OVG asking state to defer tax replayments until after the buildings are open.

[gstommylee]

Seattle Arena group seeks tax deferral in Olympia

OVG is requesting the state to defer tax payments until after the 3 projects (arena, practice facility and a parking garage) are done and OVG will repay the tax back with interest after the 3 projects are open. This is quite common and the two other sports facilities did the same thing.

Click to read more...

 

[gstommylee]

And Seattle times take on it.

KeyArena renovation group seeks to defer at least $80 million in Washington state sales tax payments (paywall with 5 free articles a month)

Sadly Leiweke had to go and explain what he's doing. Unfortunately there will be people think the state is just giving him free money with out taking into account what a tax deferral is.

 

[sawchuk1971]

KeyArena renovation project now to exceed $900 million, with reopening pushed back

Leiweke, after helping lead the media tour through the construction site in an arena rapidly becoming hollowed-out, admitted costs have escalated to “between $900 (million) and $930 million” and that “the schedule has slipped a bit” but the project should be delivered by the summer of 2021.

“The project is definitely costing more than we thought, it’s taking a little bit longer, but it’s with great satisfaction that we’re here today saying ‘We are building something special,”’ Leiweke said after the tour, speaking from inside a new preview center across from the arena site where suites sales have begun taking place. “We’ve solved the Rubik’s Cube that was decades in the making in this community. There is so much good going on. This city deserves a world-class arena and they are about to get it.”

 

[BattleBorn]

KeyArena renovation project now to exceed $900 million, with reopening pushed back

I said it in the BoH thread you started, but based on my experience with a previous expansion team that shall remain unnamed, you should definitely approach everything the ownership says with a heavy dose of skepticism. They don't know what they're doing when it comes to actual NHL hockey operations and their experience in business may make them think they can do things quickly that take longer than expected or can't be done at all.

They're not lying, they just really don't know. The NHL world works slow and it's much more complicated than people expect.

This goes for everything from the team starting in 2020, as we were guaranteed was going to happen prior to the expansion announcement, to owning an AHL team from day one, to getting a management team in place as soon as possible. There are a lot of things at work here, and while OVG has some experience in this world, it's not the world they normally operate within. Things are different, politics are different, logistics are different.

Until things start happening, I suggest you treat ownership statements and reports of ownership positions as "potential" insider opinions. The way the world actually works is going to determine things, not ownership's desire to see things work the way they think it will.

 

[PCSPounder]

I said it in the BoH thread you started, but based on my experience with a previous expansion team that shall remain unnamed, you should definitely approach everything the ownership says with a heavy dose of skepticism. They don't know what they're doing when it comes to actual NHL hockey operations and their experience in business may make them think they can do things quickly that take longer than expected or can't be done at all.

They're not lying, they just really don't know. The NHL world works slow and it's much more complicated than people expect.

This goes for everything from the team starting in 2020, as we were guaranteed was going to happen prior to the expansion announcement, to owning an AHL team from day one, to getting a management team in place as soon as possible. There are a lot of things at work here, and while OVG has some experience in this world, it's not the world they normally operate within. Things are different, politics are different, logistics are different.

Until things start happening, I suggest you treat ownership statements and reports of ownership positions as "potential" insider opinions. The way the world actually works is going to determine things, not ownership's desire to see things work the way they think it will.

You can apply this to a lot more than just the NHL.

Different cities do so many different things with sports arenas that there's no real economy of scale to be had. No matter how I might find many of the newer arenas to be cookie cutter (and same with, say, several Major League Soccer stadiums), there are things unique to each project. It's virtually impossible to estimate timelines based on previous projects.

 

[82Ninety42011]

This is quite common apparently so I doubt it will cause much grief to anyone. However the uninformed will scream the rich owners are getting away without paying nonsense that some people love to spew.