To the editor:
The Globe and Mail in March 2012 reported that corporations lease 120 of the 150 luxury suites at Ottawa’s hockey arena.
Corporations do so because they get an income tax break being able to write off 50 per cent of ticket and luxury suite costs at the moment.
If this corporate advantage is ever taken away by a cash strapped government, then I wonder how long corporations will continue to support hockey in Ottawa?
A 10 to 20 per cent drop of business support would put the arena out of business the newspaper stated.
Can we actually rely indefinitely on such “corporate welfare” continuing?
A tax change would affect our proposed Thunder Bay arena; given that the present design sees 23 private suites being built and I assume, following the Ottawa example, corporations are being looked to for rental of most, if not all, such suites.
Do we actually have enough local large corporations that can afford to, and want to, purchase tickets and rent luxury suites?
If corporations don’t pick up the tab, then do ordinary residents have enough spare funds to watch games from costly suites? I wonder. No one to date has established the rental prices of these suites nor have we seen ticket prices.
Going to the Internet to compare typical AHL seasons tickets to those of the Thunderwolves makes one wonder if we can afford to continue this exercise.
Those wanting the arena built could be showing what researchers call a false positive.
Are there actually enough people in our city wanting a new arena and prepared to “belly up to the bar” by purchasing very expensive season tickets?
And they need to continue this practice indefinitely. What if we build it and find they don’t attend the games in sufficient numbers to make this a successful project?
The white elephant then would become a major burden on taxpayers - which is not fair. As a minimum we need a plebiscite to determine true interest in this grand venture.
Fred Johnson,
Thunder Bay
