Stadium Development Research Articles

Many Hands, Much Politics, Multiple Risks – The Case of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Stadium

Not only one of the world's most remarkable sports facilities but also the first Public‐Private Partnership sport facility in China, the National Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games has drawn much attention, received much help, produced much political debate and experienced multiple risks during its development and construction. But, at last, it was completed in time with good quality and at a reasonable cost. It played an important role in facilitating the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, giving an indelible impression to the world. This article reviews issues that arose during the stadium's development and construction and considers the risks encountered and lessons drawn. The construction and management arrangement was widely considered to be a public‐private partnership, but it is important to note that the so‐called private side consisted of a mix of public, blended public‐private and fully private organisations.

The definition of fire resistance requirements for stadium and arena developments based on risk

In the United Kingdom, as in most other countries, the required fire resistance period of a building is traditionally given by the recommendations of prescriptive documents, such as the Approved Document B, depending on the usage and the height of the building. However, for large developments like stadia and arenas, which involve different usages such as assembly, office and retail facilities in combination with a very large number of people and the significance of this type of structure to the communities, these simple rules given in the prescriptive guidance to fire safety are not applicable. Furthermore, structural fire protection forms a significant part of the cost of a structure and also plays a significant part in the environmental impact and the embodied energy. Therefore, a risk based approach to the fire resistance requirements of large stadia and arenas has been developed and validated in this paper to ensure that the appropriate standard of safety is achieved in the most appropriate and economic manner. The approach allows a detailed assessment of the risk of failure of individual elements of structure and structural systems in a stadium rather than specifying a single fire resistance period for the whole building, which might be overly conservative for some members, but potentially unsafe for critical elements. The approach also allows for investigating the influence of individual parameters such as management, and the fire load. The method ensures that all three risk parameters i.e. frequency, probability, consequence will be assessed for the different structural elements based on available data from similar buildings, calculations and experiences. It could be shown that the proposed method gives consistent and comparable results for office, retail and assembly buildings, if compared with the recommendations given in the British Standard BS9999. It should be noted that the approach is based on the principles of risk; however it is semi-quantitative, and as a result contains some subjectivity. Therefore, it is important that the results are assessed for consistency and that they are logical and explainable.

Public Consultation and Stadium Developments: Coercion and the Polarization of Debate

Despite growing calls from activists and sport scholars for public consultation over the expenditure of public funds for stadium developments, there remains a lack of empirical research that examines the politics of these practices. This study critically examines the power relations and tensions present in the public-consultation processes and debates over the use of public funds to renovate or rebuild Carisbrook stadium. Specifically, we engage the enabling and constraining institutional mechanisms that structured five public meetings, which emerged as discursive political spaces in the policy-making process. In doing so, we critically examine the discourses that were actively shaped by stadium proponents to fit the mandates of neoliberal growth and resisted by concerned citizens who opposed: (a) the use of public funds to renovate or rebuild the stadium, and (b) a consultation process driven by a public–private partnership of business, civic, and rugby interests that had perplexing consequences for democratic politics in local governance.

Political Leadership and Stadium Development in Chicago: Some Cautionary Notes on the Uses of Regime Analysis

AbstractBetween 1988 and 1994, Chicago was the site of three major sports stadium projects — the construction of the new Comiskey Park (since renamed US Cellular Field) and the United Center, as well as the addition of stadium‐lighting to the venerable Wrigley Field. This article analyzes the implementation of these projects with the aim of critiquing and reorienting contemporary regime theory. The more particular amendments to typical regime analysis focus on the ‘opportunism’ of political figures in shaping agendas and carrying through projects. The larger suggestions growing from this analysis pertain to the nature of regime theory as a mode of political analysis and, additionally, to a reconceptualization of how regime analysis can be linked to the normative assessment of urban policy.

The Development of Stadiums as Centers of Large Entertainment Areas. The Amsterdam ArenA Case

On August 14th 1996, the opening ceremony of the Amsterdam ArenA took place; the first stadium intended to be a multifunctional structure, a place where to host a wide variety of events, with a highway passing underneath the pitch and with a sliding roof. The Amsterdam ArenA case represents a successful example of private-public partnership. A win-win solution has brought benefits to both parties. In today’s competitive global markets, the event itself is no longer sufficient to motivate consumers to pay expensive tickets and parking fees. To be worthwhile, spectators expect to be immersed in an experience. AFC Ajax remains the stadium’s anchor tenant, Nevertheless the Amsterdam ArenA case also demonstrates the role that a stadium can play as a catalyst for urban renewal.

Public cost for private gain? Recent and proposed ‘national’ stadium developments in the UK, and commonalities with North America

A number of recent and proposed stadium developments in the UK have filled a perceived ‘national’ need. Subsidies for such developments have been obtained from public sources, although in most cases the facilities are privately owned. This paper examines the debate over stadium subsidy extant in North America, and considers whether the American experience can illuminate the issue of subsidy and public good in the UK.

A Level Playing Field? Sports Stadium Infrastructure and Urban Development in the United Kingdom

A number of cities in the United Kingdom have recently placed a policy focus on the ability of sports events and stadia to stimulate economic and physical regeneration. Such development is most often justified from a development and regeneration perspective. Under this paradigm, the urban redevelopment which occurs consequent on stadium construction creates benefits which ‘trickle down’ from property developers, sports teams, and stadium operators to the wider community—largely in the form of employment growth. However, the attraction of the hallmark events which are (in the United Kingdom) the major revenue stream of the stadium can be reread in the context of the constant competition evidenced between cities and between regions to draw in mobile capital resources via a programme of public subsidy for private business. Under such a paradigm, the potential for the stadium to contribute to uneven development, both within and between cities, is problematic. The author examines the arguments for and against stadium development in terms of the likely effects on the economic and social fabric of the city, and identifies likely winners and losers. The role of mobile capital, political elites, and growth coalitions in driving changes in the structure and use of common space in the urban core is examined with the aid of a case study of Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium.

Host Residents' Perceived Social Costs and Benefits Toward a Staged Tourist Attraction

The purpose of this study was to determine residents' perceived social costs and benefits toward an international tourist event, and their willingness to financially support the development of a permanent event facility. A telephone survey using a random sample (n = 600) of Albuquerque residents was conducted two weeks after the 1993 Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (AIBF). The 23rd Annual AIBF was the largest hot-air balloon event in the world, with over 900 pilots competing in various races and contests. The nine-day event attracted over 1.6 million spectators to a 70-acre site leased to organizers by city government. Few social costs were experienced by residents, while a majority of residents experienced multiple social benefits from the event. Although residents' attitudes toward the event were mostly positive, few residents were likely to finance a stadium development proposal through property tax increases. Before taxpayer approval for permanent event facility construction is sought, tourist event officials should assess residents' social benefits and costs, and their willingness to pay. Failure to do so may increase risk of bond referendum failure or bond default.

Archaeology at the Alamodome: Investigations of a San Antonio Neighborhood in Transition, Volume III: Artifact and Special Studies

On March 15, 1990, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio entered into a contract with the City of San Antonio's Multipurpose Domed Stadium Development Advisory Committee and Via Metropolitan Transit Authority to undertake cultural resource investigations of a 17-square-block (65 acre) area in downtown San Antonio, Texas (Figure F-l).

Ecdysteroid receptors in the central nervous system of Manduca sexta: Their changes in distribution and quantity during larval‐pupal development

Ecdysteroids act initially by binding to nuclear and possibly also extranuclear receptors. The presence and expression of these receptors in the insect brain was investigated in the present study as a means of defining these neurons involved in ecdysteroid-regulated processes at different developmental stages. Early in the fifth larval stadium of Manduca sexta, when endogenous ecdysteroid levels are low, receptors for ecdysteroids in cerebral neurons are either absent or present at low levels. Receptors can be reliably detected only on day 0 and are not found again until day 3.5, at the beginning of the commitment peak in the ecdysteroid titer, when they occur in a small stage-specific population of cells. At this time, ecdysteroid receptors are found mainly in nuclei but are also observed at low levels in cytoplasm. By day 4.8, ecdysteroid receptors are exclusively nuclear, and the number of target cells has increased dramatically in several brain regions, including those with known neurosecretory cell groups. This population and organization of ecdysteroid target cells is constant up to day 6, after which time the number of target neurons declines. By day 7.8, only 10% of the number of labelled neurons seen on days 4.8-6.8 remain in peripheral areas. In the pupal brains, ecdysteroid receptors reappear in a new population of neurons. The results indicate changes in the genomic regulation of a varying neuron population by ecdysteroids during fifth stadium development.