[Maritime Q-Scout]

I'll admit I haven't read the studies yet, but there are a few things to keep in mind while reading them:

1. Calgary's surrounding municipalities are… well it's still Calgary. Calgary doesn't have a lot of municipalities around it to draw people from as the majority of people that live in the Calgary area live in Calgary.

A city like Ottawa, Vancouver or Montréal isn't like this. One of those cities spending money on a project will be able to have a better benefit as the entertainment (NHL) dollars will be substituted with entertainment outside of the city.

Here's an example. The City of Arlington, Texas has given lots of public funds to subsidize a MLB ballpark and an NFL stadium. The owner of the NFL franchise in Texas I believe is the richest owner in the NFL. So why did Arlington help support him? Because Arlington is in between two huge markets, Fort Worth and Dallas. The city knows if we don't help get the stadium here, those dollars go elsewhere and we don't see any. The majority of people are coming into Arlington to watch games and spend money. That money would be spent if the teams weren't there, but spent elsewhere.

However, in Calgary the money that a new arena would generate would still be spent in Calgary (at least the majority of it).

What the city (or Flames) could do is find out what amount of new spending a new stadium would generate. This number is likely disproportionately low, whereas Arlington's would be disproportionately high.

2. The other thing that needs to be factored into consideration would be the ability to attract players. New facilities would give players added insentives to play in Calgary. Players don't want to play in cruddy arenas, and want accessabilty to modern medical and physio facilities.

Better players leads to better teams which leads to deeper playoff runs which leads to more money. The last game I was at was in the SCF. It was a trip that was made because it was the finals, and I wasn't the only one on the plane making it for that specific reason.

3. Boxes and concessions. Better revenue opportunities lead to a better opportunity for the city to recoup their ROI.

Frankly I don't see why the city doesn't take a percentage of concessions sales, or luxury box sales until the money given to fund is paid back with X amount of interest.

4. Does the municipality have programs for public funding? If so, then a new arena could potentially tap into that. It's funding already allocated. The big issue with something this big is new funding.


TL;DR different cities have different variables. You simply can't compare Calgary to Ottawa, at all… like what so ever… heck the Ottawa Senators don't even play in Ottawa.