Here's a good takeaway from the article:
Current net loss for the city: $55,000/year (less than the cost of new speedbumps on my street).
Essential repairs and replacement
Cost: $35.1 million
Includes: New plumbing, refurbished seating and concourse, renovated bathrooms, a new roof and scoreboard, access improvements for people with disabilities
Annual events: 116
Annual attendance/paid: 371,200/173,900
Annual operating income: loss of $46,000
Annual income (ticket taxes/parking/capital reserve): loss of $100,000
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Typical of American cities is the deferred maintenance of infrastructure and assets while we let them slide into disrepair. Note also that the facility is
managed by Paul Allen's Rip City Management - they have no incentive to actually schedule money-making events at MC, since they own the Moda Center next door... there is such a conflict of interest here its not even funny.
The winterhawks were going to spend
their own money renovating the building in 2012, but because of the scandal, the city turned the money down.
So yeah, if you turn down money and let your buildings fall apart over the course of 50 years, of course it will be costly to renovate them into working order! Did the Federal Government just knock down the Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building? Nope! They spent $150 million gutting it down and renovating it.