Who Needs a New Arena?
September 01, 2011
The billionaire owner of the Edmonton Oilers says Northlands no longer meets the team’s needs, and he wants all three levels of government to contribute to the construction of a new facility.Our federal Conservative government has made it clear that it will not provide millions of dollars to support private sector projects such as this in Edmonton or Quebec City or anywhere. The City of Edmonton has promised money to the project and has asked the Province for a $100 million commitment to the $450 million project despite an earlier provincial rejection of the idea.
NHL hockey is a private business. As much as I want to see the Oilers do well and win the Stanley Cup, I don’t think that is the responsibility of government to subsidize it. It’s a matter of priorities. The amount of money being requested from governments could be used instead to house a lot of people or hire a lot of doctors or teachers.
The NHL says new arenas (with more seating and luxury boxes) are necessary to allow teams to break even. But the NHL’s biggest expense is player salaries, some $3 million per player average, which seem to escalate exponentially, to the point a single player often makes more than an entire team did 20 years ago. I’m sure the players could live quite comfortably on a million dollars a year, much more than those who pay to see them play dream of earning.
Experts say Edmonton can’t support two arenas. Northlands is profitable, is only 37 years old, and has lots of life left in it. Make any necessary upgrades, but don’t ask taxpayers for the cost of a new arena that will unnecessarily compete with Northlands that is operating cost effectively.
What do you think?