Billion-Dollar Mini-Cities Becoming Top Priority For Stadium Projects

Expansive development of the surrounding areas at major sports venues is topping the wish-list of teams looking to bring new retail space, bars, restaurants, and family activities closer to their home venues.

These “mini-cities” have proven to be major success stories in locales like Atlanta at the Battery connected to the Braves’ Truist Park and the ever-growing development around the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium as well as its headquarters in Frisco, Texas. 

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has a vast vision for the Hollywood Park space at SoFI Stadium — which has 15 million square feet of entitlements to work with and the billionaire is looking to build something similar just outside of Denver for the Colorado Rapids, which he also owns.

The latest team and city to explore the trend is the Cleveland Browns. New renderings show plans for a land bridge that would connect downtown Cleveland to Lake Erie north of Cleveland Browns Stadium — which lost its naming rights sponsor earlier this year. Perhaps new development could attract a new company to inject more cash into the club by attaching its name to their venue.

At one point, the Browns had hoped to get $1 billion in funding from the city of Cleveland for stadium renovations.

The Tennessee Titans are building a new $2.1 billion stadium in Nashville that they hope will host events like the Super Bowl and Final Four and the Jaguars are planning their “stadium of the future” that would revitalize downtown Jacksonville.