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Major League Winners: Using Sports and Cultural Centers as Tools for Economic Development chronicles the challenges overcome by civic leaders who are using the development of sports and cultural venues to help create diversified, vibrant, and attractive economic bases within their communities. Drawing on his 30 years of involvement with such projects, Mark Rosentraub presents case studies that demonstrate the innovative private-public partnerships needed to create win-win scenarios. These include how:

• Indianapolis and Cleveland now boast new images as well as new downtowns thanks to innovative sports and cultural venues
• San Diego continues to revitalize itself through partnerships of shared risk and returns
• L.A.'s resurgence makes the most of its location and its glitz
• Columbus and Reading are proof that even midsized and smaller cities can leverage sports enthusiasm

A decade ago in Major League Losers: The Real Cost of Sports and Who's Paying for It, Dr. Rosentraub educated us about the insidious nature of the great sports welfare machine. Now, he shows us that those lessons are well-learned. While no urban center will weather this current economic crisis unscathed, the areas that will suffer least and recover fastest are those that are attracting and retaining significant concentrations of diversely skilled human capital. Rather than just provide us with a brief escape from our problems, with the right leadership, sports and entertainment can create opportunities for our cities to reinvent and reinvigorate themselves.