Quote:
Originally Posted by Cage
The problem with the economic studies on sports venues is the assumption that entertainment dollars would be spent elsewhere in the same geographic region. If there was no new arena, the money would still be spent in Calgary.
This is partially because there are no studies on what happens to dollars spent on local entertainment when that entertainment is taken away. Does the person switch their season tickets from hockey to opera, or do they take the family to Mexico for an all-inclusive hotel.
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I always figured if this was such a lucrative venture, and the amount of supposed financial benefit as significant as some claim, then they would jumping over each other to build new buildings themselves. Certainly if they are concerned with maximizing their profits, you'd think they would commission these studies and build these arenas themselves to relieve us of our spending money as much as possible.
That's why I'm so skeptical of the process. They know cities have been willing to fork over cash in the past so they keep doing it even when they can afford to do it all themselves.