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Originally Posted by Cappy
That is the grossest arena deal for any taxpayer I have ever seen. There is no way in H E double hockey sticks I would ever consider that a wind.
The City of Indianapolis could have revitalized downtown in several different ways with the 800 million they spent!
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It's basically what the Flames proposed, just all in one shot.
This is how the Indy deal breaks down.
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3% Marion County hotel tax increase
Indianapolis Colts 2% County car rental tax increase
1% County restaurant tax increase
1% County admissions tax increase
1% increases in restaurant taxes in 6 other surrounding counties
Sales of Colts license plates
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Is that unreasonable to revitalize an entire downtown?
Another deal to look at is Minnesota's new stadium costing 1.1 billion which is around 55 Vikings/45 Taxpayers and Tourism for reference.
http://www.vikings.com/stadium/new-stadium/faq.html
edit: an older example is the Shark Tank in the 90s. Cost 160 million, 130 from the city and 30 from the team.
Before the San Jose Sharks came to town, downtown San Jose was a ghost town in the evening. But, the arena became the anchor and hub that regularly drew in thousands of people for games and concerts, drawing in lots of new restaurants, bars and other development downtown. I think this was one case where the use of public money for an arena led to significant public benefit.