Can Melnyk be denied again?
By Don Brennan, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 07:33 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 08:22 AM EST
As a man who has reached billionaire status in life, Eugene Melnyk strongly dislikes being denied. Usually, not always but much more often than most, the Senators owner gets what he wants.
Now, in a release Tuesday, Melnyk has made it clear he wants to relocate his team to Lebreton Flats. And without any real understanding of the process or the rationale of government deep-thinkers (like I'm alone on that), consider this a bet we'll all be going to NHL games in downtown Ottawa just as soon as the red tape is eliminated and the construction of one of those "world class facilities" is completed.
Knowing the way things move around here, the Senators will have won three Stanley Cups by the time it happens, but that's beside the point. The team will be leaving Palladium Dr. for the bottom of Booth St. Clip and save these words.
I am pretty sure Melnyk was furious when he lost out on his bid to bring pro soccer to Kanata. It was a risky proposition to begin with -- the idea of an MLS team way out in the west end had attendance problems written all over it -- but the swing and the miss would not have sat well with him.
The bigger loss, however, was his failed attempt to build a casino at Canadian Tire Centre. I'd say I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the room Melnyk was in when he received that news, but I have a feeling me and the other flies would have been crushed by his fist.
Interestingly, Melnyk didn't seem to hang on to the anger over the latter. Oh, he made some noise, but it was the equivalent of one loud scream, and then ... silence.
I expected serious threats about selling or moving the Senators. I was certain he would tell the city that unless it reconsidered, he was going to lose too much money to make the NHL work here. I was sure he would issue an ultimatum.
Instead, there were mumblings about help coming to him in a different form, and Melnyk seemed more than appeased.
Now, I get we're talking about different levels of government, but do you not think there's a possibility Melnyk was told to hold his horses, all would be done (wink, wink) to assist him in a bigger project down the road? That while rights to a gambling house wouldn't come his way, he'd have every opportunity (and then some) to set up his shop closer to the Casino du Lac-Leamy and reap all the benefits that are realized with such a move?
Melnyk had a knowing look in his eyes when he told media in attendance at his Skate For Kids a week ago that the team wasn't even sure it was going to submit a RFQ for Lebreton Flats, but "I'm hoping we come to the right decision."
Said Melnyk: "If we're going to do it, we want to do it right, we want to be organized, we want to make sure this has been very carefully thought through. This impacts the city in a huge way. It impacts the organization in a huge way."
I don't know what other groups or organizations will apply for redevelopment rights at Labreton before the Jan. 7 deadline, but I do believe the Senators should have had that address right from the start and it's not too late to right the wrong. An NHL team belongs in the core of its city, not the outskirts. While prospering themselves, the Senators would breathe tremendous life into the downtown area and all its businesses -- much more so than anything else that could take over the Flats.
Now that he has formalized his intentions, I'm sure Melnyk is confident he's not going to be denied again. And if he is, if he's told he won't be owning an NHL team in downtown Ottawa, I can't imagine he'll be owning one in Kanata much longer, either.
Twitter: @sundonib
http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/12/23/...e-denied-again
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