Today’s host journalist is Joshua Schaub, director of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an MLB Partner League. Advances frequently move from the major leagues to smaller ones as they develop, with on-field changes typically a result. But, in recent years, we’ve witnessed a horizontal trickle-down result in the realm of real estate, catalyzed by major professional sports teams. The Cubs ‘” Wrigleyville,” an organic cluster of companies that created an interactive experience around activity days that transcended traditional football fandom, established this trend. Recognizing its potential, sports companies pondered the effect of integrating such innovations directly into their network, birthing the concept of a wired, owned-and-operated habitat. With the properly planned area known as The Battery in Atlanta, which easily combines financial, dining, residential, and commercial areas around the facility, this perspective just became a reality in Major League Baseball. Notably, the Braves earned more than$ 59 million in revenue from the spaces in The Battery outside the ballpark last year, which was entirely funded by the team and its partners. Similar mixed-use improvements have flourished in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Green Bay, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Frisco, Texas, serving as society precursors and inspiring synthesis on a smaller size. Areas within the American Association of Professional Baseball’s ( AAPB) footprints have gladly embraced this tendency, recognizing its transformative possible. These include Clarksville, Tenn. , Jersey Village, Texas, Waco, Texas, and Blaine, Minn. ; More than$ 3 billion in development is being proposed for each of those projects. However, developments in these markets face specific challenges, particularly in accessing the funds required for venue development, especially on the open part of the partnership. The AAPB team and the areas where they operate work operate with significantly fewer resources and exposure than the Major League teams, which have businessman owners and relationships that allow for access to those budgets. To bridge the financing gap, the AAPB, the premier MLB Partner League, has pioneered a collaborative and forward-thinking approach, forging early-stage alliances with developers, operators and municipalities at the outset, to overcome the previous financial hurdles to building smaller stadiums while utilizing guaranteed adjacent development. This contrasts favorably with the late 1990s and early 2000s, when stadium construction was being funded by general obligation bonds and took place in undeveloped areas. Many secondary cities were left with poor results from those circumstances, which fueled negative economic studies regarding stadium construction using taxpayer money. The advantage is that we have learned from those mistakes and are n’t trying to make them up. Instead, the AAPB has opened the door for stadium construction in already densely populated areas. Because the private side and the associated incremental real estate tax work in tandem, removing the political football of general obligation bonds being used to build stadiums, the development helps pay for the stadium. These public-partnerships, which are supported by AAPB stadiums, breathe life into mixed-use developments by utilizing tools like tax increment financing ( TIF), strengthening local economies and creating cultural platforms. An American Association example sits in Franklin, Wisc. A development titled “Ballpark Commons ” was created on top of a former landfill. It consists of Lux Bay Golf ( a Top Golf competitor ), a 4,000-seat stadium in Franklin Field, six baseball fields for youth tournaments, apartments and senior living hotels, retail, restaurants, bars, an indoor football facility, a ski hill, and medical and office space. Overall, the$ 180 million dollar development helped build a stadium on the back of the new development ’s incremental real estate tax dollars. Central to the AAPB’s development strategy is the engagement of preferred league partners, including Mammoth Construction, PPG Paints, Extreme Networks, Xtract One Technologies, Mid-Stream Lighting and Sports Hotel Development. Together, they contribute essential components to these districts, ensuring their success and sustainability. In essence, the playbook has been rewritten to bring about a time of growth and prosperity for secondary markets, where professional sports and real estate development come together with little local investment. ( This article missed Jersey Village due to an editing error. ) It has been updated to make it clear that Texas is where it is. In 2019, Joshua Schaub, who succeeded Miles Wolff as league founder, was appointed AAPB commissioner. He previously worked in the Milwaukee Brewers scouting department and was the former CEO and co-owner of the Joliet Slammers baseball team from the Frontier League. Schaub previously served as the Major Arena Soccer League’s commissioner and general counsel, with Gutwein Law in Minneapolis, where he oversaw the sports and entertainment practice.