Red Wings Unveil New Arena Plans

[Cobiemonster]

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?

And if/when he passes away, he can just pass it down to the rest of the family and they can continue to control it for years to come and continue to improve it

 

[RobBase]

Sorry Wings fans, the way this is being paid for is not okay. Over 50% public funded by a bankrupt city. A lot of teams ask their respective city to pay for some of the building costs...usually the trade off is the city getting some form of revenue sharing, etc. Actually this deal is *worse* for the city of Detroit in that the city itself will not be getting any of the arena's revenue. I've liked Illitch generally, but this is a shitty move. Owners do this a lot...Mario did it to Pittsburgh as a power move, etc. It happens. But the details and circumstances surrounding this make it a horrible idea.

You'll live.

And the money is hardly coming from any of the poor crack house crowd that helped bankrupt the city. Can't build a new arena w food stamps.

 

[RobBase]

You guys are illustrating the big distinction really...there was tangible reason for those cities to pay. They were promised actual funds. They owned the buildings in a few cases. Detroit gets nothing but the promise of economic growth. No actual tangible funds. I can't get over a billionaire doing that.

Detroit residents fight back over water shutoff: 'It's a life-or-death situation' | World news | theguardian.com

They can't afford to pay their water bills. Thousands of residents of this city...can't pay their water bills.

lol can't? Won't.

Unless you count can't because they spent their money on booze and drugs first.

 

[BGDave]

And if/when he passes away, he can just pass it down to the rest of the family and they can continue to control it for years to come and continue to improve it

Maybe not. See Wilson, Ralph and the Buffalo Bills.

 

[Wazmankg]

"Development in the District will be integrated with existing sports and entertainment venues in or adjacent to the space, including the Fox Theatre, Comerica Park, MotorCity Casino Hotel, Ford Field, the Detroit Opera House, the Fillmore Detroit and more."

Existing venues. That's also an issue here. I remember last year when this stuff was starting to come about, and Detroit-ians mentioned this. It's *not* adding an extra area of revenue and life to a city, it's actually moving to one that already exists. So, economically speaking, they're shrinking the area they can reach.

Attached a picture there. Moving a mile away isn't a huge deal, but it probably means the area they leave will be crippled a bit, while the new area likely only grows a bit because it's already established. There was a way they could go about this to help the city grow...and instead they're taking $260M from a bankrupt town where people's dang water is being shut off. Disgusting.

There is no "area of revenue" to speak of around Joe Louis Arena. It sits on basically an island surrounded by river, Cobo Hall/Arena and freeways. It was always a bad fit for that spot. There's nothing around it to cripple and what there is is easily accessible from the new location.

You guys are illustrating the big distinction really...there was tangible reason for those cities to pay. They were promised actual funds. They owned the buildings in a few cases. Detroit gets nothing but the promise of economic growth. No actual tangible funds. I can't get over a billionaire doing that.

Detroit residents fight back over water shutoff: 'It's a life-or-death situation' | World news | theguardian.com

They can't afford to pay their water bills. Thousands of residents of this city...can't pay their water bills.

There are many more "won't pay" than "can't pay" as is evidenced by the majority of those who were cut off who've already paid or agreed to payment plans.

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

Actually, there is about a billion dollar budget surplus. Not that it couldn't be spent on something better... just sayin'

 

[Voltaire26]

Maybe not. See Wilson, Ralph and the Buffalo Bills.

I AM FROM DETROIT AND I SUPPORT THIS PROJECT

If may tax dollars go up a bit, I am ok. Detroit and Metro Detroit needs this. We have to change the image of our city. Ford Field and Comerica Park are awesome. The time for Detroit to move is now. Dan Gilbert is also planning and scheming to improved Detroit. God Bless. Maybe the once powerful city of Detroit will rise again.

We need to recruit a lot of hard working (illegal) immigrant families and help us rebuild. We need to overrun the criminals and rebuild the American Dream. Give the immigrants work visas and after 5 years they can apply for citizenship.

JUST A LITTLE RANT **** I LOVE MY CITY

 

[slapshot]

I have no idea why governments keep paying ridiculous amounts of public money for stadiums for rich people and their play things, but for a city like Detroit to be spending this kind of money when their city is literally in bankruptcy is fucking beyond stupid.

I'm torn. I agree with you of course. There is absolutely nothing that city (state and federal governments) do with public money which is not greedy, stupid and criminal (or all three). On the other hand the arena would at least put a safe block or two in the city.

 

[Otis B. Driftwood]

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.

That doesn't seem to take much doin' my friend...

 

[elocomotive]

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

LMAO. The best part of that Kid Rock tweet is that his response was "more like fresh farts and cigars." Haha.

 

[4thstreet]

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

A lot.don't know exact %'s

On any given game night you have designated tunnel buses to bring you to the game,and depending on the opponent,you'll have a few crossing here from Windsor.If they happen to be playing the Habs or Leafs,the crowd could almost be 50-50.

I've gone to quite a few games involving the Flyers and could not believe how many Canadian Flyers fans were on the buses.

 

[IPostedWhat]

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

As of a year ago...

A growing number of Canadians are becoming Detroit Red Wings season ticket holders.

The Wings vice president of marketing, Robert Mattina, said 10 per cent of the team’s season ticket base is Canadian.

Red Wings target Canadian fans in southern Ontario - Windsor - CBC News

Maybe not. See Wilson, Ralph and the Buffalo Bills.

Isn't that the name of the show that replaced "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" on ABC?

 

[IPostedWhat]

You would think for 2 Billion dollars, you wouldn't have one side of the Arena wide open?