The Stadium District Boom

• New stadium ‘districts’ are changing the mold for venue context. An emerging concept of mixed-use entertainment districts surrounding major sports venues has gained momentum as real estate surrounding major entertainment anchors has outperformed.

• Lifestyle-oriented stadiums outperform relative to team success. Attendance trends from the 2025 MLB regular season show that stadiums in Lifestyle Market ecosystems drive elevated attendance, even when team performance is poor.

• History will repeat itself. In 1991, just three MLB teams had stadiums that were developed since 1980, but in 1992 the Baltimore Orioles completed Camden Yards, which was widely hailed as a new model for amenitization and atmosphere. From 1994-2012, 70% of MLB teams developed a new stadium, aiming to recreate that success.

• A new wave of development is on the horizon. By 2040, we predict that at least half of MLB organizations will announce plans to develop a new stadium or perform a major redevelopment of their existing venue. This trend will also bleed over into other sports leagues and non-sports entertainment venues as owners seek to emulate the success of The Battery and other sports-anchored Lifestyle districts.

From Integration to Islands

A century ago, in the early 20^th century “organized baseball” ballparks (the precursor to today’s MLB) were typically integrated into urban neighborhoods—proximate to residents, in an organic mixed-use context, and with walkability and rail/streetcar accessibility. The relics of that era, Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914) are a testament to those planning techniques, with stadiums built directly into neighborhoods, often producing unique field dimensions as ballparks were corralled into existing street grids.

From the 1950s and onward, several factors drove stadium development outside of urban cores: freeway construction disrupted urban walkability and neighborhood connectivity in many major cities, suburbanization drove affluent populations out of urban cores, and contemporary urban planning prioritized car accessibility. As a result, ballpark site context increasingly shifted towards monument-style islands surrounded by freeways and parking lots that were completely divorced from the urban core and walkable neighborhoods. Resulting stadium districts became monolithic, with wholly event-driven activation, little-to-no surrounding commercial vibrancy, and no reason for people to visit outside of attending games.

Watershed Moment

Even as demographic trends have shifted in favor of urban cores in recent decades, and mixed-use prioritization has grown substantially among commercial real estate investors, major sports venues have been slow to reintegrate into urban cores, limited by site availability and adequate accessibility in most highly developed city centers. Prototype Lifestyle Districts like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park were perceived as difficult or impossible to recreate given their intimate evolution as part of an urban neighborhood over more than a century. In the early 2010s, the Atlanta Braves were navigating an upcoming 2016 expiration of their lease of Turner Field with Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority, a venue that was in need of significant capital expenditures to address deferred maintenance and upgrade amenity offerings. Rather than extend that lease, the Braves opted to purchase 60 acres of greenfield suburban land just outside of Atlanta city limits and developed The Battery – a master-planned Lifestyle District anchored by a new stadium and concert venue with over 1 million s.f. of commercial space, 500+ residential units, and a 406-key Omni Hotel. The densities and mix of commercial spaces that were developed on the site have successfully created a 365-day vibrant ecosystem within The Battery, and the property components of The Battery all show compelling outperformance. The residential component has 1.7% higher occupancy rates than the submarket, and office and retail spaces are over 99% leased. The compelling performance of The Battery has led to acclaim from many peers: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred called it “the gold standard for stadium-district design,” and the Houston Astros organization cited The Battery as a model when considering redevelopment plans for its own stadium. As expected, the outperformance of the commercial real estate components of The Battery also extend to the venue itself, and there has been strong evidence to support significantly elevated attendance rates as a result of the vibrant ecosystem surrounding the venue.

Analyzing outliers whose attendance rates widely outperform or underperform what would be predicted based on team success reveals that site context is deeply influential to ticket sales. The Battery is one of three major outperformers, with the Atlanta Braves being the only team in the MLB to achieve nearly 90% attendance relative to capacity, despite having a losing record in 2025. While this could conceivably be driven in part by Truist Park’s relative freshness, being the second-newest stadium in the MLB, other outperformers lend credence to the idea that contextual ecosystem is a key driver. Globe Life Stadium, home of the Texas Rangers, is the newest stadium in the MLB, yet attendance rates fall squarely within the predictable range for the team’s level of success. While Globe Life Stadium sits among other vibrant entertainment anchors including AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys) and Six Flags amusement park, its location is car-dependent and relatively isolated in a suburban area of Arlington, TX, and the region lacks a cohesive urban-type fabric that drives experiential qualities and creates longer dwell times. The two other major outperformers for attendance further support the causal connection between vibrant environment and strong ticket sales: Petco Park (San Diego Padres) sits in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter, the core restaurant and nightlife district of San Diego with walkable mixed-use connection; Oracle Park (San Francisco Giants) has a waterfront location and organic connection to Mission Bay and surrounding new development; and Coors Field (Colorado Rockies) is embedded in the self-sustained organic Lifestyle Market of LoDo, a redeveloped warehouse district which has become a hub for dining, entertainment, creative office and new residential development. While the Citi Field (New York Mets) also generated outsized attendance relative to team success, this was more a result of a significant change in team performance over the course of the season: through mid-June, the Mets had one of the strongest records in the MLB, but underperformed in the second half of the season. Underperforming stadiums similarly support the power of ecosystem dynamics: loanDepot Park (Miami Marlins) sits in a low-density residential neighborhood with little walkability, no supportive entertainment district, and no integration to Miami’s organic entertainment districts including Wynwood and Brickell; and Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays) is in an isolated suburban enclave of St. Petersburg with very little surrounding development.

There is already some emerging evidence that many professional sports organizations, inspired by the success of The Battery are seeking to embark on redevelopment or new development projects to enhance the ecosystem around their venues, and this would not be the first time that a sort of “herd mentality” among owners drove a wave of stadium development. In 1991, there were just three MLB stadiums that had been developed in the past 12 years, but in less than a 20-year period from 1994-2012, 70% of organizations developed a new stadium, and most others performed a major redevelopment of their existing stadium. The catalyst at the time, similarly to today, was a transformative new stadium experience that had been developed by the Baltimore Orioles – Camden Yards. When Camden Yards was completed in 1992, it was widely hailed for reintegration into the urban core and vastly differentiated amenities which restored a unique atmosphere that was lost in isolated suburban enclaves. The new stadium received high acclaim contemporaneously, with the New York Times calling it “the gold standard for modern stadiums” in 1993, and Sports Illustrated stating that “Camden Yards changed everything” in 1994.

The Next Wave

The next two decades will see another “Stadium Arms Race” akin to what occurred in the mid-to-late 1990s and 2000s. Across a variety of different sports organizations, these Lifestyle District developments are becoming more common and consistently outperforming traditional monolithic development. As residents, workers and consumers increasingly flock to these vibrant Lifestyle environments, capital sources increasingly seek to tap into that trend by investing in or developing Lifestyle districts. We predict that by 2040, at least half of MLB organizations will announce plans to develop a new stadium or perform a significant redevelopment of their existing venue which prioritizes the supportive environment. This trend will also spill over into other professional sports organizations and even take place selectively in smaller minor-league or alternative league venues where demand can support densification. Organizations that proactively and effectively capitalize on these trends will not only see outperformance in their core business function, but they will also benefit from a diversification of assets and new engines for revenue that provide significant long-term upside and risk management.