DETROIT - Olympia Development of Michigan on Monday afternoon released a statement in response to some criticism from HBO's John Oliver on his "Last Week Tonight" show.

Essentially, Oliver asks why American cities so often pay out big funds for new sports stadiums, calling out teams and owners who use what he calls questionable tactics and promises to get the money for their new stadium.

One of the first specific projects Oliver points to at around the three-minute mark is the new $450 million Detroit Events Center project.

The $650 million development is to be funded with a mix of $365.5 million in private investment and an estimated public investment of $284.5 million.

Olympia's statement is as follows:

On Saturday, the massive project in Detroit took a big step forward with the demolition of the historic Park Avenue Hotel. The building was demolished to make way for an underground loading dock and a surface park area.

Watch Oliver's full segment here:

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.