New arenas are completed each year as cities have attempted to lure and retain sports franchises as a means to economic development and revitalization. The Northwest has not escaped this trend. Within the past fifteen months Seattle and Portland in the United States and Vancouver in Canada have each witnessed the completion of a new sports arena to house professional basketball and hockey franchises.
Specific attention is paid to the different metropolitan locations of each facility.
It is argued that the location of each arena represents a different development strategy available to cities that are constructing or will be constructing these entertainment facilities. Seattle has chosen to revitalize an aging, but culturally significant civic center, The Seattle Center, with the reconstruction of the former arena, an integral part of the Seattle Center entertainment district. Portland has chosen to locate their new facility in the same area as their former sports arena and current convention center, thereby strengthening their maturing convention and sports district. Lastly, Vancouver has chosen to enhance their metropolitan core through the construction of a downtown arena. An abridged version of the paper presented at the 1997 Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference in Spokane, Washington May, 1998.