The decision by various franchises in the NFL American football league to build new stadiums, relocate to a new home or develop their existing venue has led to a sharp increase in construction spend in the US.
According to a recent news analysis from Wells Fargo Securities, real stadium construction spend in the country has increased by 80 per cent during the past five years.
The report said NFL stadium projects were accountable for approximately half of total spend during the five-year period, citing developments such as the Los Angeles Rams’ and Los Angeles Chargers’ $2.6bn (€2.19bn/£2.01bn) new stadium plan in Inglewood, California, and the Oakland Raiders’ $1.9bn relocation effort (pictured) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wells Fargo also said that these projects and other ongoing work in the NFL, and indeed other sports leagues, helped push the inflation-adjusted value of the US stadium construction market to an all-time high of $10bn in June of this year.
“Stadium construction is thriving again, and sports franchises, especially the National Football League, are in the midst of a building boom,” Wells Fargo said. “Moreover, much of the development surge is from private sources rather than public funding.”
The report cited luxury seating options, technology upgrades and corporate partnerships as other aspects that have helped boost the value of the market.
However, despite these improvements, Wells Fargo said it does not expect ticket sales to significantly increase.
“Indeed, the overall pace of gate revenue for North American sports has also slowed in recent years,” Wells Fargo said.
“In 2013, ticket sales comprised almost half of overall sports revenue growth at nearly 3.0 per cent year-over-year; however, the pace grew less than one per cent in each year through 2016 and is projected to remain muted in the coming years, but slipped 2.7 percent in 2016 relative to a year earlier, with only 12 teams seeing growth.”
Las Vegas Stadium is due to be represented at the annual TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Summit taking place in Barcelona on November 28-29
Image: Manica Architecture
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