Bulls markets : Chicago's basketball business and the new inequality /
Dinces, Sean,
Bulls markets : Chicago's basketball business and the new inequality / Sean Dinces. - 1 online resource (ix, 304 pages) - Historical studies of urban America . - Historical studies of urban America. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Bullish on image: basketball and the promotion of postindustrial Chicago -- "Normally, heroes cost you money": Bulls fans in the new Gilded Age -- The Bulls as "good business": the United Center and redeveloping Chicago's Near West Side -- Anchor or shipwreck? the United Center and economic development in West Haven -- "Peanut envy": the United Center's war against sidewalk vendors -- "Nothing but net profits": public dollars and tax policy at the United Center -- Conclusion.
The 1990s were a glorious time for the Chicago Bulls, an age of historic championships and all-time basketball greats like Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan. It seemed only fitting that city, county, and state officials would assist the team owners in constructing a sparkling new venue to house this incredible team that was identified worldwide with Chicago. That arena, the United Center, is the focus of Bulls Markets, an unvarnished look at the economic and political choices that forever reshaped one of America's largest cities--arguably for the worse. Sean Dinces shows how the construction of the United Center reveals the fundamental problems with neoliberal urban development. The pitch for building the arena was fueled by promises of private funding and equitable revitalization in a long blighted neighborhood. However, the effort was funded in large part by municipal tax breaks that few ordinary Chicagoans knew about, and that wound up exacerbating the rising problems of gentrification and wealth stratification. In this portrait of the construction of the United Center and the urban life that developed around it, Dinces starkly depicts a pattern of inequity that has become emblematic of contemporary American cities: governments and sports franchises collude to provide amenities for the wealthy at the expense of poorer citizens, diminishing their experiences as fan and--far worse--creating an urban environment that is regulated and surveilled for the comfort and protection of that same moneyed elite.
9780226583358 022658335X
Chicago Bulls (Basketball team)--Economic aspects.
United Center (Chicago, Ill.)
United Center (Chicago, Ill.)
Chicago Bulls (Basketball team)
Basketball--Economic aspects--Illinois--Chicago.
Arenas--Economic aspects--Illinois--Chicago.
Basket-ball--Aspect �economique--Illinois--Chicago.
Salles omnisports--Aspect �economique--Illinois--Chicago.
GAMES--Gambling--Sports.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Business Aspects.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Essays.
SPORTS & RECREATION--History.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Reference.
TRAVEL--Special Interest--Sports.
Basketball--Economic aspects
Economic history
Economics
Near West Side (Chicago, Ill.)--Economic conditions.
Illinois--Chicago
Illinois--Chicago--Near West Side
GV885.52.C45 / D46 2018eb
796.323/640977311
Bulls markets : Chicago's basketball business and the new inequality / Sean Dinces. - 1 online resource (ix, 304 pages) - Historical studies of urban America . - Historical studies of urban America. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Bullish on image: basketball and the promotion of postindustrial Chicago -- "Normally, heroes cost you money": Bulls fans in the new Gilded Age -- The Bulls as "good business": the United Center and redeveloping Chicago's Near West Side -- Anchor or shipwreck? the United Center and economic development in West Haven -- "Peanut envy": the United Center's war against sidewalk vendors -- "Nothing but net profits": public dollars and tax policy at the United Center -- Conclusion.
The 1990s were a glorious time for the Chicago Bulls, an age of historic championships and all-time basketball greats like Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan. It seemed only fitting that city, county, and state officials would assist the team owners in constructing a sparkling new venue to house this incredible team that was identified worldwide with Chicago. That arena, the United Center, is the focus of Bulls Markets, an unvarnished look at the economic and political choices that forever reshaped one of America's largest cities--arguably for the worse. Sean Dinces shows how the construction of the United Center reveals the fundamental problems with neoliberal urban development. The pitch for building the arena was fueled by promises of private funding and equitable revitalization in a long blighted neighborhood. However, the effort was funded in large part by municipal tax breaks that few ordinary Chicagoans knew about, and that wound up exacerbating the rising problems of gentrification and wealth stratification. In this portrait of the construction of the United Center and the urban life that developed around it, Dinces starkly depicts a pattern of inequity that has become emblematic of contemporary American cities: governments and sports franchises collude to provide amenities for the wealthy at the expense of poorer citizens, diminishing their experiences as fan and--far worse--creating an urban environment that is regulated and surveilled for the comfort and protection of that same moneyed elite.
9780226583358 022658335X
Chicago Bulls (Basketball team)--Economic aspects.
United Center (Chicago, Ill.)
United Center (Chicago, Ill.)
Chicago Bulls (Basketball team)
Basketball--Economic aspects--Illinois--Chicago.
Arenas--Economic aspects--Illinois--Chicago.
Basket-ball--Aspect �economique--Illinois--Chicago.
Salles omnisports--Aspect �economique--Illinois--Chicago.
GAMES--Gambling--Sports.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Business Aspects.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Essays.
SPORTS & RECREATION--History.
SPORTS & RECREATION--Reference.
TRAVEL--Special Interest--Sports.
Basketball--Economic aspects
Economic history
Economics
Near West Side (Chicago, Ill.)--Economic conditions.
Illinois--Chicago
Illinois--Chicago--Near West Side
GV885.52.C45 / D46 2018eb
796.323/640977311