I had posted here several days ago about the efforts of a Republican Guilford County Commissioner to promote local government building a new hockey rink/ arena for the professional hockey team in Greensboro. Of course, the Greensboro Coliseum is perfectly adequate for this purpose; so certain questions naturally arise.
Why would this maneuver be initiated? And why would it be Guilford County rather than the city of Greensboro that would be proposed to fund it?
There is a powerful confluence of forces– commercial real estate interests in combination with the hospitality industry– that want to see more people coming to Greensboro to make commercial real estate more profitable and viable; and to fill up local hotels and restaurants. They want to see property purchased and edifices built because various interests profit when these things happen– real estate agents and brokers, those owning property, construction companies, etc.
These various entities stand to make a lot of money when facilities such as this are built. That is, in fact, why we got the aquatic center and the Tanger Center. The taxpayers are forced to fund facilities that benefit certain interests.
In our fair city, we have the Greensboro Sports Council that exists to serve these specific special interests. This entity advocated very ardently for the aquatic center.
They would use this rink to host tournaments that would draw people from outside the Triad, much like the aquatic center.
Why was this idea raised by a county commissioner instead of the city of Greensboro? I believe it is because hockey has historically been a predominantly white players’ sport. The city would therefore not be as motivated to be the prime mover. The county would provide the best cover for getting taxpayers to fund this facility.
Go ahead and have your hockey arena. There is minimal financial risk involved,
Fred, if this is handled in the manner of the aquatic center and the Tanger Center, I don’t think we will have much choice but to have it.