I think the city now should just build the entire thing for 800 million dollars, and then allow Katz to pay the money back over time via a ticket tax. This would protect the taxpayer and allow Katz to get his arena, a win win for everyone.
You could put a tax of 50 dollars per seat on average. 45 Oilers games a year (4 pre season and 41 regular season, no playoff games included in the calculations for obvious reasons) Katz could keep all the other revenues that he wants from concerts or whatever, but put a 50 dollar per ticket tax on the 45 Oilers games per year. A 50 dollar tax on 45 games a year would generate 42.75 million dollars a year in ticket tax revenue. Again, assuming the bargain basement interest rate of 4% per annum, the Katz group could pay off its loan from the City in 37 years and still have all the profits from the other events at the arena, in the entertainment district, etc. It would be a win win for everyone. Katz does not have to put the money up front but he gets his arena, and the taxpayer is paid off over time with a small amount of interest.
You could even put in some incentives for Katz and their group to see if the revenue streams actually grow at a higher rate for the City as they are predicting. You could take the average growth of city commercial tax revenues (factoring in inflation and other economically vital statistics) over say the past 20 years. Since the Katz Group is telling the City that revenues will grow, perhaps if revenues for the entire City actually grow (thus actually giving the City an economic benefit from the project) perhaps Katz should get a cut of that to put against his debt with the City. That way if all of his lofty projections for the City of Edmonton are realized he can benefit from it as well as the City. Maybe a 50/50 split on additional revenues.
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