Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonExport
really? Where the hell are they going to go? Fuck those rich asswipe owners. Calgary has got to be one of the better markets in the NHL. I fucking hate team owners that hold citizens and local governments for ransom. Those anti gubmint people south of the border often turn the other way when it comes to public money for fucking stadiums. You know, 'cause stadiums are way more important than services for citizens.
I've always hated Gary Bettman. I was so pleased to see the wind sucked out of that fucker when the Jets came home.
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This saga’s been playing out for a couple years now ever since Calgary Sports and Entertainment (same group that owns the Flames and the Stamps) unveiled their first powerpoint presentation with google sketchup images (yes, seriously) of the combined hockey arena and football stadium design called Calgary Next. It was set to go in the future West Village where the current Greyhound depot sits. They only expected the city to pay for 3/4’s of it because it included a field house the city could use sometimes and never factored in the cost to clean up the soil which is contaminated from an old creosote plant. They estimated the cost to be $800 million but after the city did a fuller study it was revealed it would actually cost closer to $1.8 billion.
That was a couple years ago and since then the plan changed to only an nhl arena in Victoria Park near the current Saddledome. Things seemed to be progressing behind the scenes until a few weeks ago. Nenshi spoke to the news about a future entertainment district north of the Stampede grounds that would be anchored by an nhl arena. The next day Ken King went to the media and said all talks were off and the Flames are no longer pursuing an arena in Calgary. This was basically just as Seattle announced a $400 million renovation of an existing arena there. Gary Buttman was with King and said hockey fans need to make their voices heard this upcoming election (Oct 16th). The Flames have caught so much flack they now claim they never intended to insert themselves into politics.
The city leaked the Flames demands and provided their offer. If you check the arenas and stadiums thread you’ll find plenty of articles about it. I’ll see if I can find some to repost. The city wanted to pay 1/3 the Flames 1/3 and a ticket tax 1/3 with the city recouping their amount through tax over 30 years. The Flames claim this would have them pay 100% of the cost. Their offer was CSEC covering $270 of the $500 million though over half of that would come from ticket tax and the city would carry the loan. They would never pay property tax, collect all revenue from the building, have veto rights for adjacent development and collect parking revenue.
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