Suicide squeeze: How minor league cities chase economic development with big-league stadium schemes

ABSTRACT

Economic development practitioners often chase the next great idea to grow their economy, especially their downtowns. A project that many large cities have looked to as a panacea is the sports stadium. Smaller, mid-sized cities have also joined the stadium craze by poaching Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams via flashy downtown stadium developments, often using the same playbook that large cities have employed. Recently, the City of Wichita, Kansas, undertook a minor league stadium project as an economic development strategy. This paper uses an urban regime theory lens to track the political deal-making and financial engineering that made it possible for Wichita to lure the “Baby Cakes” MiLB team from New Orleans. This study demonstrates that mid-sized cities use the same backroom deal-making perfected by their larger peers to push a fragile form of development that frequently makes minimal economic sense.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The increased project cost also required US$16 million in general obligation bond funding from the city’s Capital Improvement Program, contrary to claims that the project would be funded exclusively by revenues generated by the project. The city later approved a Community Improvement District, which levies an additional 2% sales tax within a defined area, to fund an additional US$16.5 million.

2. The STAR bond program is notoriously lax regarding feasibility studies and verification and was at the time under threat of sunsetting by the state legislature.

3. The agreement would require development in three phases: 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, restaurants, and/or hotel/hospitality space within 15 months of the stadium opening, completed within 18 months of start; 20,000 additional square feet in commencing within the following 12 months and finishing within 18 months of start; and a final 15,000 square feet commencing within 12 months of the second phase and completion within 18 months of start. The three phases, thus, require 65,000 square feet of commercial development over 8 years following the opening of the stadium. Nonperformance would trigger repurchase of the land by the city for the amount paid, approximately $4.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Buckman

Stephen Buckman is an Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at Clemson University and holds a PhD from Arizona State University. His research is centered on resiliency as it pertains to real estate development, public private partnerships, and community real estate development.

Alex Pemberton

Alex Pemberton is a real estate developer and investor based in Nashville, Tennessee. He holds a Master of Real Estate Development from Clemson University, where he focused on urban redevelopment, public-private partnerships, and development finance.