Stadium Bucket List

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Now that the multipurpose stadium is a relic of the past, building a downtown stadium has become the new fad. Every mayor dreams of sparking downtown development around a glistening new stadium, and they are often seen as the city’s crowning achievement. But like anything else, there is a right and a wrong way to do it.

How to Build a Successful Downtown Stadium by Eric Jaffe

The article is interesting, but I’m not sure it reaches the right conclusion. I’m not sure that saying that Phoenix has a “polycentric urban core” is a good enough answer for why Chase Field failed. It seems like the downtown stadium’s success isn’t upon the stadium builders, but on the people responsible for developing the area around the stadium. I can think of two cases (Nationals Park and Red Bull Arena) where the developers dropped the ball, and the neighborhoods will probably suffer for some time because of it.