The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog: Money

Now This Is What a Crappy Arena Deal Really Looks Like...

Goldy — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:07:47 -0700

I don't really expect the Phoenix Coyotes to move to Seattle before next season, because Glendale, Arizona has already thrown so much good money after bad that it's hard to see them turning down yet another awful (for taxpayers) arena deal. Exactly how awful...?

A local executive with intimate knowledge with the Coyotes situation said the city has a number of concerns about the Renaissance bid. That includes the group not having “enough skin in the game,” arena management payments being used for debt service on the purchase of the team and worries the group might have long-term plans to move the team to Seattle or another market.

Renaissance has reportedly sought a $15 million per year arena deal to manage city-owned Jobing.com Arena and help facilitate a sale.

To be clear, that's a $15 million a year taxpayer subsidy to the Coyotes in exchange for them staying in Glendale, money that the new owners would use for debt payment on their highly leveraged purchase of the team. The city had previously agreed to a $15 million a year 20-year deal with a previous potential ownership group. But Renaissance is reportedly seeking a lease of five years or less, so if the team is going to leave in a few years anyway, there's a strong argument for the city to cut its losses now.

There are certainly reasonable arguments for opposing a Sodo arena, but when critics decry it as a risky deal for taxpayers I just have to laugh, especially considering the truly irresponsible deals that so many other cities have accepted.

Candidate	Total Raised	Net Balance
Burgess	$231,979	$100,250
McGinn	$181,133	$99,439
Staadecker	$152,355	$74,593
Murray	$123,973*	$55,303*
Harrell	$112,559	$55,908
Steinbrueck	$62,153	$37,843
Martin (Kate)	$2,947	$1,675
Martin (Mary)	$0	$0

	2014	2015	2016	2017
Seattle (.85)	$1.2	$3.2	$5.2	$6.9
King County (.15)	$0.5	$1.5	$2.4	$3.2
Metro (.9)	$3.3	$8.7	$14.4	$19.0
Sound Transit (.9)	$3.3	$8.7	$14.4	$19.0
Criminal Justice (.1)	$0.4	$1.0	$1.6	$2.0
Mental Health (.1)	$0.4	$1.0	$1.6	$2.0
Total (3.0)	$10.9	$29.1	$48.0	$63.4

The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog: Money

Now This Is What a Crappy Arena Deal Really Looks Like...

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