Don't believe the lie. The truth is that the new Seattle hockey arena is NOT 100% privately funded. (Olympia: sales)

[travis t]

This came up the other day when the hockey group announced costs overruns. They repeated the lie that taxpayers were not on the hook.

How are taxpayers being asked to underwrite the arena? Let me count the ways.

1) The hockey group ('OVG') recently hired city councilman Rob Johnson, who will not seek re-election.
https://mynorthwest.com/1242618/dori...n-seattle-nhl/
Johnson will not be donning a mask and taking to the ice. According to Dori Monson of KIRO, a source tells him that Johnson's role will be to execute a plan to vacuum the taxpayer wallet:

On the Seattle waterfront, there is a project that city leaders have been thirsting after called the LID, or local improvement district....
After the LID, a source tells me that the city will want to create a beautiful boulevard to the new hockey — and maybe basketball — arena at the current KeyArena site. And guess who will get to pay for it? The homeowners and business owners in that neighborhood.

2)As part of the original deal passed by the City Council, the city will waive a plethora of taxes, which will instead be available to the OVG for construction costs.
https://www.thestranger.com/news/201...buyers-remorse
Try getting that deal with your restaurant or club. Your property, sales, and other taxes all get plowed back into your business. You will be laughed out of city hall. This is the same sleight-of-hand, backdoor subsidy that Chris Hansen wanted for his NBA arena.

The city will give OVG revenues from three parking garages surrounding the site. Seattle will also wave or reduce property, sales, business, and admission taxes for the company. And the naming rights for the arena will go straight into OVG's pocket.
We're talking about millions of public dollars per year being used to fund a private company's bottom line.

3)OVG has been busily seeking tax breaks even beyond what was in the original deal:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/...-tax-payments/

With costs climbing on the KeyArena renovation, members of the Los Angeles-based Oak View Group were in Olympia on Wednesday seeking to defer at least $80 million in sales tax payments related to that project and an NHL training facility.

4)And BTW, KeyArena, was built at taxpayer expense in 1995, less than 25 years ago. Who is going to reimburse taxpayers for the loss? Zip, Zero, Nobody. That tax money just gets flushed down the drain as part of this deal.

“Some people say you are renovating KeyArena,” said Johnsen. “No, we are building a state of the art arena underneath the historic roof.”

5) Like the Seahawks and Mariners, OVG will doubtless be seeking massive help from transit agencies to ferry their customers back & forth. Since transit is roughly 70% subsidized by taxpayers, this amounts to another subsidy for hockey. Again, try getting that deal for your bar or restaurant. You'll be laughed out of city hall.

OVG: liar, liar, pants on fire.

[CharlesRamon]

These people are scum. This was the plan all along. “Oh. Woops. Costs are higher than we expected. Looks like we’ll have to cover them with tax money while reaping all the profit for this private enterprise.” Being a sports fan is kind of pointless anyway. You’re just watching other people do something. Pro sports are entertaining but it wouldn’t be a big deal if they disappeared completely. The fact that taxpayers are willing to pay millions of dollars to watch guys hit a puck with sticks while ice skating is ridiculous.

[SeattleCat]

Originally Posted by CharlesRamon

These people are scum. This was the plan all along. “Oh. Woops. Costs are higher than we expected. Looks like we’ll have to cover them with tax money while reaping all the profit for this private enterprise.” Being a sports fan is kind of pointless anyway. You’re just watching other people do something. Pro sports are entertaining but it wouldn’t be a big deal if they disappeared completely. The fact that taxpayers are willing to pay millions of dollars to watch guys hit a puck with sticks while ice skating is ridiculous.

It is ridiculous and pointless. Watching a ball kicked into a net is heavenly though. Go Sounders!!!

[pnwguy2]

Nope. NHL hockey is huge, and Seattle is ripe for it. Do I like cost overruns? No. But they occasionally happen especially with the rapidly increasing cost of construction today.

I don't really care about any of this. Fortunately, the plan to move back the first NHL season was moved to 2021, so this is much ado about nothing. I look forward to a great future of the NHL in Seattle! (Just to turn this thread from negative to positive).

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Nope. NHL hockey is huge, and Seattle is ripe for it. Do I like cost overruns? No. But they occasionally happen especially with the rapidly increasing cost of construction today.

I don't really care about any of this. Fortunately, the plan to move back the first NHL season was moved to 2021, so this is much ado about nothing. I look forward to a great future of the NHL in Seattle! (Just to turn this thread from negative to positive).

YEEESSSS!!! NHL in Seattle, baby!!! My team is in the playoffs. They swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. They haven't swept in a playoff series since 1983!! The New York Islanders are legit this year!! NHL playoffs, Best time of the year!!!

[musicfamly5]

Honestly I would prefer my tax dollars go toward something that I can actually enjoy.

Despite how people feel about sports, they bring in hard cash and help bring outside recognition that can strengthen ties with the various industries that tend to overlap. Games mean more people walking around downtown on weekdays spending money at the surrounding restaurants, bars, and shops. It means more out of state visitors and National TV exposure for tourism. And it creates jobs of all levels; arena workers, medical and athletic staff, and mid level staff. That's not even accounting for the added hours for contract workers, restaurant staff for surrounding business, and so on.

So far Seattle has gotten it's worth in our sports teams. Despite their annoying failures of making the playoffs the Mariners have a weird cult following in baseball throughout the sport. The Seahawks are one of the top teams in the NFL and has a sold out crowd every single year. And even though Seattle claims to be split about the Sonics, the team was a huge success in Seattle to the point most of the players in the NBA want to see them return. Even the Storm has one of the highest attendance rates in the entire WNBA and brought tons of people into the city during their championship run.

Say what you want about it not being worth it, but at least I can enjoy the arena and go see history be made at games. The other option is take the tax dollars and throw them to paying a "homeless consultant" six figures to tell us "hey, have you thought about getting these homeless people some houses?" or some other famous Seattle city spending habits that do absolutely nothing for the tax paying residents.

[travis t]

Originally Posted by musicfamly5

Honestly I would prefer my tax dollars go toward something that I can actually enjoy...

Say what you want about it not being worth it, but at least I can enjoy the arena and go see history be made at games. The other option is take the tax dollars and throw them to paying a "homeless consultant" six figures to tell us "hey, have you thought about getting these homeless people some houses?" or some other famous Seattle city spending habits that do absolutely nothing for the tax paying residents.

'False dilemma' logical fallacy. There are numerous other options as to what could be done with the tax dollars that are given to pro sports teams. Option #1 would be to let the dollars stay in the taxpayer pockets. Options two and three would be to spend them on caring for the mentally-ill, caring for foster-children (very under-funded).

Sending tax money to billionaire owners and millionaire players would be at the bottom of my list.