Red Wings Unveil New Arena Plans

[pixburgher66]

I think the words "Little Caesar" describe him better than it describes the pizza.

Or....orrrrrr...

 

[sherbert1421]

Red Wings Generously Agree To Accept Huge Sums Of Money From Public

Details about some of the scheming.

Below is a post from knowledgable poster on the subject from hfboards whom I share mostly the same opinion with on the matter

Here's the city's contribution to the current project: Detroit Red Wings' new stadium land transfer approved by City Council | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

The essentially free transfer of public land — with an assessed value of about $2.9 million — is the city’s chief contribution to the development. As proposed, construction of the arena itself would be 58% publicly funded and 42% privately funded. No Detroit general fund dollars would be spent; the state is contributing the bulk of the public investment.

Olympia has agreed to pay $11.5 million annually for about 30 years to help pay off the construction bonds. Olympia will own the arena’s naming rights and will keep all revenues from arena operations, including parking fees and concessions sales. The city will not collect property taxes on the arena.

I feel for the city of Detroit, but it's really not in any position to actually fund an arena, had it come to that, which is really the only way it could hope to get rent or additional revenue. That just wasn't going to happen under any plausible scenario. Were the Ilitches smart to tap into a state fund specifically created to fund business development in Detroit? Sure, they were, but one should ask why that fund is there especially if, as claimed, the money could go to education funds. (Again, I'm not supporting public money for arenas and stadiums, at all.)

We can ask why the Ilitches aren't footing the entire bill, which I would prefer they did, but let's at least give them some credit for having bought the majority of the land that will be used for the project, and for actually throwing in $200 MM. Given how many cities and states just build these things for billionaire owners (NFL included!), it's a wee bit refreshing that there IS a private component.

 

[pixburgher66]

Below is a post from knowledgable poster on the subject from hfboards whom I share mostly the same opinion with on the matter

So...he's taking advantage of the money that shouldn't exist to begin with. *sigh*

 

[IPostedWhat]

Yep, Kid Rock and Eminem just exude class.

But light rail and improved public transport could be had for that money.

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Yeah, but not all those arenas were built with public money - I know in DC the Verizon Center and FedEx Field were both built with public funds.

The baseball stadium was not and was built with public funds and DC owns it and charges rent, gets some money from the Nats, and there is an extra tax on food/merch in the stadium to help cover costs. It was still a hose job however since DC is recouping only about $35-50 million/year (of the nearly $700 million cost) while paying more than $20 million in interest each year since most of the money was borrowed. With more than $400 million in surplus last year and likely more on the way, the city would be smart to pay off that loan and in 20+ years could break even on the venture.

Everything involving the Nats' existence is a hose job (not that DC didn't deserve a ballclub, but the manner they wound up with one...).

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Kid Rock is the above ground pool of the music industry.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

So...he's taking advantage of the money that shouldn't exist to begin with. *sigh*

Even if that money remains slated for "business development", this is ludicrous. Let's say their $200 million does buy Detroit 1500 permanent jobs. That is about $135,000 per job that will each pay on average almost a $100k less than that per employee, employees who almost certainly will not be living within Detroit city limits.

It's fucking highway robbery.

 

[IndyAndy]

So; is 'the Joe' that old/bad/small/incapable of being upgraded?


... or is it just not in the 'good' part of town?

 

[Phantomphan]

The arena looks very cool and the idea of having the food/retail area as a separate entity is not bad.

It's a shame so much public money is going into this as it's been shown many times that the positive economic effect to a city from sports teams is not as much as some like to say it is. I don't mind the transfer of the land, Philly did that for Snider so he could build the <Insert Bank Name Here> Center. But Snider paid for the construction of the building. And, how do they get away with not paying property taxes? This could work if, and it's a big if, this project spurs massive redevelopment and investment in Detroit. I guess time will tell.

 

[phoenixrising]

A fantastic idea to bring back Detroit to what it was. I think I'll buy me a Little Siezures pizza tonight

 

[Harry Crack]

Does the huge price tag include a starting goalie for the Wings ?

 

[sherbert1421]

So; is 'the Joe' that old/bad/small/incapable of being upgraded?


... or is it just not in the 'good' part of town?

yea it's pretty bad. illitches concluded a few years ago that it wasn't worth upgrading it. it's a dump, but it was our dump

not a bad seat in the arena to watch the game. hopefully the new rink being will be able to replicate that

it's been known that the city highly covets the riverfront property and wants to develop it into something else. Since the city of detroit owns the joe and now that the wings lease will be up, they can do whatever they want with it

 

[sherbert1421]

So...he's taking advantage of the money that shouldn't exist to begin with. *sigh*

yea i don't like it either.

but most of the public money is coming from the state, not the city, which seems to be common misconception among a lot of people

the key to this imo is if they can actually deliver on the residential part of the project. if they can get people to move back into the city, i think this could actually turn out to be a net gain for everyone involved

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Designed by Detroit: New arena could inspire architectural trend | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Love the pics.

 

[RP-29]

Does the huge price tag include a starting goalie for the Wings ?

Jimmy was put on an island far too many times last year by very bad defensive zone turnovers. Half the team was rookies last year. Jimmy also got very poor goal support when he was in net. The two previous years he posted a solid .920 S% and 2.13 GAA.

Those are the reasons I'm not on the Jettison Jimmy bandwagon. I'm still confident he'll have a bounce back year and am more confident in Jimmy than I am in Monster.

 

[HUBSTER]

I was just curious if anyone knew what the percentage of Canadian fans attending Red Wing games is?

 

[Center Ice]

I was just curious if anyone knew what the percentage of Canadian fans attending Red Wing games is?

Plenty!!! But only if the Habs are in town.

GO HABS!!!!!!

 

[forty_three]

yea i don't like it either.

but most of the public money is coming from the state, not the city, which seems to be common misconception among a lot of people

the key to this imo is if they can actually deliver on the residential part of the project. if they can get people to move back into the city, i think this could actually turn out to be a net gain for everyone involved

The state isn't in a much better financial state overall either.

Columbus had success with Nationwide and getting people to move into the Arena District, but in reality it's within 15 blocks of four of the most vibrant, young neighborhoods already, and within 30 of the college. It wasn't such a hard sell getting people to move there. They were already close and those neighborhoods were hard to get into. Plus the neighborhoods already had the restaurants, gas stations and shops.

I hope it works out for Detroit, but I really hate Illytch for doing it. Just feels like incredibly egotistical and in poor taste. "Sorry you're all suffering. Look what I have though!"

 

[RP-29]

I hope it works out for Detroit, but I really hate Illytch for doing it. Just feels like incredibly egotistical and in poor taste. "Sorry you're all suffering. Look what I have though!"

Sounds like you're grouping Mike Ilitch in with the likes of Donald Sterling. That is incredibly inaccurate. Ilitch is the antithesis of Sterling.

Ilitch has been constantly giving back to the community and his organizations. He's been one of the few who didn't abandon Detroit when shit got ugly. He's been at the forefront of rebuilding and revitalizing the city and he's spearheading this project too. It may not be the perfect plan, but at least it's a plan that can work and he's willing to put more if his personal time and money into it than pretty much anyone else on the planet.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Sounds like you're grouping Mike Ilitch in with the likes of Donald Sterling. That is incredibly inaccurate. Ilitch is the antithesis of Sterling.

Ilitch has been constantly giving back to the community and his organizations. He's been one of the few who didn't abandon Detroit when shit got ugly. He's been at the forefront of rebuilding and revitalizing the city and he's spearheading this project too. It may not be the perfect plan, but at least it's a plan that can work and he's willing to put more if his personal time and money into it than pretty much anyone else on the planet.

Yeah, but if he has such faith in the project why not put all of his personal money into it, seeing as how he has $3.5 billion of it and that could basically buy the city of Detroit and maybe a suburb or two at this point. Wouldn't the potential ROI make it worthwhile to be in 100% control of the land and future assets on that land?