[Christien]

Rick, don't forget the economic advantages to a city with a major sports/concert arena - the local restaurants, bars, taxis, etc. There's a HUGE spinoff economy that, without the team/venue/etc would be lost. I do understand your argument, as it hits close to home - look up the massive gov't clusterf##k known as Toronto's Skydome. It was built around the mid 80s and I believe we're still paying for it. But I couldn't imagine the economic fallout if the events hosted there didn't happen. It would likely be worse.