Welcome
The Center for Sport and Urban Policy (CSUP) is a forum for scientific study of the ways in which sport (including youth, amateur, recreational, collegiate, professional, and international) interacts with, contributes to, and interferes with urban spaces.
Launched in 2016—the twentieth anniversary of the 1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Atlanta—the Center for Sport and Urban Policy seeks to (1) engage in and promote interdisciplinary research that examines the relationship between sport and urban communities; (2) enhance public understanding of these relationships; and (3) inform policymaking.

Green Sports Alliance Environmental Innovator of the Year
Philadelphia, 2019
About the Center for Sport and Urban Policy

Beth Cianfrone and Tim Kellison at the construction site of the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Learn more about the research team.
There is little doubt that sport and the spaces in which they exist are deeply tied to their cities. The allocation of millions, and sometimes billions, of public dollars toward youth sports programming, the creation and maintenance of public parks and recreational areas, and the construction or renovation of sports facilities implies that policymakers and governments, local residents, and athletic teams attribute significant value to sport. Recreational and amateur sports leagues (from youth to seniors) promote healthy living and provide outlets for community building. Meanwhile, proponents of downtown stadiums for professional sports teams and international mega events argue that sports developments produce greater tax revenues, create jobs, and drive urban renewal. Other perceived benefits of sports are largely symbolic. For example, a successful team may induce civic pride or invoke positive feelings of nostalgia among local residents. Furthermore, as one of the most recognizable structures in a cityscape, a sports stadium can serve as a structural manifestation of a city’s image or ideals.
On the other hand, the claim that stadiums provide significant economic benefits for their cities has been refuted time after time by scholars. Moreover, from an environmental perspective, sports events and facilities create huge strains on local resources. They often draw tens of thousands of people to a single site, thereby increasing traffic that contributes significantly to air pollution. Facilities like football stadiums are used infrequently, while others constructed for international mega events like the FIFA World Cup and Olympic and Paralympic Games may be abandoned altogether.
These debates are of central focus in the Center for Sport and Urban Policy (CSUP), which serves as a forum for scientific study of the ways in which sport (including youth, amateur, recreational, collegiate, professional, and international) interacts with, contributes to, and interferes with urban spaces.
The purposes of CSUP are to:
1. Engage in and promote interdisciplinary research that examines the interrelationship between sport and urban communities.
2. Enhance public understanding of these relationships.
3. Inform policy-making.
CSUP Research Team

Tim Kellison
Director of the Center for Sport and Urban Policy. Kellison’s primary areas of research focus on the politics of public stadium financing, urban and regional planning, and environmentally sustainable design. The unifying theme of his scholarship is the study of the ways in which sport organizations act as community leaders with respect to various sociopolitical issues. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and European Sport Management Quarterly.

Beth Cianfrone
Co-Director of the Center for Sport and Urban Policy. Cianfrone’s research focuses on sport marketing communications and sport consumer behavior. Additionally, she serves as the GSU Sport Administration Graduate Program Director. A Research Fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management, Cianfrone has published in many prestigious international journals, such as Journal of Sport Management, International Journal of Sport Communication, Sport Management Review, Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, and International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship.
News Coverage
General
- Effectively Wild: Episode 939: Death to dumb stadium deals (August 12, 2016)
- Seattle Times: Fans can now take critical look at publicly-funded sports venues (July 31, 2016)
Environmental Sustainability
- Fox Business: Why the Atlanta Falcons are ‘going green’ in 2017 (February 4, 2017)
- WABE: Short Atlanta stadium lifespans test sustainability claims (August 19, 2015)
Stadiums and Development
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News: The new Perth Stadium: What will WA get for $1.6 billion? (October 28, 2017)
- The Nevada Independent: A $650 million secret: Why are the Raiders and Bank of America keeping loan details private? (April 16, 2017)
- Dallas Morning News: Atlanta Braves’ pitch for new stadium offers lessons for Rangers (October 20, 2016)
- Atlanta Magazine: Will the Falcons’ plan to lure fans with cheap concessions work? (May 19, 2016)
- WABE: Atlanta Falcons’ food menu bucks trend to offer cheaper eats (May 16, 2016)
- TCPalm (FL): Analysis: St. Lucie’s $60 million stadium deal with the New York Mets (May 13, 2016)

Stadiatrack
A crowdsourced reference for stadium data
The purpose of Stadiatrack is to provide researchers, policymakers, members of the press, and ordinary citizens with
a knowledge base of stadium-related information that is accessible, comprehensive, reliable, and transparent.
Kindly direct general inquiries, additions, subtractions, and other recommendations to Timothy Kellison.
Publictrack
Public Stadium Financing
North American professional sport stadiums receiving public funding, 2005 to present.
Votetrack
Public Stadium Votes
North American professional sport referendums, from the year 2000 to the present.
Greentrack
LEED-Certified Facilities
We look at the major LEED-certified sports facilities, since the inception of LEED certification.