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Kiernan Gordon, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Sport Leadership and Management degree program within SWAG��Ƶ’s College of Business, has published two papers that explore the relationship between crime and sport venues in two of the largest cities in the U.S. 

The first paper, was published in the International Journal of Sport Management and co-authored by Gidon Jakar, Ph.D., assistant professor of sport management at the University of Florida. 

The researchers used negative binomial regression analyses to examine the spatial distribution of criminal incidents before, during, and after professional sporting events involving franchises in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL in Dallas between January 2015 and December 2019. 

Jakar and Gordon found that the number of criminal incidents in Dallas decreased during both the home and away games for the Dallas Cowboys football team without a subsequent uptick in reported crime. This appears to be a surprising citywide benefit brought about through these games, Gordon said, suggesting that the NFL generally — and the Cowboys specifically — may take advantage of this opportunity to engage this seemingly captive audience with messaging that promotes prosocial behaviors and denounces crime.

The second paper, was published in the Journal of Sport & Tourism and co-authored with Jakar and Brian Avery, Ph.D., who is also a faculty member in the Department of Sport Management at the University of Florida. 

This paper explores the distribution of reported criminal incidents across time and space near the venues in Los Angeles that are expected to be used in the delivery of competitions during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. Analyses of the incidents’ data was based on geographic information systems, embedded machine-learning analyses, and a hot-spot statistical examination. Both analyses demonstrated a concentration of different types of criminal incidents in downtown Los Angeles and clusters of crimes in other areas of the city, some of which are near venues that will be used in the delivery of those mega-events.

Both papers are outcomes of the continued collaboration between Gordon and Jakar, who explore the unintended consequences of elite sport venue construction in the United States, particularly as an increasing number of venues are built in urban spaces. 

“Professional team sport owners continue to advocate for new stadia, which are often subsidized by taxpayers and supported with additional tax breaks for those same owners,” Gordon remarked. “As a result, examinations of the various unintended consequences of these venues for area citizens are necessary to capture their true costs and benefits for members of these communities. 

“While our research continues to support previous studies that indicate that high-level professional sporting events generate crime at or near these elite sport venues at various times relative to the games themselves,” he continued, “the finding from our Dallas study that indicates a drop in citywide crime during home and away contests for the Cowboys without a subsequent uptick is very interesting and now one of two studies that indicates this unique benefit seemingly associated with NFL contests.”