But I gotta admit, this one hurts a bit.
Not just for the fact that I really don't want to see the Wings leave Joe Louis Arena for a smaller, no doubt more expensive stadium, or that for all it's faults, the Joe's got it's charm, but the fact that in making this argument, I have to give the FJM treatment to a dude that I have a lot of respect for, who knows hockey better than any sports talker in this town, and that I've often wondered how the hell he's not on one of the several sports stations in the D while guys like Dan Leach and Drew Lane are still somehow employed.
I'm referring to this piece by former WDFN host Sean Baligian in response to the article excerpted by Deadspin about the new Red Wings arena, for which the public is on the hook for about 58% of the $450 million cost. The crux of Baligian's argument is that there is a 'sense of entitlement' among sports fans. How dare we, as fans, expect Illitch to pick up the tab for a building from which his company, and only his company, will profit.
#1. So many interesting tidbits in the piece, I will start here, as the Deadspin piece reported an alleged pricetag of around 650 Million for the new Red Wing arena. Of that, an estimated 284.5 million dollars will come from "public investment". Cool, Glad we got that straight. So, does that mean that The Illitch family is pumping in the rest of the 365.5 million dollars? What a horrible man, He simply doesnt care about the problems is Detroit.
About that... the cost of the arena itself is $450 million, and taxes will account for $261.5 million of that, which means Ilitch is kicking in $188.4 million of his company's money. Simple math, as you like to say. That other $200 million is for development around the new arena, on property Illitch actually paid market value for, as opposed to the 39 lots or so on which the arena will sit, which the city sold to him for... $1.
What a horrible, uncaring man putting up that much of his OWN money for something that will CLEARLY pump money back into the local economy, as we have seen for years at Joe Louis Arena and Comerica Park. "Built off the backs of taxpayers" indeed.
I don't think this is as 'clear' as you make it out to be. Studies have been done that disprove the whole "subsidizing sports stadiums is good for the economy" theory. While there is certainly benefit to having these franchises in town, the cost to the public to subsidize simply outweighs any benefit, and serves mostly to inflate the value of the franchises.
#4 Please pay attention to this point, this is the most important one. Do people realize that the Tigers have LOST money quite often in various yearly reports according to Forbes? Yep, a net operating loss, including a report based on the 2012 Season released about a year ago. The Red Wings? Well, again, it is estimated that they lost 14 to 15 million dollars in 2004, the season before the salary cap became reality in the NHL. Why? Well, This horrible man wants to win, and spends a lot of money in an effort to help his team win. Doing this, he knows that fans will show up, spend money, and the entire area can prosper. You know, Like he wants to do so, as a BUSINESSMAN.
Now this is clearly a misleading argument altogether. For one, the salary cap has been in effect almost a decade now, leaving that part of your argument null and void. And to assume each of these franchises operate in a vacuum is disingenuous and dishonest. No one doubts that Illitch wants his teams to be competitive, and spends the money to make it so. But it is highly doubtful that the entirety of Ilitch Holdings, which owns Olympia Entertainment, both teams, a fairly lucrative pizza business you might have heard of, and dozens of businesses in the surrounding areas, is losing money on a year-to-year basis.
The interesting tidbit here is: While the author is using melo-dramatic lines like "Built off the backs of taxpayers" in an effort to work the entitled out there into a rabid lather, I guess he kinda neglected to ask WHO has to eat the losses that come up? Did Illitch ask the community to pony up when it was HIM that worked under varying operating losses? Oh yes, I forgot, because he is a rich businessman, he is just supposed to accept the losses, pour in all of HIS money, and everybody else profits.
If by that, you mean "no one else profits," then sure. Per the Freep, the agreement under which the city made about $7 million annually in revenue off the team's home games, receiving a percentage of ticket and concessions sales, ceases to exist when the move is complete. In addition, the Illitches would keep all proceeds from any sale of naming rights. All well and good, were the public not paying 60% of the cost for the whole thing.
I mean, Think about it: Are the "backs of the taxpayers" losing money when people are coming downtown 81 times a year, plus playoffs, at Comerica? Are those poor, tired backs losing money and paying OUT for 41 games and playoffs at the Joe or the new arena? Hell no. The have been able to reap, and will continue to reap, any profit, with ZERO loss mind you, from these ventures.
Except that once again, no, the "poor tired backs" are reaping not one red cent from this. Hell, Illitch wouldn't even agree to a community benefits agreement which would require him to hire a certain percentage of actual Detroiters to complete this project. So how can you really say that the public reaps all that much benefit from it's investment? And of course, there is the fact that part of the taxes that are funding this project are being diverted from the state's school aid fund.
What I fail to understand here is, how in the hell are fans "entitled" by demanding that the guy who will take in literally all revenue from the actual arena itself (I'm not talking about businesses in and around the arena, though the Illitch organization will likely have a financial interest in many of those as well) pay for the damn thing himself? If we're going to be charged upwards of $50 for nosebleed seats for a regular-season game in the current stadium, not to mention get absolutely gouged for concessions ($18 for a $5 Hot-N'-Ready?) how is it unreasonable to not want additional money taken from us to finance said gouging?
Wake up, Man
Indeed.
