{"id":210422,"date":"2025-09-26T11:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T11:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/210422\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T11:17:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T11:17:13","slug":"end-the-subsidy-game-for-pro-sports-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/210422\/","title":{"rendered":"End the subsidy game for pro sports teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Landscapers work around Ottawa Senators NHL team signage at the Canadian Tire Centre, in June, 2023. The Senators announced last month a deal to purchase 11 acres near downtown Ottawa from the crown corporation that oversees public land in the capital region.The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

When looking to build pro sports facilities, team owners often want public money to help get the ball over the line. Governments should not play along.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this is a test that leaders keep failing. <\/p>\n

In Edmonton, council recently agreed to a deal that would funnel city and provincial money into an \u201cevent park<\/a>\u201d associated with the newish Oilers arena, which was itself subsidized. And in Ottawa, the city is putting money into two sports facilities and will likely be asked to pay towards another, where the Senators will play.<\/p>\n

This is not a problem with just professional sports. Toronto<\/a> and Vancouver<\/a> are scheduled to host 13 World Cup matches next year at a total cost of up to $1-billion. <\/p>\n

The Senators announced last month a deal to purchase 11 acres near downtown Ottawa from the crown corporation that oversees public land in the capital region. Team owner Michael Andlauer has previously said that a new arena would require funding from all levels of government, according to<\/a> the Ottawa Citizen. <\/p>\n

So far Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is saying the right thing about subsidizing a home for the Senators, telling CTV<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t think the public wants us to write a cheque.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, while his conclusion might be correct his logical process leaves something to be desired. The mayor cites as a higher priority a plan<\/a> to refurbish the stadium where the Redblacks CFL team plays and build an arena for the the Charge, a women\u2019s professional hockey team, and the 67s, a major junior team.<\/p>\n

Opinion: As sports teams grab billions in taxpayer funding for stadiums, Blue Jays president explains the strategy behind Rogers Centre renovations<\/a><\/p>\n

Arguing that the city shouldn\u2019t pay for one pro sports facility because it\u2019s already funding two others is a difficult case to make compelling. And the fact is that city may end up paying into the Senators\u2019 facility anyway.<\/p>\n

The chosen site for their new arena has contaminated soil; clean-up could be eligible for city funding under an Ottawa program for former industrial land. The city\u2019s share was pegged<\/a> at up to $150-million a decade ago, and the price tag is unlikely to have shrunk over that time.<\/p>\n

Given that an arena couldn\u2019t be built unless the soil issues are addressed, such an assist must be considered a subsidy. <\/p>\n

In Edmonton, meanwhile, council voted at the end of last month to approve a $408-million master agreement between the province, city and the Oilers\u2019 owner \u2013 nearly 80 per cent of it publicly funded.<\/p>\n

More than half of the money will fund a new venue, operated by the Oilers\u2019 owner, that will sit alongside the team\u2019s current home and host sports, conventions and trade shows and community events. Some of the money will go towards demolishing the Oilers\u2019 old home, the Coliseum, which the city took over after forgiving its debts. Another subsidy. <\/p>\n

The only defensible part of the deal is a plan to build housing on what is now surface parking. There are many better uses for valuable urban land than car storage, which in any event is not in short supply in the city. A staff report two years ago identified 275 parking lots<\/a> in downtown Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Public money should not fund Ottawa Senators\u2019 fancy new stadium<\/a><\/p>\n

However, some councillors criticized the wording of the agreement for not being strong enough. \u201cThe whole point of this was to build housing,\u201d said Andrew Knack. \u201cNow there\u2019s no legal requirement to build housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The master agreement<\/a> compels the team owners only to \u201cuse commercially reasonable efforts to diligently advance\u201d 354 units of housing by the second half of 2028 and, based on real estate demand, another 420 units within five years.<\/p>\n

Turning down sports owners looking for a handout can be a difficult decision. Teams are often locally beloved and some are a rare bright spot in a depressed region.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true that sporting events can bring economic benefits. The shift towards putting sporting facilities downtown is good for cities. <\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s also true that sports is a mercenary business.<\/p>\n

Players don\u2019t hesitate to leave for other teams that offer more money and some owners are willing to pull up stakes and move their whole operation if their demands aren\u2019t met. It can seem that the only people in the situation expected to have loyalty are the fans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understandable that political leaders worry about alienating these voters, many of whom willingly conflate their interests with the broader common good. But that doesn\u2019t mean that governments should carry water for teams. <\/p>\n

Sports franchises are not the soul of a city, they are a business. They should pay their own way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Landscapers work around Ottawa Senators NHL team signage at the Canadian Tire Centre,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[1018,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,1014,1016,1013,1007,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,72,25,5157,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,73,86,1015,1017,1005,999,996,1029],"class_list":{"0":"post-210422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-hockey","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-nhl","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-ottawa","44":"tag-ottawa-senators","45":"tag-ottawasenators","46":"tag-pei","47":"tag-photos","48":"tag-political-news","49":"tag-political-opinion","50":"tag-politics","51":"tag-politics-news","52":"tag-quebec","53":"tag-senators","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}