petersburg City Council in July, the stadium will be the crown jewel of St. Pete's Historic Gas Works District. The estimated total cost of the stadium is $1.3 billion, of which $600 million will be funded by the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. According to reports, the city plans to sell the 65 acres of public land needed for the stadium for $105 million, well below the sale price. Appraised value. This represents another example of cities using sports to promote mixed-use development in neighborhoods in the name of economic impact and to subdue community needs unrelated to sports. .
That said, the renderings released by MLB make no mention of the stadium's role in future emergency response.
The tragic reality is that any ballpark not yet built will almost certainly experience severe natural disasters throughout its lifetime. Furthermore, the role that baseball stadiums can play as a tool to reduce the impact of such disasters on residents is far from certain. City, team and league officials need to deliver more, and local residents need to demand more. After all, they are the ones paying the price.
Dr. Keenan Gordon is an Associate Professor and Director of the Sports Leadership and Management Program at the University of New England School of Business. He is also a research fellow at the National Center for Spectator Sports Security.
