Professional sports can be a very profitable endeavour. But it’s also expensive, particularly because one of the key inputs for having a professional sports franchise is often a building for games to be played in. The old saying is “you’ve gotta spend money to make money,” but when it comes to arenas and stadiums, whose money is being spent?
In light of the never-ending saga of the Calgary Flames and their arena, we dug into the murky corners of Wikipedia to answer a question: Just whose money went into building the 31 current NHL arenas?

A handy table

(Disclaimer: Let’s not lie to ourselves here, every building gets some public money spent on it, even if it’s tax breaks, infrastructure tie-ins or land. When we discuss “Public Money” here, we mean that governmental bodies had to fork over a significant portion of the capital outlay for the building.)
City
Opened
Owner
Public Money?
Detroit, MI
2017
Downtown Development Authority
Yes
Edmonton, AB
2016
City of Edmonton
Yes
Paradise, NV
2016
AEG/MGM
No
Brooklyn, NY
2012
Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corp.
Yes
Pittsburgh, PA
2010
Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Alleghany County
Yes
Newark, NJ
2007
Newark Housing Authority
Yes
Winnipeg, MB
2004
True North Sports & Entertainment
No
Glendale, AZ
2003
City of Glendale
Yes
Dallas, TX
2001
City of Dallas
Yes
Columbus, OH
2000
Nationwide Insurance/Dispatch Publishing Group (originally)
No
St. Paul, MN
2000
City of St. Paul
Yes
Toronto, ON
1999
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
No
Denver, CO
1999
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment
No
Raleigh, NC
1999
Centennial Authority
Yes
Los Angeles, CA
1999
LA Arena Company (AEG)
No
Sunrise, FL
1998
Broward County
Yes
Washington, DC
1997
Monumental Sports and Entertainment
No
Tampa, FL
1996
Tampa Sports Authority
Yes
Montreal, QC
1996
Molson family
No
Nashville, TN
1996
Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County
Yes
Ottawa, ON
1996
Capital Sports Properties
No
Buffalo, NY
1996
Erie County
Yes
Philadelphia, PA
1996
Comcast Spectacor
No
Vancouver, BC
1995
Canucks Sports and Entertainment
No
Boston, MA
1995
Delaware North
No
St. Louis, MO
1994
City of St. Louis
Yes
Chicago, IL
1994
United Center Joint Venture
No
Anaheim, CA
1993
City of Anaheim
Yes
San Jose, CA
1993
City of San Jose
Yes
Calgary, AB
1983
City of Calgary
Yes
New York, NY
1968
Madison Square Garden Company
No
Let’s break this down a bit…

Primarily privately funded buildings

Teams built their own buildings primarily out of their own pockets in every Canadian market (except for Calgary and Edmonton) as well as the major American markets (plus Vegas and Columbus).

Public money tied to expansion/relocation

Teams received significant public contributions to bring an NHL team to town in Calgary, San Jose, Anaheim, Nashville, Tampa, Minnesota and Carolina. (In Calgary’s case, the Olympic discussions also played a big part, but it’s unlikely they would’ve built an arena only for the Olympics without an NHL club.)

They were worried team would leave

Public funds were provided to contribute to new arenas for St. Louis, Buffalo and Glendale, in part due to concerns that the teams would leave town without a new home. (The Blues had almost moved to Saskatoon in 1983 and the Kiel Center’s construction, combined with new local ownership, helped cement the team’s roots.)

The buildings were meant to revitalize downtown

Four cities with concerns about how sketchy their downtown areas were sunk considerable public funds into shiny arenas to spur development: Detroit, Edmonton, Brooklyn and Newark.

None of the above

Dallas seems to be the exception to the rule. The Stars played for a few seasons in Dallas before they and the Mavericks started chatting about a new arena. The new arena was roughly a mile or so away from Reunion Arena, and essentially moved to a different part of downtown. Public funds went into the building, but the situation doesn’t fit the usual template.