In a recent blog, I discussed the basics of Baseball economics and how to use baseball as a way to help students apply the economic principles and terms they were learning in the classroom. But baseball (or any other sport) can also be used as a case study to explore civics and how decisions are made at a community level.

In the Classroom

Many students have likely been to a ball game—if not to a professional baseball game, they may have been to a minor league game or to another sporting event. Ask them to think about what it was like. Who benefitted? Who did not? Work with students to create a T-chart highlighting positive effects and negative effects of having a professional team.

Among the most obvious positive effects are the economic benefits derived from having people flock to an area. Visitors to a baseball game eat before the game and linger in the community after it. They may have to pay for parking and to fill up their cars with gasoline. Some out-of-town guests may stay overnight, bringing in business for hotels and motels. Since these businesses pay taxes, this increases revenues for the Local Government, which can use the funds for the community, right?

But what about the downsides of having a stadium in the community? There’s traffic and the resulting air pollution. And what about the noise? In some sports, crowds may become a bit too rowdy for the taste of local families (although we’re not yet at the level of European soccer fans). There are also ongoing expenses that a local Government must incur: maintaining the roads and other infrastructure, police and public safety, etc.

Ask students to consider how these issues should be reconciled.

• How are the benefits accrued by local businesses balanced against the disruption to local residents?
• How are the concerns of residents considered?
• Should the local government take a vote to determine whether to allow a stadium to be built?
• Should the majority vote win? Why or why not?

 In addition to fitting snugly into an economics curriculum, this topic could be used to explore “power, authority, and governance,” one of the ten social studies themes identified by the National Council for the Social Studies, which says:

“In exploring this theme, students confront such questions as: What are the purposes and functions of government? Under what circumstances is the exercise of political power legitimate? What are the proper scope and limits of authority? How are individual rights protected and challenged within the context of majority rule?”

How Beneficial Is It? 

Building a sporting venue is no small feat. In the 2010 book Sport and Public Policy, authors explain:

The average cost of a football or baseball stadium built in the first decade of 2000 is $528 million;

The average cost of a basketball or hockey arena built during this same period is $276 million.

Public money has typically covered about two-thirds of these costs. Why? The prevailing wisdom is that major league sports have a ripple effect that will spur economic development. Certainly, the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., supports this theory. The two decades since the construction of the arena—home of the Washington Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics—have witnessed significant revitalization as new restaurants, shops, and other entertainment venues have opened to take advantage of the crowds.

So back to the classroom. What can students learn from these questions?

• It could be spun into a lesson about civics and local decision making. The deliverable could be a debate focused on whether the local government should or should not subsidize a new arena in their (mock) city.
• It could be the foundation of a research project in which students report on why the sporting venue near them was built, how it was funded, and how decisions were made to build it.
• It could be spun into a lesson about economics, venture capital, and public-private partnerships.
• It could just be used as a rainy-day discussion about the economics of America’s favorite past-time. 

How would you build a lesson plan around these kinds of questions?