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November 24, 2009
Sometimes Sports Stadiums and Arenas Are Worth A Lot Less Than the Public Pays For Them: No Silverdome Lining to Gathering Economic Clouds
Noticing New York
In the wake of the announcement that the City of Pontiac just auctioned off the Silverdome for a mere $583K (a fraction of what it took to build it), the State of NY is poised to approve the issuing of arena bonds for Bruce Ratner's "new off-the-tax-rolls Nets basketball arena that is already calculated by the NYC Independent Budget Office to be a $220 [million] net loss to the public."
According to the Detroit News... the arena was “once called the most desirable property in Oakland County” and a quoted realty firm says the land itself “should have gone for more than that.” Apparently the arena was not considered worth its upkeep and the city of Pontiac was desperate to get the property “back on the tax rolls.” Sports stadiums and arenas on the tax rolls? There’s a novel concept that spendthrift New York City seems is absolutely unfamiliar with!
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Considering the Silverdome fiasco, we here in New York we can’t help but think of our own wasteful stadiums and arenas that are taking property off the tax rolls and giving less than nothing in return.
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This is a very clear warning: The mysterious value of team spirit sports euphoria that cannot, and generally is not, economically quantified is in all likelihood economic value that just doesn’t exist at all. The overall lesson to be learned is how these sports stadium and arena deals terrifically shortchange the public with stadiums and arenas that have very low true economic value.
Posted by lumi at November 24, 2009 6:01 AM