I am completely against public funding of buildings like this. I don't think there is any logical argument why teams can pay their players 75 million per year, but can't build a 500 million dollar building for them, or even a logical argument why they need a 500 million in the first place. Maybe they should use 30 million a year to finance their building and the salaries should be corrected to 45 million.
But, Calgary is not a vacuum and they have to compete against other cities both on the ice and for franchises. It is pretty tough for one city to take a stand against this unless they are in a huge market. So I guess it's a necessary evil that the city and province have to give some money, but I sure wish there was a way to put an end to this across the continent. At least public sentiment seems to be shifting away from this kind of spending.
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