Cities have always gathered around big moments. The spectacle still matters. But the real value now lives in everything around it: the trip, the meetup, the shared photos, the afterglow. Design had to catch up.
The numbers are clear. In London, six major sports events in 2024 generated roughly £230 million in economic activity and drew nearly half a million spectators across the city. And across the UK, major events funded through public investments returned £6 for every £1 spent.
Meanwhile, research from Kennesaw State points out something city leaders in the U.S. know too well: a stadium by itself rarely delivers broad economic value. The return comes when the venue is connected to transit, local businesses, public spaces, and everyday life. When it becomes part of the city, not separate from it.
So, if we’re heading into a period when over 300 stadiums worldwide are expected to be redeveloped or rebuilt in the next few years (as forecast by Deloitte), then the real question isn’t how to build a better stadium; it’s how to design for the fan economy that surrounds it.
That's where public policy enters the conversation, because the people funding, planning, approving, and absorbing the impacts of these developments are rarely the teams alone. They are councils, transport authorities, cultural offices, local business associations, and residents who want to feel that a major venue is for them, not just near them.
Designing for Life Outside the Gates
In the past, stadiums were largely engineered around crowd control: get people in, get them out, and keep the match central. But fans don’t behave that way anymore. The “event” begins in the group chats months before, peaks in the arena, and continues in bars, parks, hotels, modes of transport, and social media for days afterward.
So, the infrastructure needs to support that full arc.
This is why the district model has started to replace the isolated stadium. The conversation is no longer about where the stadium sits, but what’s around it.
You already see this shift in places like SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which sits within a nearly 300-acre mixed-use district of parks, restaurants, pathways, residential buildings, and cultural venues. The stadium may be the center of this area, but the value comes from the everyday life that can exist there without the game. The surrounding businesses are not just for decoration; they’re an asset.
Or take Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The stadium works as a venue, yes, but the broader development around it (homes, training spaces, hotel, retail, community facilities, etc.) is what ties Tottenham as a place. The retractable pitch that allows soccer, NFL, concerts, boxing, and festivals matters too. It turns the stadium into a programming infrastructure, not a single-use shell. That variety supports the neighborhood economy.
And in Melbourne, the Marvel Stadium redevelopment has opened up what used to be a sealed bowl. The new public terraces and Town Square are designed so that people have a reason to be there when no event is scheduled — a fundamental shift from venue-as-destination to venue-as-city-space.
These are just architectural decisions. Their policy decision:
- Zoning
- Street activation
- Transit links
- Business licensing
- Nighttime economy planning
- Safety and crowd stewardship
- Funding structures (public, private, and blended)
Stadium projects succeed when these decisions are coordinated. When they aren’t, we see the familiar patterns: a brand new venue surrounded by blank asphalt and nothing to do on Tuesday.
The City as Part of the Venue, Not Just An Afterthought
When the city is considered during planning, not just as an afterthought, it not only enhances the experience for fans but also boosts the city’s economy. The Paris 2024 Olympics are a clear example of how a city used the resources made available to it and turned the entire city into a venue. Instead of building a whole structure, France used public places in Paris (the Seine, Place de la Concorde, Trocadéro, etc.) as competition sites. The city itself became the venue.
This matters for long-term legacy. When a stadium is integrated into public life — literally stitched into the pedestrian, cultural, and commercial fabric — it contributes to the city every day, not just on game nights.
It’s also about culture, not just consumption
The fan economy is often described in terms of spending, but it’s equally about belonging. Shared identity. Memory. Return visits. Civic pride.
This is about the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. Cities didn’t just see ticket sales. They saw surges in hotel occupancy, local retail spikes, transit ridership, and, interestingly, entire stories shaping how people talked about those places. Or how about people who went to multiple cities, who traveled across the Atlantic? Fans from all over flew in, gathered in parks, visited murals, met strangers, made friends, filmed videos for social media that lived on long after the concert.
Sports already have the same power; we just design around it inefficiently
The reality is, we don’t need bigger, louder, more technological stadiums. We need event districts, spaces that reach out far beyond the stadiums that connect to the people who actually live there.
With the opportunity for hundreds of stadiums to be rebuilt, cities also have the opportunity to look at this design differently. Cities can foster stronger public-realm connections. They can invest in a pedestrian-first arrival sequence to keep people safe. Which then would lead to building safer late-night mobility corridors. This would then create year-round programming, not just seasonal peaks based on sports. The city can then measure success not just in sports attendance, but in jobs, tourism spread, footfall, and social cohesion.
When the design behind the venue becomes part of daily city life, the value compounds. And that is how the economic impact scales beyond the turnstile.
When a stadium is just a place to watch a match, the benefit ends when the final whistle blows. But designing for the people who live there promotes a rising economy long after the scoreboard goes dark.
– Hugo Lamb is a Group Strategy Director at global place brand ERA-co. He is a passionate placemaker with a background in major projects and precinct strategy, experience design, social innovation, and leading hospitality. Working globally, Hugo loves exploring the complex fabric of cities, uncovering stories and insights, and creating new destinations. From unlocking new opportunities through evidence-based visioning, to creating experience masterplans that uplift the identity and human connection of neighbourhoods, and developing brand strategies for some of the most ambitious players in the built environment, Hugo's work is fundamentally about collaboration for a better world.
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