Sin city betting on the major leagues? An analysis of the sport-based approach to economic redevelopment in Las Vegas

Abstract

The city of Las Vegas, Nevada was one of the hardest hit communities in the United States during the 2008 Great Recession. As the nation emerged from the economic downturn, city and state officials worked together to create a framework through which the region could become more proactive in its future through economic diversification. That effort resulted in the creation of an urban regime, a working committee of private and public stakeholders who collaborated to offer recommendations to the governor. One such recommendation was a $750 million subsidy to build a large-scale football stadium, one of the largest sport facility public subsidy to date. This qualitative inquiry examined regime development and the decision-making process at the local and state level that led to approval of the stadium subsidy. Through a historical research approach, we examined how the Las Vegas stadium regime coalesced, and how economic conditions, politics, and ideology may have influenced the regime’s decision-making.