In its bid to lure the NFL's Raiders from Oakland, Las Vegas earlier this year ponied up a $750 million taxpayer subsidy for the $1.9 billion relocation — a move that stirred controversy and renewed the debate about public financing of sports venues.

Yet if it were up to the owner of the city's new hockey team, the Golden Knights, taxpayer money wouldn't be spent on building sports stadiums at all.

"We can better spend that money on firefighters, teachers, and policeman," Bill Foley told CNBC's "Power Lunch" in a recent interview. "Let's have the best of that as opposed to building the big stadium."