You guys are very far off – TNSE paid for a vast majority of the arena. We as taxpayers got one of the best deals with the MTS Centre out of most North American pro sports venues.
All three levels of government paid a combined $40m, while TNSE paid the balance of $93m.
True North is paying for the arena renovations.
True North (with partners) owns the Shark Club casino, and paid for the VLTs. They are getting to keep more of the revenue than most, but they are still giving a huge amount of tax to the government from the casino – with the government shouldering none of the risk or burden of developing, running, and maintaining a casino downtown. Shark Club isn't that busy on non-event nights, so it could have been a money pit if it was government run.
Sure, TNSE is getting some tax breaks and support for True North Square – but good for them. They, with Richardson, are almost single-handedly rebuilding downtown, and spending hundreds of millions of dollars, which also provide a ton of taxes, all while substantially growing the annual tax contributions of the properties they own.
Here's an article outlining how lots of sports venues were funded in Canada. The Ticats, Redblacks, [not Nordiques], and Bombers' venues were all 100% taxpayer funded. Riders only fronted $25m of their $278m stadium. The Oilers only paid for 25% of their arena – and its the city's to manage now (we all know how that will work out down the road).