Big announcement today. Live stream from Calgary Flames website. Watch live here at the link at 3:30 pm CDT: 

 

http://video.flames.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=616&id=833177〈=en&navid=DL|CGY|home

A thought: if public money is going into something like this, why not have that money become an investment with the principal owners having an option to buy the government share for market value? If the ownership is manging well the operation ought to become profitable, but there ought not to be sweeheart exhorbitant "management fees" that Shenkadow et al got with the old NHL Jets.

A thought: if public money is going into something like this, why not have that money become an investment with the principal owners having an option to buy the government share for market value? If the ownership is manging well the operation ought to become profitable, but there ought not to be sweeheart exhorbitant "management fees" that Shenkadow et al got with the old NHL Jets.

 

Because then they'll move the team to Albuquerque.

 

The whole model of pro sports on this continent right now is based on teams owning/operating their own facilities and controlling all the "revenue streams," whether they paid for that facility or not.  It's absolutely gotten out of hand in many cities and it's not logical in any sense.  Miami might be the best recent example with the baseball stadium.

The people against any public money going to sports facilities are the cranky pot hole Brigade. They think if the money isn't spent on sports it will be spent to fill the holes on their street.

Lots of people against MTSC too which paid back its public investment years early.

Good luck to Calgary. Gonna be a hard sell.

Wouldn't the Currie Barracks be a better location for the complex ?

Wouldn't the Currie Barracks be a better location for the complex ?

Maybe if the ctrain stopped there

The people against any public money going to sports facilities are the cranky pot hole Brigade. They think if the money isn't spent on sports it will be spent to fill the holes on their street.

Lots of people against MTSC too which paid back its public investment years early.

Good luck to Calgary. Gonna be a hard sell.

MTS Centre is not at all a comparable funding model to the Calgary proposal.  

 

90 Million funding - True North

44 million - 3 levels of government

 

Calgary proposal calls for the majority to be funded by the gov't and they haven't even factored in the remediation costs.  World of difference between $44 million and $690 million.

@ISO........thanks. fewer complaints about the government with them spreading the wealth.

Anytime.

 

The people against any public money going to sports facilities are the cranky pot hole Brigade. They think if the money isn't spent on sports it will be spent to fill the holes on their street.

Lots of people against MTSC too which paid back its public investment years early.

Good luck to Calgary. Gonna be a hard sell.

MTS Centre is not at all a comparable funding model to the Calgary proposal.  

 

90 Million funding - True North

44 million - 3 levels of government

 

Calgary proposal calls for the majority to be funded by the gov't and they haven't even factored in the remediation costs.  World of difference between $44 million and $690 million.

 

Nope, juuuust a bit outside regarding cost of cleanup.  Between $50 million & $300 million according to Flames Ken King. Interesting how the Prov of AB & The City of Calgary handled the creosote contamination over the years. The Prov is responsible for the cleanup unless the City moves the dirt first. Then they have to pay the entire cost of the cleanup so the site has sat empty with nothing being done for half a century. Meanwhile in 2013, the massive flood sent creosote everywhere. The Provincial & civic politicians are total asshats & should be ashamed. Now that Calgarians know the story you can bet they'll want to get the site cleaned up. And here's the kicker... The company that contaminated the site was allowed to walk away with no liability for clean up by AB Environment leaving taxpayers on the hook for the cost of remediation which King says is unprecedented just about anywhere. But that was our wuvable Towies & why after 44 years they finally got turfed even by the NDP.

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet...

 

 

this obviously doesn't apply to all situations... but the point is there...

I love John Oliver.  That was quite eye opening.  I can't believe people just bend over to that kind of crap when you've got a billionaire owning a team.  I thought at least some profit would go back to the city in the US.  Wow...that's just insane.

The City of Calgary will own  the facilities if the project is built.

The City of Calgary will own  the facilities if the project is built.

AKA passing the maintenance costs on to the government.

For those who don't know or live in Calgary - that price is no where near what will need to be paid given the location. It's not just the cleanup - it's the infrastructure. Traffic is crazy there now, when that goes up ,and there's a Flames home game, and it's snowing / icy out - the arena won't be full until the third period. 

 

If Calgary was smart they'd build it out somewhere around the ring road. Cheaper land and easier to get to. Here in Edmonton they had to an extension to our LRT to get it to the new arena site. It's going to be state of the art that place and I see it every week - sweet

With the C Train it's still easier to get to than somewhere far & gone on Stony Trail. I'd say at least twenty thousand fans use the C Train to go to McMahon Stadium for Stamps games so we really don't know how this complex will impact traffic although I agree with you traffic is nuts there. With this complex it's pretty clear that the Powers That Be don't want Calgarians like me using our cars. 

I understand MTSC was a much cheaper funding model but the point is that, assuming the public investment doesnt get out of hand, I see no problem with the government investing in these projects.

 

Also, when the Jets left town, Winnipeg was essentially a black hole.  Not saying the Jets leaving caused it but the 90's sucked in Winnipeg.  The Jets left because there was no building and no owner.

 

Realistically, just a quick glance at the Calgary proposal, I think the Flames should be paying a lot more.  They have a billionaire owner.  And its not just the sports buildings, but the fact that this will be a residential and commercial development.  I presume the Flames' owners will be the developers.  They stand to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profit over the years.  I think the government can invest but private development should be the main contributor to their own developments.

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet...

 

 

this obviously doesn't apply to all situations... but the point is there...

 

That was pretty hilarious...

They're definitely trying to promote C-Train use with this proposal, and I'm totally cool with that. I love taking the train to the 'Dome or McMahon, 'cause parking is obscenely priced everywhere, and the train is quick and direct. Coming from the north, we usually park at the zoo, and then take the train wherever. 

With the C Train it's still easier to get to than somewhere far & gone on Stony Trail. I'd say at least twenty thousand fans use the C Train to go to McMahon Stadium for Stamps games so we really don't know how this complex will impact traffic although I agree with you traffic is nuts there. With this complex it's pretty clear that the Powers That Be don't want Calgarians like me using our cars. 

They would obviously be doing a lot of changes to the traffic flow there. To be honest I don't think it'd be all that much worse than where Mcmahon is now for traffic. There's some ****** up places down there but it all seems to be changing anyway because they know it's ****** up. 

So if this facility is built in 5-6 years who thinks that the price tag will be 890 million dollar. 

With the C Train it's still easier to get to than somewhere far & gone on Stony Trail. I'd say at least twenty thousand fans use the C Train to go to McMahon Stadium for Stamps games so we really don't know how this complex will impact traffic although I agree with you traffic is nuts there. With this complex it's pretty clear that the Powers That Be don't want Calgarians like me using our cars.

They would obviously be doing a lot of changes to the traffic flow there. To be honest I don't think it'd be all that much worse than where Mcmahon is now for traffic. There's some ****** up places down there but it all seems to be changing anyway because they know it's ****** up.

******* eh!

Getting over the Bow River north & southbound on Crowchild Trail is bad enough weekdays. It starts backing up in the morning by the U of C southbound until 9 or 9;30 am & northbound at 3 pm.

Can't see this project happening within the next 10 years.

So if this facility is built in 5-6 years who thinks that the price tag will be 890 million dollar.

No chance.

 

 

With the C Train it's still easier to get to than somewhere far & gone on Stony Trail. I'd say at least twenty thousand fans use the C Train to go to McMahon Stadium for Stamps games so we really don't know how this complex will impact traffic although I agree with you traffic is nuts there. With this complex it's pretty clear that the Powers That Be don't want Calgarians like me using our cars.

They would obviously be doing a lot of changes to the traffic flow there. To be honest I don't think it'd be all that much worse than where Mcmahon is now for traffic. There's some ****** up places down there but it all seems to be changing anyway because they know it's ****** up.

 

******* eh!

 

 

**** **** balls ass ***** ***** **** .... just testing to see what gets past the filter... that's what we're all doing, right?

 

EDIT: only 2 of my 7 words made it 

Getting over the Bow River north & southbound on Crowchild Trail is bad enough weekdays. It starts backing up in the morning by the U of C southbound until 9 or 9;30 am & northbound at 3 pm.

Crowchild over the Bow River is just the worst example of traffic planning anywhere. I'd sure like to ask the guy who designed that what the hell he was thinking.