goes beyond just getting an arena built. He wants control over a small part of the city and all be entitled to ALL taxes that small part makes. It is a strange demand
it his demands from the city and state that have my concerns raised. It is a very long list
Source on the demands? I live here and have followed this fairly closely but have never seen the full details of the ask.
For clarity sake, he submitted an application with a proposal. The City still has to negotiate and agree to whatever he is proposing so, like any negotiation, you ask for far more than you expect to get and work from there.
It's not like the city is just going to say "Here is $1b dollars, have fun". If they do, that's on Wilson and Mendenhall and whoever else has to approve this. He's also investing his own money as far as I know.
And while any taxes going toward a billionaires stadium/profitability is bad, it's 0.5% which works out to an additional $5 for every $1000 spent over 30 years.
Not trying to be a huge Smith defender although I'm ecstatic he got Utah a team so I am a little biased (and have an appt to get season tickets next week), but people in Utah are acting like the State just handed him a billion dollars for fun.
Edit: I'm also biased because when I moved here, downtown SLC was a snooze fest. Covid sadly helped the same way a forest fire leads to new growth and it's gotten so much better in the last 3 years but still has a long way to go and I'm in favor of any major investment/development that gives the people who live here more fun stuff to do or places to eat that aren't another Swig, Zao, or *insert generic fast casual boring restaurant*
