[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by Stillman16

I think this is a huge stretch. With both NHL and WHL, affordable for all hockey fans, not to mention NLL and figure skating....concerts, kids shows, international events (hockey, Brier, figure skaing....) the list goes on!

Sure it houses the NHL as a main tenant, but it would be utillized by MANY others, and just cause a citizen isn't a hockey fan (or can't get a ticket to NHL) doesn't mean they wouldn't go to the stadium for one of the many other events held there. I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who wouldn't go to the "rink" at least once a year.....

But you'd find MANY people who never set foot in a south hospital.....or on the C-train.....or downtown....but all those are necessary parts of a city too.

Agree to disagree I guess, because I can't prove my numbers, but I certainly stand behind them. Lets just think about all of the people who can't afford things like concerts or hockey, then about all the people who dislike hockey and pop concerts and then about all the people who might not dislike hockey or concerts but don't like them enough to pay $100's of dollars to see them live and then about all of the recent immigrants (as for the most part new immigrants aren't big into hockey or american pop music). Keeping all that in mind along with the fact that (for hockey anyways) most tickets are occupaied by the same 16,000 people everygame I would say 520,000 is a very lofty estimate.

Edit: To clarify, 520,000 people is roughly 40% of our population...