Dive Brief:
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The owners of major-league sports teams in Tampa, Miami, Atlanta and elsewhere have become the developers of retail and office parks near their stadiums.
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According to CoStar Group, a provider of commercial real estate information and analytics, the owners of football, basketball and soccer teams are capitalizing on the demand by sports fans for restaurants, bars, entertainment, offices and apartments within walking distance to their arenas.
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The owners of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Miami Dolphins, the Sacramento Kings and D.C. United, for instance, are involved in billions of dollars’ worth of development of the neighborhoods surrounding their venues, CoStar reported.
Dive Insight:
The fact that owners would want a piece of the bustling overflow business that any major league sports franchise spills into its surrounding community is hardly a surprise, given the Who’s Who of real estate developers who have bought high-profile teams. In fact, many, including Zygi Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings; Robert Kraft, who has an interest in the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution; and Donald Sterling, the disgraced former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, accumulated enough wealth to purchase their shares of the multimillion-dollar teams during successful careers as real estate developers.