Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteMoss
In this case.. the same scenario happens whether the owners get a new arena or they play in the Saddledome.
Just think of the recent lockout... did the Calgary economy suffer at all because of it? The arena was sitting empty for a long while and i doubt there was much impact. The bars/restaurants around the arena may have suffered, but most of the money that would have been spent there would have been spent in other areas of the city.
|
On the first point - I agree with you (sort of) for the time being. I agree, for now, replacing the Saddledome doens "have" to happen, especially from the hockey perspective. But eventually, the Flames will need a new arena to keep the team sustanable in the city, and when that happens (I won't bother to debate whether that time is now or 10 years from now, I won't pretend to know) if the city wants to continue to benefit from having such a facility and teams in town, it has some stake in the game is the point. What I will say, is on the concert front, the Saddledome is already missing out on opportunities as show's that used to come by, are not longer hitting Calgary (for reasons that have nothing to do with the buildings age, but design I know) and there for negatively impacting local business and therefore the city to some extent (the losses worth a new building at this point, likely not).
As for the lockout question, I don't know the answer definitevely, but I'd wager that it is Yes, the lockout did hurt the cities economy. I'm sure if you asked the businesses around the dome or in the city that leverage the NHL season or events at the dome to create the traffic that their business model depends on, they were hurt very badly during the lockout. All having impact on job creation and sustainability in the city.
Again, I don't know what a "reasonable" stake the city has in a project like this would be. Might not be very much. But I think it's hard to argue that benefit does not occure from having such a facility and NHL team to the city, one just needs to head down to a local licensed establishment within down town on a Saturday night on game night and compare the traffic those nights to non game Staruday nights............the difference in many establishments is stark. People spend more money in this city on event nights, which keep businesses and employees of those businesses up and running.