Some quick googling shows that the high schools in suburban Buffalo sponsor more sports than in inner city Buffalo, but not that many athletic conferences in New York state seem to have websites, so its hard to get more data. It isn't really important if they have big stadiums...whats more interesting is what revenue stream they're using to maintain them. Is it taxpayer operating funds, booster money, national NGO money (national groups like RBI pay for baseball field maintenance), corporations, or something else? Its hard to say without looking at each district's end of year report, but the public is often surprised to see how much athletic departments are funded outside of taxation.
I'm surprised to hear about large urban baseball field renovations though...it doesn't make a lot of sense, because inner city baseball is now almost a dead sport. Participation is down, talent is WAY down, scouts don't even go to inner city games anymore, etc. There are entire major league teams without a single black dude. Why kick tons of your own money into a facility that doesn't generate revenue and isn't taken seriously? Football and basketball I can understand, but for baseball, I have to think something else is at work.
