This development is pretty funny, but the CRVA is not giving away “free” space. Local taxpayers pay for the convention center with the hospitality taxes they pay each and every week.
What they are admitting, however, is that their business model is broken, that there is no demand for the service they are offering at the up-front price-point they set for it.
But, hey, I know, I know — we can still pay for the arena, the convention center expansion, the Westin, the original convention center — all out of the same little “dedicated” pots of revenue. Or so I keep getting told.
