“Domed” to Fail? Diverging Stakeholder Interests in a Stadium Referendum

Abstract

This paper explores the case of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1984, where a referendum to publicly fund a domed stadium failed. To do so, the interactions of stakeholders leading up to the referendum are reviewed. Examination of newspaper coverage in the Cleveland Plain Dealer focused on three events—the sale of the Cleveland Indians, the stadium development proposal, and the placement of the stadium issue on a crowded ballot. The team’s sale resulted in the mobilization of powerful stakeholders, but conflicting signals and a lack of consensus from political elites helped to defeat the proposal. Results are then discussed in terms of previous research examining stakeholder heterogeneity in order to understand why the referendum failed in this context.