Since I was busy trick-or-treating, I must have missed this #NoBro / #Navyhill op-ed in @RTDOpinions on Halloween from developer Michael Hallmark. Just wanted to point out a few things...
#Thread
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Hallmark points to other cities as model for arenas driving downtown development. His key examples: Columbus, OH; Kansas City; and Allentown, PA.
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The Columbus arena was built mostly by private funds, but had to be bailed out by taxpayers after it lost money for years
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fieldofschemes.com/2017/07/14/126…
Kansas City arena has done better - it turns a profit, but never has raised enough money to pay back its costs
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fieldofschemes.com/2015/05/04/899…
Allentown's minor league hockey arena is the most expensive in the country, paid for by a slush fund of bonds and taxes
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mcall.com/business/mc-al…
These are the BEST examples he can come up with. Maybe they all have spurred downtown devel, but they all come with tremendous costs for taxpayers w/ little analysis of alternative paths
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Hallmark also cites sports economist Mark Rosentraub as a "leading economist" who is "acknowledging a trend" in stadium and arena development
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Only Rosentraub is a former stadium skeptic who mysteriously decided to support arena projects right when he started making a living consulting for cities who want to build them
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fieldofschemes.com/2018/06/06/138…
For example, Rosentraub made a shaky case for Pawtucket to build a $38M stadium for a minor league team worth (by team's own admission) $11M, w/ lots of problematic assumptions about revenues
9/
fieldofschemes.com/2017/10/20/130…
Look, these arena deals are complicated, and economic effects are hard to measure. That's why it's so important to have public discussion and deep dives into the deal, and be super skeptical of devel talking points
10/
On a morning when @ternary_logic is reporting from #NHCommission meeting where developers (and their allies on commission) are obviously big mad they are not controlling conversation, it's worth keeping this in mind
11/End
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