Keep sports complex funding a private matter

David Adams, Las Vegas

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

An article in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, “Just build it already,” covered several sports complex proposals for Las Vegas.

The story was careful to mention the huge (almost $2 billion in cost) stadium built by Jerry Jones in Dallas. The article even suggested that the Dallas megastadium might siphon business away from Las Vegas, implying that we need a sports complex here, that it would be a big moneymaker.

What the story failed to discuss, however, was the situation in Phoenix (actually, in Glendale, Ariz.). There the taxpayers were fooled into paying for an arena for an NHL hockey team.

The building is usually about half full, the team has lost between $10 million and $30 million a year, and eventually the NHL had to take over running the team, as the original owners simply couldn’t afford the losses.

Now Glendale is proposing yet another bond issue, this time for $100 million, which it plans to give to a new owner to entice him to buy the hockey team and keep it in Glendale. To pay for the bonds, the city will receive all money from parking at the arena (this, despite the fact that the city already owns the parking rights).

What a mess!

If Las Vegas is to have a sports complex, let some private enterprise fully assume the cost. City employees in Las Vegas have already had to take pay cuts and faced layoffs. City services have been cut. Our mediocre school system is being strangled for cash by the governor.

Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for some billionaire’s playpen.

If the idea of a sports complex in Las Vegas is such a lucrative endeavor, then by all means, let private enterprise reap the profits. But let them accrue the expenses, too.