The impact of building the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on crime in Atlanta, GA

Abstract

Purpose

We examine whether the construction of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA affected property and violent crime at and around the stadium construction site.

Methods

Property and violent crime data from the Atlanta Open Data Portal for 2009–2019 were spatially aggregated to 331 census block groups categorized into adjacent, secondary adjacent, tertiary adjacent, and distant areas. Non-parametric spatial permutation tests were conducted to assess changes in aggregated daily average property and violent crime counts from before to during construction and from during construction to after the stadium opened. Interrupted time series models were estimated to test for changes in the trend of monthly property and violent crime.

Results

Multiple analyses suggest both property and violent crime declined in the area closest to the stadium construction site; however, these may have been part of pre-existing declining trends in crime experienced throughout Atlanta. There was some evidence of diffused benefits of construction to the secondary adjacent census block groups.

Conclusions

Construction of the MBS did not disrupt pre-existing downward trends in crime, suggesting that there were no criminogenic impacts of building the NFL stadium. Future research should examine construction of different sports venues to expand knowledge on the construction-crime relationship.