Voting on a NIMBY facility: proximity cost of an “iconic” stadium

This paper provides a spatial analysis at precinct level of the 2001 referendum of the Allianz Arena, a professional soccer stadium in Munich in Germany. While at the city level voters clearly supported the sports arena, voters in proximity of the proposed site opposed the project. Voters in proximity of an alternative site instead supported the project. We conclude that residents expected net costs of proximity to stadia and engaged in the referendum in order to shift the stadium away from their neighborhood. These findings indicate that sport facilities may exhibit a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) character, which stands in contrast to the evidence available for the United States. Proximity costs and benefits of sports facilities apparently vary across sports and countries.