Bulldogs owner offers marching dollars for new arena
https://www.thespec.com/sports-story...for-new-arena/
The owner of the Hamilton Bulldogs has followed up his public call for the building of a new, smaller arena to replace FirstOntario by saying he'd be willing to personally pay for half of it.
Michael Andlauer had previously said he'd be willing to cover a "substantial" amount for any such project. But pressed for a more-precise figure — tough to do when nobody knows exactly what a rink would cost — he offered the 50-50 proposition.
"If I said I'd match what the city would put in, would that be deemed substantial?" he asked.
Even with that now out there, there's a question about whether city council will be willing to seriously entertain such a discussion.
Andlauer has said he'd like to see a 5,000- to 10,000-seat arena constructed somewhere in town, which he expects would cost between $60 million and $100 million, depending on the bells and whistles attached. He says he understands that relying totally on public money when budgets are tight isn't feasible.
"That's why I'm willing to put money into it," he says. "A lot more than anybody else in this city's ever put into sports."
While suggestions were offered by Ward 7 Coun. Donna Skelly that somewhere on the central Mountain could be an ideal location — the Lime Ridge Mall area was mentioned — Mayor Fred Eisenberger said last week that he believes keeping any new facility in the downtown core would be a priority.
Others might disagree and make the case that removing an arena from the corner of Bay and York and using that prime downtown property for future development would be a better, and more-lucrative, use of city land.
Andlauer says nothing is yet out of the question. In fact, other than saying demographics would have to be taken into account, he took a soft line on possible locations.
"I have had some preliminary talks with the city and I've asked them, 'Here's a clear canvas. You go ahead and paint your canvas,'" he says. "I don't want to dictate where it's going to go. I don't know any better (than others). I think the city councillors who represent all the citizens in the city, they should have their voice and they should know what's in the best interest.
Where it might be built is secondary, however. Eisenberger had previously cited the cost of building a new arena as the central issue in any discussion. Which makes sense since the city is facing a $3-billion-plus infrastructure deficit.
During a radio interview on 900CHML this week, he proposed the idea of private interests — as in, Andlauer by himself or with partners — making a go of this alone. Leaving public money out of it completely would make this a very different discussion, he said.
The owner says putting 100 per cent of the economic load on him might not work. However, he added that a new building would remove city requirements to continually pay for repairs and maintenance (a transformer fire in the arena's hydro room left the entire building in the dark for most of Thursday afternoon). This would potentially mean that once the initial capital investment was made up front, the city would no longer have to subsidize ongoing expenses.
Which all leads to the question of whether the bread crumbs Andlauer has now laid along the path will be enough to lead the issue to the council table for a serious discussion.
"No," says Coun. Sam Merulla. "Not at all. At this point we have nothing to put forward because we can't afford it."
He believes the majority of his council colleagues — who have been through the angry stadium debate and the contentious LRT fight — would share that opinion based on how quickly they dismissed talk of spending over $200 million to bring FirstOntario Centre up to NHL standards (or even modernizing the bottom bowl at a cost of close to $70 million) as suggested in a consultant's report. And how disinterested they were in entertaining the idea of hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
Skelly, on the other hand, says they shouldn't be so quick to throw it aside.
"I believe it would be irresponsible not to engage in that discussion," she says.
Something has to be done with the arena eventually, she says.
On that radio show this week, Eisenberger agreed — with the first part of that sentiment, anyway.
"Sooner or later we're going to have to deal with this issue," he said. "Because it is aging."
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