When it comes to sports activities, men and women don’t play at the equal fields

The economics of sports activities stadiums generates excessive debate. Governors and mayors woo team proprietors with free land and tax breaks. Some nearby residents champion the arrival of new teams; others arrange to protest anticipated site visitors congestion and public safety issues. Economists debate whether or not the public blessings from sports activities franchises—along with jobs, local tax sales from multiplied spending, and assets values— offset the associated fees to local governments.

As crew proprietors weigh the professionals and cons of numerous places, one complex aspect is gender: Are the surest stadium places one of a kind for men’s and ladies’ sports activities? For example, the U.S. Has two expert team sports activities with both guys and women’s leagues: basketball and football. Comparing the places of the state’s respective expert basketball and soccer leagues, NBA, WNBA, MLS, and WPS groups within the identical metropolitan regions show that stadium locations certainly range through gender, including economic and symbolic consequences.

Can you shoot from downtown if you play within the ‘burbs?

In metropolitan regions with guys and girl’s teams, men’s arenas are normally located toward town centers, whilst ladies’ teams frequently play in extra distant suburbs. All NBA groups in the sample metro areas play inside some miles of the town center (Figure 1). In only 4 of these metro regions, the WNBA crew stocks the NBA group’s stadium. But in most cases, the WNBA area is located further from the metropolis middle. Both MLS and WPS arenas are greater decentralized than NBA arenas, with women’s soccer groups having the best average distance to town centers.