Sure, Utah is set to give Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith $900 million on an upgraded arena for whatever the Arizona Coyotes eventually get renamed following their move to Salt Lake City, and there’s been talk of another $900 million for an MLB stadium for some hypothetical future team, though much of the baseball money remains TBD. But surely the nation’s 29th-largest media market has room for some more sports venues to throw taxpayer cash at, right?
Black Desert Resort in Ivins plans to build an arena that potentially could host a minor league hockey team, NBA preseason games, the Utah Jazz’s G League team, concerts and other events. Patrick Manning, the resort’s managing partner, told The Salt Lake Tribune this week that a bill has been written for the next legislative session, asking the state to help fund the project, which could cost up to $2 billion.
It’s not quite a $2 billion minor-league arena — bill sponsor State Sen. Jerry Stevenson said “we may have to pare it way back and make it not a hotel,” which I guess means right now it’s also a hotel? — and in fact right now no actual legislation has been introduced. But Stevenson says the resort, which hasn’t even opened yet, plans on asking to fund the project with a Public Infrastructure District, which is basically Utah’s version of a TIF, kicking back taxes in an area around the venue to help pay off construction bonds.
How much tax money would get kicked back depends on how big you draw the district, so it’s anyone’s guess what the subsidy ask would be. Stevenson would seem to be in a good position to guess, as the guy introducing the legislation, but apparently no:
“My gosh, $2 billion. I don’t know what they are looking for,” Stevenson told The Tribune.
Try to find out before you sponsor the bill, maybe? Just a thought.