Urban Planning Expert to Speak at University of Richmond on Public Funding of Professional Sports Facilities
September 7, 2005
“Governments pay far more to participate in the development of sports facilities than is commonly understood,” says Judith Long, an urban planning expert at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, who will speak on the subject at the University of Richmond Sept. 8.
Long says officials routinely omit public subsidies for land and infrastructure and the ongoing cost of operations when predicting the results of such projects. Her recent study of major league sports facilities shows uncounted and hidden costs increase the amount of public subsidy by an average of 40 percent per project.
Long will address the proposal to build a new downtown Richmond stadium in her talk, “Full Count: Examining Public Funding for Professional Sports Facilities,” at Weinstein Hall, Brown-Alley Room, at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. Long’s visit is sponsored by the university’s Center for Civic Engagement.
Global Development Partners has proposed building a multimillion-dollar stadium for the minor league Richmond Braves in the city’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood and surrounding it with development of shops, apartments and office space.
Reaction to the proposal from residents, businesses and preservationists has been mixed. Proponents say the project would create thousands of jobs in a flood-damaged and crime-ridden area. Opponents say funding this stadium with taxpayer dollars is wrong and will eradicate a historic aspect of downtown Richmond.
Long has published articles and commentaries on the subject in the Journal of Sports and Economics, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, Sports Business News and other periodicals. She is a certified urban planner who has practiced extensively for Canadian governments, managing innovative strategies for downtown redevelopment, urban design and historic preservation. She was formerly assistant professor of urban planning at Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey and holds a doctorate in urban planning and master’s of real estate development from Harvard.
On Sept. 9, Long will speak again at the university on “Major League Cities: The Role of Sports and Tourism Infrastructure in Urban and Community Development” at 12:30 p.m. in Tyler Haynes Commons 201. The presentation is also free and open to the public.
For more information, contact the Center for Civic Engagement at (804) 484-1600 or engage@richmond.edu.