Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinion
This isn't really true, Rogers Arena/GM Place was an anomaly even in the mid 90s and it cost Arthur Griffiths control of the team. Teams using threats to get a city to build an arena has been going on since pro sports became big business many decades ago.
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If you look just at the NHL, only 1 arena was (is being) built by public funds in Canada, Rogers Place in Edmonton and even then only $200 million of the $480 million building price was public, the rest was private or ticket raised.
When you look at NHL arenas in the US, then there is more owned by cities or counties (public). The ones that aren't are in Pittsburgh, New York, Colorado, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia. So 8 out of 23 or 35% roughly. So in the NHL 14 out of 30 teams have arenas (some recent) built entirely by private money. That's pretty close to 50% overall.
~50% is not an anomaly. That's just the NHL though, I am sure you're correct that a larger portion of Arenas if you start looking at smaller ones, are built by the public. But I don't think I'm too crazy to think at least the City of Surrey should push to not eat all the costs just because some cities do.
Now NFL absolutely. 26 of 32 stadiums in the NFL were built and are owned by public authorities. But we're talking Arenas here not football stadiums.