Regarding Edmonton arena deal, sports economist Zimbalist advises caution and careful bargaining

It's notable how sober sports economist Andrew Zimbalist sounds in his advice (as with his previous advice) regarding an arena proposal in Edmonton, Alberta. CTV Edmonton reports:

A sports economist hired by Northlands thinks private developers should pay for overruns, and he's offering this advice to council: "Once it's approved at the Spartan level, they start to say, 'oh we'd like to have this next to the locker room' and we'd like these bells and whistles. You've got to be deliberate, you've got to be cautious and you've got to be strong in bargaining in a deal that's good for the City of Edmonton," said Dr. Andrew Zimbalist.

With Atlantic Yards, his report, commissioned by Forest City Ratner, was used to help justify $100 million in direct city subsidies--and then, after the project was approved, those subsidies were doubled (and later shaved back somewhat to an official, if contestable, $179 million).