Sports construction rolls right through economic uncertainty

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) — The hulking grandstand at the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse casts an eerie shadow as the sun sets on a weekday evening. It sits dormant on a tract of land that could be transformed in a major way.

With the galloping horses long gone, the Chicago Bears see 326 acres of opportunity. The Buffalo Bills also are making plans for a new home. Same for the Tennessee Titans and baseball's Kansas City Royals. Major League Soccer's Inter Miami is working on its new place, and on and on it goes.

When it comes to construction for sports, today’s economic uncertainty is nothing compared to the lucrative promise of tomorrow. Interest rates, inflation and supply chain issues factor into the plans, according to construction and financing experts, but they haven’t been standing in the way.

“The best time to build is now, not two years from now,” said Dan Wacker, director of pre-construction for Mortenson’s sports and entertainment division, which counts Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium and Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium among its recent major projects. “If you can make that happen.”

The key to any development is understanding what the market can bear when it comes to spending, which already factors in inflation — "a manageable risk factor,” according to Scott Zolke, a lawyer with an extensive sports background who represents the Bills in stadium talks.

“One of the things that we exhausted in our analysis of Buffalo was ‘What if?’” he said.

“What about inflation? What if we go into a recession? What if ... the supply chain is completely flipped upside down?” Zolke added. “You look at the best, worst, middle-case scenarios, do your comparisons ... and then you say, is it worth it?”

Teams continue to say yes during what looks like an imposing...