Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
This city desperately needs a new arena. It's not just about the Flames, either. Whether anyone likes to admit it or not, major-league venues are the entertainment Meccas of the world; and The Canadian Airlines Olympic ScotiaPen Saddledome is our current contribution to that standard.
Every time a major act goes to Edmonton instead of Calgary (the Dome is too outdated to support current stage requirements) it says something about Calgary's place in the world.
There's also the residual impact on the city. A person could, quite literally, live in this city their entire life without ever setting foot inside the arena, yet still benefit almost daily from its existence - so yes, tax dollars should absolutely pay for it to be built. 100%? no, that's ridiculous; but so is 0%.
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Ahh, the "world class city" argument.
The point is that there is a huge opportunity cost. If we accepted the original plan where the city pays a billion dollars for CalgaryNEXT, that's a billion dollars that could've been used elsewhere to make us a world class city.
The residual impact on the city for an arena is absolutely there for sure, and extremely hard to quantify. A lot of studies have shown that an arena has a <1 multiplier (ie. you get less than you put in). You would get more economic stimulation from sending everyone $1000 in NenshiBucks than you would from building an arena (yes, even over the expected lifespan of the arena).
I can't quantify feelings and world class though, and in my opinion, that's the biggest argument for something like CalgaryNEXT.