[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Seattle is three times the size of Calgary (and growing rapidly), and the new arena will likely have two major-league tenants, not one. These facts should suggest to you some reasons why it's easier to justify $600 million in private money for an arena there.

Building an NHL-quality arena with your own money in a city of a million and change is a good way to throw your money away, and significantly more entertaining than flushing it down the toilet. People keep mentioning privately financed arenas in places like New York, Toronto, and now Seattle. Well, boys and girls, we're not in that league, and an arena here won't draw that kind of cashflow. The closest parallel for us is Ottawa, where they built an arena with private money, and it promptly went broke.

The relative metro Seattle area has a population that is right on par with Calgary so I don't get where you are basing your "three times Calgary's Size" argument? Very few people would be driving 75km from distant cities like Tacoma to watch NHL hockey - including that population in your argument is a bit much. Also, the last time I checked, these buildings hold 17-20k people....unless you're talking metropolis vs small town Alberta, Calgary is definitely in the same league as these other cities you've listed as far as potential to draw serious cash flow.