Case Study Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

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Once the stadiums are built the teams will lease them for 30 years from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PDIC). Interestingly enough, Philadelphia was asked to cover more of the cost for building new stadiums them the Pittsburgh teams were. This could be in part due to the trouble all parties involved had in reaching an agreement. Some wanted the Phillies stadium located in Center City as opposed to on the grounds of Veteran’s Stadium. Part of the cities argument was the alleged benefits for the surrounding areas. The Phillies had a hard fight, as they not only had to convince the public but also the politicians and the business community about the Spring Garden location being the prime spot for them to build.

With all of the arguments about where the stadiums should be located, the groups also had to contend with not having the same financial backing due to a weak local growth coalition. One reason for this difference in state teams could be the absence of a group of powerful business men who dominate the spending and securing of funds for the surrounding community. The City of Philadelphia was also not as supportive as the team wanted because they had other priorities to deal with. Public education was more important to city business communities. Had Philadelphia had access to some of the same corporate sponsors who would fight for their cause, the teams may have had more lucrative deals, costing them less money. The arguments for the new stadiums were not the same. The group in Philadelphia was not able to make convincing arguments about the economic benefits of the new stadiums.

The state as a whole supported both cities equally in their quest for new stadiums. It ultimately came down to how the cities themselves supported the expansion. Pittsburgh has larger corporate presences that were actively involved in the discussions about financing of the stadiums. Philadelphia on the other hand did not have the coalition needed to fight the battle for them, thus costing the teams and the cities a large amount of money.