If you build it, will crime come? An investigation of Major League Soccer stadium construction

Abstract

Objectives: Examine if the building of five Major League Soccer (MLS) stadiums affected pre-existing spatial and temporal crime patterns in the area surrounding the stadiums during and after construction. Analysis of pre- during- and post- construction hot spots and trends allow for a natural experiment. Methods: Property and violent crime data were gathered from publicly available crime data. Hot spots analyses assessed whether there were spatial shifts in crime across pre-, during, and post-construction periods. Time-series analyses examined aggregate crime trends over the same intervals. Results: Findings do not indicate stadium construction sites generate more crimes surrounding the stadiums during and after construction. Changes in crime distributions trends were not directly attributable to stadium construction. Conclusions: The development of “dead zones” surrounding stadiums during construction and increases in capable guardianship may prevent increases in crime. Null findings provide a positive outlook for future stadium construction projects.

Department(s)

School of Criminology

Document Type

Article

DOI

10.1007/s11292-026-09743-7

Keywords

Commercial construction, Crime trends, Hot spots, Soccer, Sports

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Journal Title

Journal of Experimental Criminology

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