Lisa Petraglia of Economic Development Research Group was interviewed by American City and County Magazine on the issue of economic development impacts of new sports stadiums. As an expert on economic impact analysis who has worked on this issue, Petraglia is well aware of the limitations of mechanically calculating impacts from economic models that just trace spending patterns. She has found that economic impacts can also occur when local communities have vision, and investments are made as part of effective economic development, revitalization and business growth targeting stragegies. The article notes that:

"Stadium construction has a limited life in terms of an economic development impact," says Lisa Petraglia, director of economic research for Economic Development Research Group, a Boston-based consulting firm that specializes in measuring economic development performance, impacts and opportunities. "When there's a vision that the stadium is part of a revitalization and not just an end point, then it can have an economic development aspect."

Petraglia says that "vision" is easier to achieve in smaller communities. A project like construction of a ballpark takes on more importance in a city that is not dotted with other entertainment opportunities, she says. That is why Bridgeport and its small-community cohorts in baseball's Atlantic League (the New Jersey cities of Newark, Camden, Atlantic City and Somerset, plus Nashua, N.H., and Central Islip, N.Y.) are "good case studies for using stadiums as economic development catalysts," she says.

See the full article at American City and County Magazine, April 2002
see other findings of Lisa Petraglia (EDR Group) on stadium impact