The San Jose city council didn’t waste any time in signing off on Mayor Matt Mahan’s city’s offer to spend $325 million on upgrading the Sharks‘ home arena, voting unanimously on Tuesday to approve the deal just one week after it was first announced. The subsidy deal will come with an extension on the team’s lease through 2051 — though the team’s owners can buy out the remainder of the lease for a smaller and smaller amount as that date approaches — and with a guarantee that the city will start planning an even newer arena by September 2027.
The San Jose Spotlight article on all this includes a stunningly bothsidesy paragraph:
Some have questioned why taxpayers have to foot the bulk of renovation costs at a time of economic hardship and threats to social safety net programs. Sharks owner and SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner possessed a net worth of $15 billion as of this month, according to Forbes. But there were more proponents than critics at the podium on Tuesday who saw the Sharks as an invaluable part of the city — and a no-brainer investment.
The Spotlight then goes on to quote the testimony of exactly one person, Mayor Mahan, who opined that a yes vote would make “a real statement [that] San Jose is a major world-class city that deserves to have the very best … events, performances and experiences, and should be recognized as the largest city in Northern California.” Rand McNally, you’re on notice!
The council vote doesn’t actually determine how San Jose, which is facing budget deficits and slowing property tax revenues, will actually come up with the $325 million. The Spotlight reports that city leaders could seek to use “bonds and higher hotel taxes,” but 1) both of these would need to go before voters and 2) “bonds” isn’t actually a way to pay for anything, it just kicks the can down the road to figuring out how to pay off the bonds. They’ll surely figure out something, though, there are always more social safety net programs to cut!
Does the mayor not realize that San Jose will still be the largest city in northern California if they do not spend $325 million on this?
But large cities prove their largeness by spending 9 to 10 figures on highly important projects not entirely unlike this one! That way, municipal politicians have resume entries that they can use to climb to the next level and continue spreading the gospel of living large!
I don’t recall any publicly funded massive arena/stadium renovation being paired with an agreement (however loose it may be) to ALSO replace that arena.
It’s not really Northern California. It’s more Northwest Central.
I suppose they’re vaguely concerned the Sharks could move to Oakland, but there’s not much chance they’d leave the area.
You know, maybe it’s not the franchise they are concerned with losing… maybe it’s just the billionaire him or herself.
Hasso is too cheap to step in and save his (once famous) home town team, Turbine Potsdam. And he could do so with the change he finds in his couch cushions (admittedly, that is SOME couch…)
As a longtime reader and staunch supporter of this site and its mantra, I’m very disappointed that I didn’t see this coming in my own town. SAP Center is getting old (“old”) having opened in 1993, and I can understand SOME government investment… but not $325M, and DEFINITELY NOT $325M plus plan on a replacement. Terrible job by me.