January 25, 2004
Miami losing $15m/year on arenas
The Palm Beach Post reports that Miami taxpayers are losing more than $15 million a year on the three arenas built for local sports teams since 1988. Miami-Dade County is paying off $42 million in bonds for the Miami Heat's America Airlines Arena (approximately $3 million a year), while paying the team $6.4 million a year in an "operating subsidy" to play in their own arena. The Heat's old arena, meanwhile, Miami Arena, now sits idle, while taxpayers are still on the hook for $3.9 million a year in debt, an operating subsidy of $1 million, and an ''asset replacement'' subsidy of between $1 million to $5 million per year. The region's third arena, the Office Depot Center that is home to the Florida Panthers, is bringing in enough money to pay back Broward County's loans, but below-expected profits have meant the county has gotten almost none of the revenue-sharing money the team was to pay in lieu of rent.
