Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
Maybe some Winnipeggers see not having a team as a positive, because they don't really care about hockey and believe that any team that did materialize would inevitably require public funds and tax concessions.
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The reality is no hockey team would pay as much tax as an NHL team which didn't have to pay taxes.
The mean differnce being that Winnipeg's level of civic pride would skyrocket. If thats not worth tax dollars than so be it, but please don't let some anti-hockey person say it would hurt the community if it didn't pay taxes.
I believe the city and province have poured millions into various attempts to make Winnipeg seem cool again, after the Jets left town. It would be much easier to market Winnipeg on many levels if there were an NHL team downtown. The city would seem much bigger with the LA Kings visiting downtown.. and the downtown would seem a much more exciting place to go , as well as invest.
This is not to say Winnipeg will or won't get the Jets back... but I strongly beleive there are many benefits to the city and province, even if they didn't pay taxes.. including retaining younger population, instilling higher confidence in downtown.. as well as the city as a whole.. and for marketng and tourism which would benefit the city's economy. Losing the team cost the city a much greater amount than I think the politicians ever believed it would, but without a new arena t was just not possible, at that time.
Today Winnipeg is in a much different situation than it was in 1996. in terms of venue as well as economy.