Doing Better: Sports, Economic Impact Analysis, and Schools of Public Policy and Administration

Consultants on economic impact projects face a challenge in terms of measuring the estimated benefits of such projects, particularly when they are promoted within a heightened, politicized context, as is often the case with the sports facilities. Supporters and opponents of such projects hire consultants (public and private) to measure the value of the investment, which is frequently couched as an economic impact assessment. This often leads to conflicting conclusions, with significant divergences in the measured value of the project. We use a comparative case study to highlight how this happens, and to illustrate for public policy and administration scholars how the lessons for conducting such analyses are lost on policy students, and also are reflected as bad or useless knowledge in the communities they serve.