A Bad Case of ‘Peanut Envy’: Concessions Markets and Monopoly Power at Chicago’s United Center

Abstract

In recent decades, sports franchises have exploited their privileged relationship to the state in order to expand the scope of their local monopoly powers. This article examines efforts by the owners of the United Center, the home arena of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, to eliminate competition from local peanut vendors. The owners benefited from court rulings rejecting the legitimacy of government intervention in local markets at the same time that they successfully lobbied municipal politicians to intervene on their behalf by passing anti-vendor legislation. This story not only offers a case study in how teams’ monopolistic privilege has extended to concessions markets, but also contributes to a broader understanding of how the neoliberal state works to minimize risk and maximize profitability for large-scale real estate investments like sports arenas. The methodological approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on legal and business history, urban geography and sociology, and radical political economy.