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Photo courtesy of: Greg Land
Chris Dunlavey on why the best sports venues create communities, not just championships
For more than three decades, Chris Dunlavey has helped shape some of North America’s most ambitious sports and recreation developments. As co-founder and co-CEO of Brailsford & Dunlavey, he’s advised professional sports franchises, universities, municipalities, and developers on projects that extend far beyond the venue itself, creating destinations that serve fans, communities, and local economies year-round.
A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and a nationally recognized leader in sports venue planning, financing, design and construction, Chris is also one of the industry’s most frequently quoted voices. Whether discussing the future of stadium districts, mixed-use development, or the economics of professional sports, journalists regularly turn to him for perspective. We sat down with Chris to talk about what makes a great venue, where the industry is headed, and why rugby still has a special place in his heart.
Brailsford & Dunlavey: You’ve spent much of your career working on sports venues. What keeps that work exciting after all these years?
Chris Dunlavey: Every project is different because every community is different, and the state of the art keeps evolving. Sure, there are technical similarities between different cities’ stadiums and arenas, but no two owners have exactly the same values and goals, no two fan bases have the same culture, and no two cities have the same aspirations. That’s what makes the work endlessly interesting. At the end of the day, we’re not really building sports facilities. We’re helping communities decide what role sports should play in their future. That’s a much bigger and more interesting question.
B&D: Stadiums today seem to be about much more than the game itself. What’s changed?
CD: Twenty-five years ago, the conversation was mostly about adding premium seating and clubs, or improving services like concessions. Today, owners are thinking much bigger. A stadium isn’t just a place people visit eight or ten Sundays a year anymore. It’s increasingly the centerpiece of an entertainment district, a neighborhood, and sometimes an entire economic development strategy. The goal is to create places people want to visit year-round, whether there’s a game that day or not. That’s a fundamental shift in how we think about these investments.
B&D: Mixed-use districts seem to be everywhere now. Is that trend here to stay?
CD: Absolutely. Sports teams have realized they possess something incredibly valuable: people genuinely want to be around their brand. If you can create restaurants, hotels, housing, offices, parks, and public gathering spaces around that experience, you create value that extends well beyond ticket sales. The most successful districts aren’t simply collections of buildings surrounding a stadium. They’re neighborhoods with an identity. If people only come on game day, you’ve missed a tremendous opportunity.
B&D: Fans have become much more demanding. How has that influenced venue design?
CD: Fans have lots of entertainment choices today. If you’re asking them to leave the comfort of home, spend money, and invest an entire afternoon or evening, the experience has to be worth it. That doesn’t necessarily mean spending more money on bigger scoreboards. It means reducing friction. Getting people in and out easily. Making it intuitive to navigate. Creating places where families and friends actually want to spend time together before and after the game. Which means that oftentimes, the best part of game day isn’t the game. It’s everything that surrounds it.
B&D: You’ve worked on projects ranging from professional sports to college athletics. What are the biggest differences?
CD: College athletics often have a broader mission. Professional teams are certainly thinking about revenue and fan experience, but universities are balancing athletics with academics, student life, alumni engagement, research, housing, and the institutional mission and identity. A college venue has to serve many different constituencies. That makes those projects incredibly rewarding because the facility often becomes one piece of a much larger campus vision.
B&D: You’ve often said facilities should reflect the community they serve. What does that actually look like?
CD: It starts by listening. One mistake organizations sometimes make is falling in love with a solution before they’ve fully understood the problem. We spend a tremendous amount of time asking questions before anyone starts drawing. What are people trying to accomplish? What does success look like? What kind of experience should this place create? Once those answers become clear, the physical facility almost starts to reveal itself. Great venues aren’t monuments to architecture; they’re expressions of the communities that built them.
B&D: Is there one lesson you’ve learned that applies to every sports venue project?
CD: Don’t confuse a building with an outcome. People don’t wake up hoping for a new stadium. They hope for stronger communities, memorable experiences, economic opportunity, civic pride, or a better student experience. The building is simply one way of getting there. When you keep your focus on the outcome instead of the facility itself, you almost always make better decisions.
B&D: B&D is currently involved in some of the country’s highest-profile sports venue initiatives. Without getting into specifics, what kinds of challenges are owners wrestling with today?
CD: Complexity. These projects involve more stakeholders than ever before. Teams, municipalities, universities, developers, transit agencies, neighborhood groups, environmental concerns, financing partners, private investors, and public officials all have legitimate interests. The challenge isn’t simply delivering a great venue. It’s aligning all those interests around a shared vision. That’s where our work begins long before construction ever starts.
B&D: Looking ahead 10 or 20 years, what do you think today’s sports venues will be remembered for?
CD: I hope they’ll be remembered less for the architecture and more for the communities they helped create. The best projects become gathering places. They’re where people celebrate championships, attend concerts, meet friends for dinner, take their kids to festivals, or simply enjoy spending time together. If we’ve done our job well, people won’t remember the project delivery process. They’ll remember the memories they made there.
B&D: Let’s switch gears. Rugby has been a huge part of your life, both personally and professionally. What keeps drawing you back to the sport?
CD: Rugby has always represented something bigger than competition for me. It’s a sport built on a set of values, preeminently respect. You compete as hard as you possibly can in the most intensive contact sport for 80 minutes, but then afterward everyone comes together shares a meal together. There’s something refreshing about that. I also love how rugby builds community. Whether you’re playing, coaching, supporting a club, or watching from the sidelines, there’s an incredible sense of belonging. Those values have stayed with me throughout my career.
B&D: Favorite sports venue?
CD: The next one.
B&D: Best game-day tradition?
CD: Watching generations of families experience it together.
B&D: Most underrated sport to watch live?
CD: Rugby. Of course.
B&D: If you weren’t in this business?
CD: I’d probably still find a way to be involved in building communities. The medium might change, but the mission wouldn’t.
B&D: One word that describes your approach to leadership?
CD: Curious.
Our thanks to Chris for taking the time to share his experience and perspective. Later this month, he’ll join fellow executives from across professional sports at Sports Business Journal’s invitation-only Thought Leaders Retreat in Park City, Utah, where the conversations will continue around leadership, venue development, and the future of the industry. We look forward to sharing more of Chris’s insights in a future edition of Ask the Expert.
Chris Dunlavey, FAIA, has spent more than three decades helping shape some of the country’s most iconic sports facilities, including Nationals Park, one of the sports world’s defining modern venues. Today, he is leading the advisory team supporting development of the new Washington Commanders stadium. He is also co-owner of Major League Rugby’s Old Glory DC, bringing the perspective of both a trusted advisor and a team owner to the future of sports.
