Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
You can't quantify civic pride. I challenge anyone to say that civic pride has ever been higher in this city than 2004. The buzz and energy in the city was even higher than during the Olympics or the Flames 2009 cup year. That buzz lasted for years after. Calgarians don't own the Flames and we should be thankful the Flames ownership has invested to provide this city with the Flames, Stamps, Hitmen, Roughneck, etc on an annual basis. These guys aren't greasy businessmen they are local men who are involved with this city. They don't stick their faces in the limelight like Jerry Jones or Katz. They don't do it for fame. They do it because they are proud Calgarians and want to give back because we all know there isn't a lot of money to be made on CFL, WHL, NHL, etc. I think Calgarians have been spoiled by having such a classy ownership group as how many disasters have we seen in Ottawa, Edmonton, Long Island, etc. heck if anyone follows football they would know Feterik was going to drive the Stampeders into the ground. I would caution Nenshi from alienating what is simply one of the best ownership groups in North America. You want to play hardball? Fine but please don't be an a-hole to these guys as they will be here when Nenshi is in Toronto or Ottawa and nothing more than a memory for Calgarians.
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What on earth? They don't do it to make a lot of money?
Do you consider $231MM in 3 years a lot of money?
I do... are you going to go talk about "better investments" now? Guess so but they probably have a few professional investment advisers and pro-sports is part of the money making portfolio, not filed under charitable donations on their excel spreadsheets. Otherwise, what gives with the 10 years in a row of increasing prices on tickets? Why does the food cost so much?
I do want the city to play hardball and I don't really care if we use the Saddledome ongoing. If the reason a free agent doesn't sign here is because he doesn't like that his shower doesn't have the latest in bathroom technology, he may not be the type of free agent we really want anyway.
Could not agree more that the city needs the money for different projects like the CTrain or infrastructure, new rinks or facilities, etc. If the city didn't need more money they wouldn't be going ape raising our taxes over the next few years, or charging more for utilities.
Who gives a #### about 4-5 concerts that don't come around? Seriously.
And again I go back to why do we need the insanely expensive building? Will a 400-500MM arena not suffice? If the city is asked to chip in, I'd ask for a bit more leverage on architectural design. Maybe Edwards is confusing the oilpatch mentality where when I shoot you an AFE you're either in/out on my project... how about if you're sending the city a bill for a
something around a $1B arena, maybe see what the financial appetite is first before unloading the grand master plan and then wondering why the city won't cough up the dough.