"This volume, with coverage of the very latest stadium projects and a qualitative methodological approach,
complements nicely the more quantitative analyses done largely by economists in the 1990s literature cited above.
A readable volume, with good notes and bilbiography. Highly recommended."
--Choice
"This revealing, dead-on investigation of the modern-day sports stadium boondoggle, and its often-devastating
impact on American cities, is an essential read for anyone, sports fan or not, who wants to avoid getting fleeced."
-- Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times columnist and former columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Time magazine
"Public Dollars, Private Stadiums helps us understand the political processes involved in using public money
for new sports stadiums�It is a must read for anyone interested in this important new issue."
--Richard E. Lapchick, founder and director emeritus of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern
University
"Readable and smart�Kevin Delaney and Rick Eckstein show how conflicts over sports subsidies are emblematic
of the kinds of power relationships that prevail in each community."
--Lee Clarke, author of Mission Improbable: Using Fantasy Documents to Tame Disaster
From the Rutgers University Press Web site, April 2005
Summary
This book provides an eye-opening account of recent battles over publicly financed stadiums in some of America's
largest cities. The authors' interviews with key decision makers present a behind-the-scenes look at how and why
powerful individuals and organizations foist these sports palaces on increasingly unreceptive communities.
In the face of studies demonstrating that new sports facilities don't live up to their promise of big money, proponents
are using a new tactic to win public subsidies¾ touting intangible "social" rewards, such as prestige
and community cohesion. The authors find these to be empty promises as well, demonstrating that new stadiums may
exacerbate, rather than erase, many social problems.
Public Dollars, Private Stadiums should be read by everyone with an interest in the future of sports and our cities.
