Save Made, And A Beauty
Well the big news in town yesterday was the announcement that the Commonwealth and the Penguins will build a new arena in Pittsburgh, thus ensuring that our beloved flightless birds will remain here for at least another 30 years. This is great news for hockey fans and non-hockey fans alike.
The Igloo/Mellon Arena is the oldest building in the NHL, and boy is it a dump. Concert promoters wouldn't book it anymore and even after 2 consecutive sellouts the NCAA had announced that they would never be back with the basketball tournament. We barely have our share of Disney on Ice shows. So this really is a great day for the City.
Couple things stood out for me though while listening to the press conference with Gov. Rendell, Mayor Ravenstahl (who announced that he was only 12 the last time Mario saved the Pens) and County Executive Onorato (yes, we have a ton of government in Pennsylvania!)
First, Rendell emphatically stated that this deal would not have been struck if not for the new revenue anticipated from the slots/casinos. Wait a minute Guv - I thought the slots revenues were supposed to be for property tax relief?
And if casinos were the answer, why in the world did the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission, in its ultimate wisdom, award the City's only slots license to the applicant whose proposal did the least for securing a new arena.? We never even needed to get to this point. The Isle of Capri Plan (which was rejected) would have provided for the construction of the same new arena with - and get this - NO public money! That's right, the Isle of Capri folks were going to build it for us. It would have simply been a giant "thank you" for giving them a license to print money in the form of our one and only slots license. So how do you pass that up? Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free, right?
Unfortunately, the knuckleheads on the Gaming Commission didn't see it that way. So, the taxpayers of this Commonwealth (but apparently not the City) will once again pay for the development of a new multi-million dollar arena while the sports franchise tenant will be entitled to retain all revenues (not just hockey revenues). We can't attract or retain good corporate jobs here in Pittsburgh, but man we can build stadiums and arenas with the best of 'em!
Don't get me wrong. I'm a firm believer in the benefits of maintaining professional sports teams. They are truly what separates big cities from small towns. And frankly, my tax dollars are spent on far worse initiatives, including weird art, the largest legislature in the country, duplicative city and county services, etc. So in the overall scheme of things, this is money well (or at least better) spent.
I just can't get away from the fact that some rich folks that build and operate casinos around the country were prepared to build us our state-of-the-art facility for free.
No questions asked. All we had to do in return was give them the slots license that was up for grabs. It's not as if we ignored the Isle of Capri plan in an effort to keep gaming out of the City all together. Nope. We will still have the crap, but we'll have to pay for a new arena now too.
I'm happy for Mario though. While its difficult to feel sorry for a guy who has so much, I do believe that most people in his position would have left long ago, and those that wouldn't have left would have sold out to the highest bidder in this latest go round. He truly wants this team to be here, and he'll take less money to make it happen. Make no mistake about it, the deal presented by Kansas City was a better deal for the Pens financially.
Lastly, all of the constituents (including the NHL Commissioner) emphatically stated today that this deal also would not have been made if not for the fans in Pittsburgh.
Some time over the last 15 years, we became quite the hockey town. One of the best in North America, according to Commissioner Bettman and many players around the League. That's pretty cool.
Now if I could only afford a ticket.
