Bettman also wants development around the building.
When did National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman get a college degree in city planning? Bettman has made an assessment of the Carolina Hurricanes arena situation in Raleigh and predictably said the franchise needs either a new or renovated home by 2029, the year that owner Tom Dundon can move his franchise without paying a penalty to leave the city because the arena is no longer up to modern NHL standards, nor is the area around it. Bettman recently said, “we like being here and I know Tom likes being here and wants to be here. But obviously there’s work to be done to make sure that the team and the community have something that is today’s standards.” Bettman wants a stadium-village with that village to be developed by Hurricanes ownership and the arena, whether it is a new building or a renovated venue, that the arena construction cost should be paid with public dollars.
There was a push in 2018 to build an arena village. The Centennial Authority had a plan to renovate and upgrade the arena and was ready to spend hundreds of millions of dollars generated by a local tax to do so. Nothing came of the plan but Dundon would like to get the land outside the arena and develop it as a “hub of a new commercial district with offices and residences and restaurants and a sports book and an outdoor concert venue.” The Raleigh arena has been renovated a number of times since it opened in October 1999. Dundon can break his lease by paying on a sliding scale some money between now and 2029. In 2025, it is $20 million. In 2026, it is only $12 million. In 2027, it would cost him $6 million and in 2028, it is just three million dollars.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
