Summary
“Urban Regimes, Sports Stadiums, and the Politics of Economic Development Agendas in Chicago” is an article written by John Pelissero, Beth Henschen, and Edward Sidlow for the Policy Studies Review Journal in 1991. Though the article is not new, it contains a number of interesting and educative ideas about the existing connection of such spheres of life like sport, economics, politics, and law. It is not a secret that many business organizations are eager to benefit from sport its consumers and get a franchise in a short period of time. Unfortunately, the demand of sports teams is higher than the supply (Pelissero, Henschen, & Sidlow, 1991), and sports problems become the problems of public concern. The necessity to understand why so many cities like Chicago want to be engaged with numerous sports debates and how it is possible to unite the sports business with public interests in a proper way is considered to be the main statement of the problem in the article under analysis.
The significance of the study given in the article is about the fact that business people want to get as many benefits as possible from sport and promote economic development in their cities. However, many of them fail to consider urban regimes and their impact on the development of appropriate public, economic, political relations. This is why it is crucial to pay attention to the process of accommodation of public interests in sports business, and this article is a helpful tool to begin with.
The authors of the article choose the analysis of sports literature as the main method for their research. They rely on the ideas of such writers like Vincent, Elkin, Stone, etc. and focus on the development of two famous Chicago sports franchises – the Chicago White Sox baseball team and the Chicago Bears football team (Pelissero et al., 1991).
Their findings prove that there are always some choices to be made. It is possible to lie, investigate, overreact, but never stop negotiating. The combination of corporate and progressive regimes is a unique chance for the public authorities to make state government representatives their main partners and use their money, connections, and positions in different spheres of life.
Evaluation
In my opinion, the article under consideration is a powerful source of information about how a successful sports franchise should be created. The chosen examples of two Chicago teams show how it is possible to accommodate public interests and demands using the abilities of team owners. Though the authors use the works of other experts in the chosen field, their abilities to combine the already known information with their own opinions and attitudes may amaze the reader. It is interesting to observe how the development of two teams becomes a bright example of a bright label’s creation. Even if the article was written in 1991, it remains to be a good educative source for those, who want to know more about the details of the world of sport.
Relation to My Topics of Interest
As a true fan of baseball, I enjoy the material offered in the article. A brief informative story about how one of the famous Chicago franchises was developed teaches me how to organize and meet personal demands taking into consideration public interests. The description of practical and analytical skills demonstrated by the leaders helps to understand what qualities are really important to me in future and define how it is possible to use publicity to achieve personal interests.
Reference
Pelissero, J.P., Henschen, B.M., & Sidlow, E.I. (1991). Urban Regimes, Sports Stadiums, and the Politics of Economic Development Agendas in Chicago. Policy Studies Review, 10(2/3), 117-129.