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Originally Posted by locolife
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Except it literally is how it works. The story you linked to even concedes that businesses have seen increased spending (though it doesn't really mention how much beyond saying "the gains are small" and mention that it's only relevant to the areas around the stadium - well duh we're talking downtown, so...) and the study it links to on this point ... is not freely accessible.
But what I do know is that Jazz games bring in about
$1 million in revenue each season. That might not
seem like a lot but it's probably one of the bigger drivers to getting people downtown.
Take out the Delta Center, as in move it to Draper or Provo or somewhere else, and you not only lose the revenue the Jazz create, you also lose the revenue the Delta Center overall can create for downtown - concerts, shows, even March Madness.
So, we're likely looking at a situation where that revenue could potentially double by bringing in a NHL team.
Whether it matches, dollar for dollar, the amount the city invests in renovating? Who knows? How do you quantify an exact number like that?
You can't and that's why these studies are limited. For starters, many of these studies involve already built arenas. So, they're not adding anything new to the market. When Baltimore is looking to renovate or rebuild Camden Yards, they're not adding an entirely new stadium to the area. The Orios have played on that site for 32 years.
This is adding a new team to the market which absolutely mean more foot traffic.
So, there are now two things at play here:
1. Doubling the amount of games downtown (a new stadium in Buffalo for the Bills isn't going to change anything because they're literally building it right next door to their current stadium, so, that's a stupid comparison).
2. It guarantees the main concert/sports arena on the entire Wasatch Front remains downtown as opposed to moving south to Draper and downtown Salt Lake losing all that foot traffic - even if it were just to save the Jazz. There are 41 home games in the NBA alone (and for the NHL too - but let's just stick with the Jazz). This season alone, Utah averaged 18,206 per game. That works out to an average of 746,446 people coming downtown throughout the season. How can anyone look at that number and not think it has some level of impact on downtown and the businesses around it? In 2018, the Salt Palace brought in about a half-million people per year downtown. Add the NHL team, and say with the new renovations, you're looking at 17,500 and that works out to 717,500 on average a year. With the Jazz, that's 1.5 million or so people coming into downtown a year - just from those two events. Add other events the Delta Center hosts, and you're pushing two-million people a year who otherwise might not come downtown at all without the arena.
And so now you have bars and restaurants popping - and then hotels. On top of that, it makes the area more engaging as there's more foot traffic and buzz. So, it's not just a depressed area that people don't want to necessarily visit, or more importantly: live.
It's all tied together.
Especially when it's linked to these types of developments and not just the stadium itself.
It's really not debatable that Salt Lake is better off with the Jazz downtown. They're absolutely better off with a NHL team downtown. They'll be even way better off if they can get a MLB stadium built just a mile west from downtown.