This Is The REAL Reason The NHL Chose Utah! 

The NHL isn't in the hockey business, they're in the money business.

Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, independent, or whatever, people are starting to unite against public money given to billionaire sports owners. Kansas City voters voted against a tax to support the Chiefs and Royals. There’s a movement in Nevada to stop money given to the Fisher for moving the Oakland A’s. The Coyotes were giving state money for their arena in Glendale, and they have the balls to ask for a new arena. The Capitals wanted to move to Virginia, after the new legislature was elected, they scrapped the governor’s plan

I hate corporate welfare because the same people for it are against any support for poor people who actually work hard for what they have and actually spend that money to stimulate the economy. But at least Salt Lake looks like a viable hockey city. If anything, this situation is far preferable to the one in Arizona. They seem to have fan and corporate support already and they're not just going to be a bottom feeder that spends the bare minimum while taking in money from the league through revenue sharing just to stay afloat. Anyway, it's Utah taxpayer money, not mine. So it's already better than the Arizona situation where money generated from revenue across the league, AKA money I spent on merch and tickets, went to a team that didn't belong in the NHL. Speaking as a Canucks fan, they're a pretty good target for a trade involving Mikheyev. They have the cap space to absorb the salary and his defensive play and work ethic would make Utah instantly better in the right role.

Ryan Smith wants blocks beyond the arena developed as well...taxpayers will be in for a 2 billion dollar bill.

Yup. And that's the reason the Yotes moved. "No government support" means Arizona tax payers didn't want to give the Coytoes' owner free money to build an entertainment complex. They had Gila River, which was fine, but the owner didn't OWN it so he didn't make the money. Instead he stiffed the city on rent payments. Pro sports franchises are interesting business corporations as they know they can stiff other businesses, demand corporate welfare because the fans wouldn't want them leaving town. They pull on the emotional heart strings more than any other regular corporation. People are very emotionally invested into them.

Phoenix and Arizona doesn’t have there shit together, Salt Lake City and Utah does.There are always these types of arrangements made with local governments State and Municipal especially in revitalization of a downtown core and making it work is simply the way major projects work. Prime example Rogers Place Edmonton Oilers facility all connected state of the art and all tied into Light Rail system full legacy projects with entertainment districts. Way better than having stadium way out in no where land.

SB 272 and HB 562 are separate bills. 272 is for the area around the Delta Center as mentioned in the video for the NBA/NHL. 562 is for the area near the fair park and part of that is funding for a baseball stadium. A separate ownership group is working toward getting a MLB team. The video shows concept drawings for both projects, but only mentions 272.

As a Canadian who now lives in Utah....I was struggling to understand how the F did SLC get a team so quickly. Great vid. I'm basically making that tech nerd richer with my taxes. Never went to Jazz games and will not go to a Utah Hockey Club game either. Will keep watching my Sens suck on cable. :)

Very well done video. I guess only time will tell if the decisions made are beneficial to all or only to a select few.

All professional sports are supported by the public purse, whether through direct funding, tax breaks etc. The economic benefits are fleeting at best.

Couple things here. First of all it’s $900 million 2ndly about $300-400 million of that money is going to fix a symphony hall and the rest is going to fix up the arena so it can fit NHL rink. 3rdly SEG is putting in $3-4 Billion Of its own money. 4th downtown SLC is probably the least profitable place to put an arena but downtown SLC is hurting so bad that the city needs to do something. I’m normally not for government spending, especially on arenas, but this might be one of the only things that can revitalize Salt Lake City downtown area.

Good informative video. Sub'd.

The funny thing is in this particular instance Ryan Smith will be contributing around $3B to the total project. So the $900M coming from tax payers will only be a small portion of the total 3 city block renovation being planned. The thing is it will require a lot of demolition of existing buildings and I have no idea how they'll make the Delta Center suitable for hockey, there just isn't the floor space for it.

Both Seattle and Las Vegas had to pay entrance fees to the league for the new franchises….. Utah skirts that because it’s essentially a relocated team. I believe this move has move has been in the works for years but couldn’t be done until the other teams joined the league. If I owned either of those expansion teams I would sue the league for the return of at least a portion of the entrance fee.

For most politicians professional sports, even minor league, is like patriotism. You don’t question it, just salute and handover the taxpayer’s money.

Sports arena TIFs are no different than any other TIF. My suburb has a TIF making the shopping mall a 12% tax zone while the rest of the surrounding area is 7-8% The big-city CBD has tax 15%+ I would give my right nut to only have a 0.5% increase instead of the exorbitant ones that the cities push down. And now they are able to add their own tax to groceries. Oh boy!

I don't think this video does justice to the complexity of the situation, and there are some false claims. Smith didn't need the tax money to get the team or build the arena. This came about because the city and state wanted to keep the teams downtown instead of losing them to the suburbs, where the land and construction costs are low (and so are the public benefits).

Well what else were they supposed to do? Stay in Arizona in a 4600 seat stadium? The 1 billion is just a bonus.

Has this worked in Detroit?

Seriously, you used an MJ comment?

so tired of this corporate welfare horseshit

great ending

HEY NHL LETS HAVE A TEAM IN AFGANISTAN OR EVEN MARS GET A GRIP THE LEAGUE HAS GONE TO HELL

12,000 unobstructed seats, not 10,000. Devil's in the details, like your spin piece. lol

Ridiculously over simplified take on the situation.

How many years of poor hockey will the people of Utah take while, until changes are completed, 35% of the seats are obstructed view.

Well researched and put together video, but the negative tone confused me.

Whoa! Professional sports leagues exist to make money??? Don't care, still getting season tickets

Americans like to spend taxes on silly things. Wannabe up-and-coming cities think a stadium or arena is their ticket to big time status. SLC is a good fit. Much more wintry weather than Phoenix. A booming economy. A booming population. High incomes. It’s a good fit. It should work without a problem.

The Utah Magic Underwears..LoL

Utah Mormons?

Long time American hockey fan here, not looking forward to Bettman's Salt Lake Sister-Wives expansion.