Taxpayers shouldn’t pay for the Ottawa Senators’ new arena | Opinion

Hockey may be Canadians’ favourite pastime, but it’s best to keep sports and state divided—especially when it means getting taxpayers to pay for expensive, fancy new venues for NHL teams.

It’s no secret that the Ottawa Senators are almost ready to move out of the Canadian Tire Centre and are looking to build a new arena. That alone is not controversial. Sports teams do this all the time.

But now the Senators reportedly hired a team of lobbyists to represent the organization’s interests to the federal and Ontario governments and seek funding for their new arena.

That raises an obvious question: Why does a professional sports franchise need government help at all?

When the Montreal Canadians built a new arena in the 1990s, they financed the arena themselves. So too did the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the ill-fated Vancouver Grizzlies. Even the Senators managed to find the money to build their current arena.

Clearly, it isn’t impossible for teams to finance their own rinks. And if the Senators were planning on building a new arena without a penny of support from taxpayers, it’s hard to imagine why they’re paying lobbyists to meet with federal and provincial officials.

The Senators may not be the richest franchise in the NHL, but the team is still worth nearly $1.4 billion. That’s nearly four times higher than the team’s value a decade ago.

If the Ottawa Senators truly think it’s time to move on from the Canadian Tire Centre, they should put their money where their mouths are and build a new arena themselves. Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for a billion-dollar franchise’s arena — they don’t need the help.

That requires Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford to stiffen their spines and say “NO” to subsidizing a new arena for the Senators.

And recent history has taught taxpayers to watch closely.

The Calgary Flames managed to bend the City of Calgary and the Alberta government over a barrel for handouts to build their new venue. Between the city and province, taxpayers are being billed $867 million for the arena.

Edmontonians can’t get on their high horse, either. Their city’s government shelled out over $300 million from taxpayers for the construction of Rogers Place for the Oilers.

When politicians subsidize these sports teams, it is taxpayers who foot the bill. In Edmonton’s case, downtown property owners were hit with a property tax hike to pay for the arena.

Politicians justified these costs to taxpayers by claiming a new arena would benefit city residents and create new jobs.

However, economists have rejected the claim that sports arenas create massive economic benefits. They argue that stadiums merely shift economic activity and that the economic costs far outweigh the benefits to taxpayers. In one case, Baltimore taxpayers paid over $200 million for Oriole Park at Cayman Yards, only for the stadium to generate only $3 million per year in new jobs and tax revenues.

Taxpayers can’t afford to have their politicians replicate another disaster deal. It is especially important given that the federal, provincial and city governments are all drowning in debt. The federal debt is set to hit $1.35 trillion. Ontario’s debt will hit $459 billion. The City of Ottawa’s debt is $3.5 billion. Taxpayers are already trying to rein in governments with borrowing problems, so they don’t need their favourite teams adding to those problems.

The Senators can fund the arena through ticket sales, not tax hikes.

Noah Jarvis is the Ontario Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

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