Bank One Ballpark, located in downtown Phoenix, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, which play in the baseball stadium, had a net economic impact of $108 million in 2000, according to a survey by local economist Elliot Pollack, who prepared a report for the Maricopa County Stadium District. Taxpayers in Maricopa County kicked $238 million into the development of Bank One Ballpark, which sits at the southwest corner of 7th and Jefferson streets.

That impact is far lower than originally estimated by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce in 1993, when the stadium and baseball franchise were being considered. At the time, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce said that a professional baseball franchise and downtown stadium would add $230 million annually to the local economy.

According to Pollack's report, the chamber's estimate of the gross impact of all spending associated with a pro team was about $50 million too high. The genuine gross impact of the team and stadium is about $230 million, Pollack says.

The lower gross impact has been influenced by several factors, he says, including: more conservative formulas for determining the impact of spending, a drop in attendance by 20% over the first season and the fact that most of the players do not have permanent homes in the Valley and spend their average $2-million salary elsewhere

About one in every five of the 2.5 million annual attendees of baseball games at Bank One Ballpark were from outside the Valley. That 20% of the fan base spend about $65 a day in hotels, restaurants or in bars. Local fans say they spent nearly $18 million on the Diamondbacks that they would otherwise have saved.