Quote:
Originally Posted by TheKurgan
Why? It's still $250mil dollar of taxpayer money going into something for the people of the city to use. And it is free to enter because, we again as taxpayers, pay $50mil ($43mil city /$6mil provincial in 2015) per year to keep it running.
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It's essentially corporate welfare. Would you be cool giving one of the O&G companies money for a new office tower? Probably not, and most people would be incensed at the idea, even though the prospective economic argument is probably more compelling to give the money to the O&G company. Yet for sports, apparently, people can't wait to give that money away.
Flames have the money to build the arena on their own too, just not CalgaryNEXT. And they will, and that'll be that. I was just being snide to Gary because he's a dickwad. NHL could easily kick some money in to help the arena.