Sports stadiums don't deliver on promoters' promises that they will create jobs and boost economic growth. That is the conclusion of a number of respected studies by independent researchers.

Here is what they say:

• In a 1994 study of 48 cities over a 30-year period, Lake Forest College economist Robert Baade concluded sports facilities divert economic development toward labor-intensive, relatively unskilled and low-wage part-time jobs.

• A 1997 Brookings Institution report concluded a new sports facility "has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment."

• A new Heritage Foundation study comparing Maryland counties that built pro sports facilities with Virginia counties which didn't reached similar conclusions as the Brookings and Lake Forest studies.

For example, Baltimore, Md., is engaged in building a new stadium for the Ravens football team. Maryland's Economic Development Department says the Ravens' stadium will create only 1,394 full-time jobs at a cost of $127,000 each. A study by the state legislature's Office of Policy Analysis says the stadium will create 889 jobs at a cost of $200,000 each.

By contrast, Virginia's leaders have stayed out of the stadium business -- concentrating instead on such things as cutting taxes, improving schools and fighting crime. Thus, Virginia has created more new jobs and has tended to have a lower unemployment rate than Maryland. Meanwhile, Baltimore continues to lose about 1,000 residents per month.

Source: Perspective, "Fields Of Dreams?" Investor's Business Daily, October 28, 1998.