Dead Spaces: Sport Venues and Police Stops in a Major League, Upper Midwestern City in the United States
Gidon S. Jakar and Kiernan O. Gordon DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2021-0080
Given the increased attention toward the corporate social responsibility of professional sport organizations, this study asserts that while sport organizations are very active in this regard, there remain several issues that have not received much attention in the sport management literature nor by sport organizations themselves. Through a negative binomial regression analysis of police stops in Minneapolis, MN over a four-year span using spatial police stop data, this study contributes to the few studies that have explored sport and crime and to the growing literature discussing the negative externalities of sport. Minneapolis offers a unique opportunity for such an analysis, as it is one of three metropolitan areas in the US to have a franchise in each of the four, major, professional, sport leagues as the primary tenant for four separate venues. The analysis revealed that police stops were greater within a quarter and half a mile of Minneapolis professional sport venues on event days. Furthermore, during non-event days, these venues can be urban ‘dead spaces’ and the design of venues in urban areas should address the internal and external amenities of the sport venues and the potential increase in crime and police-related activity on days with and without events.