Detroit may have filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, threatening to slash services and renege on public employee pensions, but that hasn't stopped Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder from approving the use of $284 million of local tax money to subsidize a new ice hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings.

"This is part of investing in Detroit's future," said Snyder, a Republican who blessed a state-appointed emergency manager's request to take the city into bankruptcy last week.

... The Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved the Detroit Downtown Development Authority's request to use economic development taxes for the project. The board also took a preliminary step toward issuing $450 million in bonds to build the arena, to be paid off in no more than 30 years by the Red Wings' owner and the city.

Local taxpayers will pick up about 63 percent of the cost of the new arena.

Olympia Development, owned by [Red Wings owner Mike] Ilitch and his wife, said the funding split for comparable major sports complexes in other cities in the past decade has averaged 75 percent public and 25 percent private.

By comparison, the public/private split for Seattle's proposed Sodo arena would be 40/60 with an NHL franchise, only 25/75 without. And Seattle and King County would only be responsible for issuing bonds to cover our share of the cost ($200 million with an NHL team, $125 million without), whereas Detroit is taking on the entire $450 million in arena debt.

And finally, Seattle isn't bankrupt. Seattle enjoys an Aaa bond rating.

My point in all this is that while there is a legitimate debate to be had over whether Sodo is the appropriate location to build a new arena, the financial terms of the deal are about as good as they come. There are tons of awful arena and stadium deals around the country (awful for taxpayers, that is), and Detroit's is one of them. So too is Sacramento's. And Glendale, Arizona's. But not Seattle's.

So if you want to make the argument that not a dime of taxpayer money should ever go toward building professional sports facilities, fine. I wish I lived in that world. But tell me that the Sodo MOU is a crappy, risky deal, and I'm just going to roll my eyes.