| This dissertation assesses the employment effects associated with thirty-five instances of major league sports franchise relocation that have occurred over the past thirty years. It begins with an overview of location theory and a general history of local economic development, and relates the phenomenon of franchise relocation and stadium development to these concepts. A detailed review of the literature with regard to the factors driving public investment in major league sports follows, in addition to an overview of arguments related to the tax, employment and development effects of such an investment. A conceptual framework is then presented that advances the argument that the economic effects of major league sports franchise relocation are potentially marginal because of their short-term, seasonal and low-wage characteristics.;Using a variant of the shift-share analysis technique, employment change in several identified "sports-related" sectors is examined over the studied counties and regions that experienced either a major league sports franchise gain or loss. The resulting data analysis indicates that areas with an established tourist base can gain competitive advantages in certain sectors if a major-league sports franchise is attracted to an area, although such an event is not likely to transform the exporting status of such sectors. In the event of a major league sports franchise loss, areas with a strong tourist base suffered some degree of negative competitive advantage, although most of the sectors studied did not experience a change in exporting status. For the areas without a substantial tourist industrial base, franchise relocation events appeared to have minimal effects on competitive position and exporting status over the sectors examined. This study indicates, insofar as the method allows, that major league franchise attraction is not effective as a singular economic development strategy. As a complement to a larger tourism strategy, however, major league franchise attraction appears to have the potential to create positive competitive effects for the industries studied. |
