Quote:
Originally Posted by TheKurgan
I honestly don't know why people get so up in arms about public money going to a new arena. I don't remember anyone complaining in the media about the $250mil public library we are building, or the $200mil dollar National Music Center we built. Both of those project used almost all public money, and will generate next to nothing for the economy.
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The difference is, as other have pointed out, that a public library and national music centre are not-for-profit entities. In the case of the public library it is a municipal service similar to police or firefighters. There is a general understanding that when one pays taxes, those tax dollars mostly go to fund public services.
The Calgary Flames are a for-profit business owned by Calgary Sports and Entertainment. They're trying to make the claim that a new arena would be such a good deal for the city that the city itself should invest in the venture. Essentially, it's a business trying to convince the city to pay some of it's expenses.
What makes arena deals even worse is that, unlike most investment situations, where the person or organization invest gets a cut of the profits, in this situation CSEC would keep 100% of the profits.
While arena deals may have some merit (it's debatable), the new arena isn't like a library. Rather a new arena would be like if I decide I want to open up a coffee shop. Except, instead of simply spending the money to purchase a location and put in the infrastructure required for said coffee shop, I went to all the businesses around my potential location and told them my shop will be so successful and popular that their businesses will thrive as a result, insisting they give me money to open my shop and then, assuming they actually do that, keeping all the profits from my shop instead of sharing with my investors.