Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Come November you'll find that no cuts were made. The administration in Calgary loves to play the fear game.

Property taxes aren't going up to pay for the arena. City already had money set aside for it.

Why not use that money on something that will help people who aren't already in the 0.01%?

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Why not use that money on something that will help people who aren't already in the 0.01%?

Only the 0.01% go to arena events?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Only the 0.01% go to arena events?

Arena-goers don't own the building, they pay big money for tickets to see events.

I'm not sure why you're so accepting of this corporate welfare.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Billions?

Arena
Tower 1
Tower 2
Tower 3
Tower 4
Tower 5
Add that all up.
Tower 1 amd 2 are almost half a billion.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Only suckers apparently, because governments are bending over for billionaires. Meanwhile Calgary cut a bunch of programs to meet their budget requirements.

Maybe property tax should have a line item for "new arena" and see how that goes over with taxpayers.

That's not what's happening, like at all.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Arena-goers don't own the building, they pay big money for tickets to see events.

I'm not sure why you're so accepting of this corporate welfare.

It's not corporate welfare. It's an investment in quality of life.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

Arena
Tower 1
Tower 2
Tower 3
Tower 4
Tower 5
Add that all up.
Tower 1 amd 2 are almost half a billion.

In Winnipeg or Edmonton?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

It's not corporate welfare. It's an investment in quality of life.

Investment in whose quality of life, the principals of CSEC?

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

The Toronto ownership group gets massive subsidies via the government severely restricting competition in telecommunications and media. Beer guys have a sweet deal as well. Having said that I still think they would ask for money if they had to build a ~$600 million arena. The ACC in 2018 dollars would cost $381 million to build. The Oilers and Flames are getting tons of benefits. The land deal the Flames are apparently getting would beat out MLSE being able to keep all of the profits generated from the arena.We'll probably find in 10 to 15 years that the arena ended up costing the Flames nothing and that they're making a ton of money off their investment. The City better hope that lots of tax revenues are generated from whatever it is the Flames end up building.

I would hope the Flames make lots of money, that’s the reason for them to invest in a new arena. The Griffith family and the Grizzlies (rip) are prime examples of what happens when ownership over extends themselves and the team doesn’t make enough money to cover the bills. Pretty sure that lesson is not lost on our group of owners.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

It's not corporate welfare. It's an investment in quality of life.

Yes, the quality of life for the people who profit off this corporate welfare.
They thank you for funding their lavish lifestyle.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

It's not corporate welfare. It's an investment in quality of life.

lol no its not.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

That's not what's happening, like at all.

Then what's happening?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

It's not corporate welfare. It's an investment in quality of life.

Oh so the City of Calgary will maintain ownership? Like they do over libraries, swimming pools, and other community resources? They'll be able to set prices to use the facility?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jawagord

I would hope the Flames make lots of money, that’s the reason for them to invest in a new arena. The Griffith family and the Grizzlies (rip) are prime examples of what happens when ownership over extends themselves and the team doesn’t make enough money to cover the bills. Pretty sure that lesson is not lost on our group of owners.

Maybe they need to find some investors will deeper pockets then, or play in another league like the WHL. Don't play with the big boys if you can't afford to...

If it's such a no-brainer investment, money should be flooding in...

[esquire]

It's funny, no one actually likes these arena deals where governments kick in a pile of cash to private teams for new venues. Even in a place like this where there is a pretty sports-friendly mindset everyone generally thinks it sucks. Yet it keeps happening.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's funny, no one actually likes these arena deals where governments kick in a pile of cash to private teams for new venues. Even in a place like this where there is a pretty sports-friendly mindset everyone generally thinks it sucks. Yet it keeps happening.

As long as people keep going to games and concerts it doesn't really matter what we think...we can complain as much as we want on a forum, we're outnumbered by people who either don't care as much or who are just blissfully ignorant of the fact.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

As long as people keep going to games and concerts it doesn't really matter what we think...we can complain as much as we want on a forum, we're outnumbered by people who either don't care as much or who are just blissfully ignorant of the fact.

I don't see what going to games and concerts necessarily has to do with it... I mean, people go to movies but there is no expectation that government should step up and subsidize movie theatres, for example.

I suspect politicians are bending to the will of the rich and powerful in spite of public opinion, not because of it.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't see what going to games and concerts necessarily has to do with it... I mean, people go to movies but there is no expectation that government should step up and subsidize movie theatres, for example.

I suspect politicians are bending to the will of the rich and powerful in spite of public opinion, not because of it.

Yep. Hundreds of millions at stake, these guys are slick at convincing the politicians to spend somebody else's money on their big projects, or the world will fall apart.

I'm surprised big capital spending like this doesn't require a public vote. We have large capital projects attached to our ballots in Vancouver. It's usually boring stuff like roads and sewers, but certainly less than this amount of $$$.

[Berklon]

Corporations run cities and countries, not the public and government.

[Hackslack]

How much did Toronto benefit from the Raptors NBA championship? I'm not sure how much the government paid to build the ACC, but the population rallied around the team, brought the people together and unified the population - that's just the societal benefit of building a sports stadium, not to mention the economic benefits of the city including the millions of dollars restaurants gained from such a run, and tax dollars generated from the all this extra spending... Also, the interest in the sport of basketball will completely take off from coast to coast, all thanks to Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors.

The same can be said fro BMO stadium, with TFC championship. Not only the societal, and economic benefit it generated, I'd imagine that the interest in the sport of soccer completely took off as well.

These are just examples from Toronto of course, but the effects will be felt coast to coast, which may prompt governments in other parts of the countries to invest in sport stadiums to help grow the respective sports, bring people together, and help the economy, especially in areas around the stadium, that otherwise wouldn't benefit from the stadium.