Michael J. Mondello’s research while affiliated with University of South Florida and other places

Arenas, ballparks, and stadiums built for professional sports teams or mega-events all around the world often come with large public costs. In democratic states, citizens are assumed to have a role in public policymaking, but previous research suggests the strength of this role can vary case-to-case. To examine the incidence of public stadium finance and public participation across the geopolitical landscape, a collective case study was employed and organized into regime type (i.e., full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, authoritarian regimes). The results of the study show clear contrasts in the financing mechanisms within and between regime types. Additionally, each case-study grouping contained examples of citizen-led public participation, though the efficacy of these democratic actions is questionable. This review complements the growing literature on public policy and stadium finance by assessing public engagement in current stadium-subsidy debates around the world.

Direct democracy practices such as initiatives and referenda are increasingly ignored or circumvented by political leaders who allocate subsidies toward new professional sport stadium developments. In a democracy, such a means of governing may be problematic if the outcome is unreflective of the public will. The existing literature makes several theoretical connections for this line of political decision-making, including urban growth machines and trustee-delegate representation. In this paper, these concepts are integrated with empirical evidence to support the conceptualization of civic paternalism, a term that provides partial description of the political decision-making process. Civic paternalists justify their decisions by arguing that a city's continued vibrancy and growth optimize community benefit while remaining acutely aware of their decisions' political consequences. We illustrate the concept of civic paternalism by drawing from interviews with political leaders associated with one of the most recent cases of the no-vote subsidy.

Despite the presence of other professional sport leagues including the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL) is widely considered the most dominant and financially viable sports property. Even the presence of other rival football leagues has not diminished fan enthusiasm for the NFL signifying fans do not perceive there to be any close substitute. Collectively, the three American terrestrial (over the air) television networks CBS ($3.73 billion), NBC ($3.6 billion), and Fox ($4.27 billion), combined with cable television's ESPN ($8.8 billion), are paying a pooled total of $24.4 billion to broadcast NFL games through the 2011 season for CBS, Fox, and NBC and through 2013 for ESPN. Additionally, the current NFL agreement with DirecTV ($4 billion) through the 2014 season tells the story of the NFL’s economic engine, its television. Incidentally, this figure excludes the added value created by the games televised by the league-owned NFL Network (Bloom 2010). The NFL’s popularity continues to extend into international markets as evidenced by the decision of the network ESPN UK to secure broadcasts rights to televise Monday Night Football live beginning in 2010 despite games starting after 1 a.m. local time (www. sportsprodailyde al. com).

The subsidisation of professional sport facilities has inspired deeply contentious debates. In North America, these debates have culminating historically in a vote by referendum. In order to obtain a favourable outcome, sport organisations have relied largely on controversial means, including using the influence of urban regimes, disseminating unreliable economic impact analyses to the public, or using political influence to circumvent the democratic process. In this paper, organisational perception management is proposed as an alternative approach to these tactics. This strategy is defined and illustrated using corporate pro-environmental behaviour in sport to demonstrate professional sport organisations can protect their images, reputations, and identities and obtain favourable referenda outcomes. From this analysis, the Desired Voting Outcomes Framework is presented, illustrating that effective organisational perception management can interrupt anticipated no-voters’ decision-making processes, leading to a reconsideration of voters’ judgments. Furthermore, the organisation's longterm reputation is sustained due, in part, to the perceived legitimacy of referenda. Implications of this framework and directions for future research are discussed.