Passing the buck

Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume wants the Harper government to pick up part of the tab for a proposed 18,000-seat arena, which the city hopes will lure an NHL team.

It raises the question, what does this mean for Edmonton where debate surrounding the construction of a new arena has been raging for quite some time.

Of the arenas now home to Canada’s six NHL teams, only Scotiabank Place, in Ottawa, received any federal funding to support construction.

But other Canadian stadiums and arenas have received government funding, often to the chagrin of taxpayers.

Edmonton

Edmonton is currently home to Rexall Place. Daryl Katz, billionare and owner of the city’s hockey team the Oilers, is willing to donate $100 million to the construction of a new arena and entertainment district in the city’s downtown core.

The Katz Group is also looking at doing a ticket tax to help cover some of the costs ($5 per ticket sold at the new facility will go towards funding).

The arena debate has been controversial but a study recently conducted showed most Edmontonians are in favour of using public money for a new arena, as long as property taxes don’t go up as a result.

The city has entered into formal negotiations with the Katzs Group regarding the new arena.

The city is looking at implementing a Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) that would see normal taxes paid to the city by properties in the surrounding area, go to fund the new arena.

They’ve also asked the federal government for money but so far the answer has been no.

Ottawa

The federal government provided $6 million to help build Scotiabank Place, which was known as the Palladium when it opened in 1996.

However, construction didn’t even get underway until the private company that owned the Ottawa Senators obtained funding to build a new highway interchange near the arena.

Vancouver

Vancouver’s refurbished BC Place Stadium was funded by the province. Taxpayers are also footing the bill for a new retractable roof for the stadium to be finished this summer.

Vancouver’s Rogers arena (formerly GM Place), on the other hand, was entirely privately funded.

Montreal

Montreal’s Bell Centre, which replaced the Montreal Forum in 1996 as the new home of the Montreal Canadiens, also cost taxpayers nothing.

At the time, though, they were already on the hook for another arena.The Montreal Olympic Stadium took 30 years to pay off, and the provincial government imposed a tobacco tax to pay for the rising tab.

In 1970, the original estimate was $134 million. By the time the Games began six years later, that number had risen to$264 million.

The cost kept rising for the next 30 years. When the “˜Big O’ was finally paid off in 2006, taxpayers had dished out a whopping $1.61 billion.

“˜The Big Owe’ was a disaster. The planned retractable roof never worked, and Canada failed to win a gold medal at the 1976 Games.

After the Olympics, the Montreal Expos moved in, but by 2004, the team had moved to Washington.

Toronto

Toronto’s Roger Centre (originally known as Skydome), also turned in to a public relations disaster. The stadium is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.

It began as a public-private partnership, with the federal, provincial and municipal governments each committing $50 million.

The stadium ended up costing almost $600 million.

In 1994, the provincial government sold the stadium to a group of private investors for $151 million. The owners of Skydome filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998, and sold the venue to Sportsco for $85 million.

After only two years, Rogers purchased the stadium for $25-million, about four per cent of the price of construction.

Toronto’s next stadium would be entirely privately funded. The Air Canada Centre, built in downtown Toronto to replace the aging Maple Leaf Gardens as the home of the city’s NHL team, cost $265 million.

Hamilton

The nearby city of Hamilton is set to build a new stadium in preparation for the 2015 Pan Am Games. The government has committed millions to build a replacement for the city’s aging Ivor Wynn Stadium, home of the CFL Tigercats.

The new arena will receive $75 million from federal and provincial coffers, and $45 million from city hall.

Winnipeg

Construction is underway on a new 33,000-seat stadium for the CFL’s Blue Bombers at the University of Manitoba campus.

After a private investor pulled out of the deal, the Blue Bombers stepped in to take over the $190-million project in December, in a new financing deal involving the team, the province and the city of Winnipeg.

Last week, Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz suggested the city might host the 2014 Grey Cup as a way for the Blue Bombers to pay off the tab, but the CFL issued a statement saying a city has not yet been chosen.

Calgary, Edmonton and Regina are all looking to build new stadiums. Ottawa has suggested money for new venues could come out of the $1-billion Public-Private Partnerships Canada fund, a Crown corporation designed to spur public-private infrastructure projects.

With files from The Canadian Press