Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
What's a leap is saying that privately financing your building is a bad idea because Molson sold the building and the team and then re-bought it again ten years later.
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That is simplistic to the point of being worthless.
The Molson Centre was built for $270 million in 1996. Five years later, the Molsons sold the arena AND team for $275 million. Obviously the arena depreciated in value significantly over that time and could definitely be argued as a bad investment.
On the flip side, Molson re-purchased the team, arena and Gillett's entertainment company for $500 million. I'd say the arena obviously appreciated in value in those eight years, but has never approached its original cost.
Which, of course, is why most team owners try to get public funding.