The recession and prolonged slump in sports-facility development make it easy to forget that there was a time when the industry was bursting at the seams with new projects.

Forty-four new MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL venues opened during the 1990s—27 arenas and 17 stadiums. The building boom reached its apex in 1999, led by a record eight-pack of arena ribbon-cuttings, plus two new NFL stadiums and one new MLS facility.

“It was a heady time for architecture, specifically for those of us doing sports work,” said Brad Clark, a senior designer with Populous. “There was a rivalry between the companies, and it was part of something meaningful. We created a specialty, and so many buildings came out of that.”

It all came together in the perfect storm of 1999, with teams needing to replace aging arenas with new facilities and a strong economy driving those deals. That year, 12 NBA and NHL teams christened new arenas in Atlanta, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Raleigh, and Toronto. (New Orleans Arena did not have a big-league tenant until 2002, when the Hornets moved there from Charlotte).

“It was a fun year with all those buildings opening,” said developer Tim Romani, who opened Pepsi Center’s doors as president and general manager of the Denver arena. “Now you’re lucky to build eight in one decade.”

Looking back, five of the eight arenas—Air Canada Centre in Toronto, American Airlines Arena in Miami, Pepsi Center, Philips Arena in Atlanta, and Staples Center in Los Angeles—proved to be anchors for revitalizing downtown areas, bringing life back to their cities’ urban core.

L.A. Live’s restaurants, bars, and retail stores sprouting up the past few years across the street from Staples Center have replaced the drug dens and by-the-hour room rentals, said John Semcken, a developer with Majestic Realty, a firm that bought parcels of land to build the arena.

Pepsi Center, opening four years after Coors Field did in downtown Denver, closed the gap in an area where abandoned warehouses linked to the 19th century railroad industry dominated the landscape. Previously, it was no-man’s land, “like you fell off the face of the earth,” Romani said.

In Atlanta, team owner and media mogul Ted Turner resisted the advice of his chief lieutenant, Stan Kasten, to build in the suburbs and decided to put Philips Arena on the site of the old Omni arena in the heart of downtown Atlanta as the city prepared for life after the 1996 Summer Olympics.

It took a bit longer in Miami and Toronto for development to take root outside American Airlines Arena and Air Canada Centre, but it’s happening now with new condominium projects outside their front doors.

Most of the arena designs tied into the historical fabric of their communities. Conseco Fieldhouse, a testimonial hoops throwback whose spacious entry plaza guides patrons into the bowl, has served as inspiration for FedEx Forum in Memphis and Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, among others.

In addition, Conseco’s tight basketball-specific layout is a design that New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner wants to emulate at the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“Before those buildings opened, there was a tendency to come up with one-size-fits-all arenas,” said Jay Cross, a former sports executive involved in developing arenas in Toronto and Miami. “It was the first attempt to design a building unique to the culture of those cities.”

As a group, the arenas established new revenue opportunities in premium seating and sponsorships.

The ultra-exclusive bunker suites in Atlanta, Miami, and Toronto, and AEG’s founding partner program in Los Angeles, where eight sponsors buy brand exclusivity, kick-started trends for others to follow in the new millennium.