The impact of professional sports facilities on housing values: Evidence from census block group data

1877-9166/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2012.06.017 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Ec ton, AB, Canada T6G 2H4. Tel.: +1 780 492 5143; fax: E-mail address: [email protected] (B.R. 1 Alternatively, public subsidies may continue to be sports leagues have significantly more bargaining p exercise monopoly power by keeping viable markets b owners can exploit this to extract subsidies from cities We estimate the effect of proximity on residential property values in US cities using a hedonic housing price model with spatial autocorrelation. Estimates based on all 1990 and 2000 Census block groups within five miles of every NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL facility in the US suggest that the median house value in block groups is higher in block groups closer to facilities, suggesting that positive externalities from professional sports facilities may be capitalized into residential real estate prices. The existence of external benefits may justify some of the large public subsidies for construction and operation of professional sports facilities. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.