Arenas and stadiums associated with the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) are increasingly concentrated in the downtown cores of Canadian and American cities.
In 1997, 51 per cent of NFL and MLB stadiums and NBA and NHL arenas were located in downtowns. My recent research found that this share has increased to 61 per cent.