Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
The Flames are not moving. No shot, and to play that card would be ludicrous. As ludicrous as it was in Edmonton. And just because Edmontonians fell over themselves about it, they got bent over in their arena deal and anyone can see that. The dollar and Oil prices did play a role last time, but one thing is missing from that scenario and that is the cap, which is tied to league revenue of which the CDN teams make up the majority. If their revenues fall as a result of the dollar, so does the cap. Everyone will remain on the same playing field financially. If low oil prices today are going to be used as an excuse for public funds, what happens when they inevitably go back up in a few years? Does the city get paid back on funds as percentage of the price change in oil? Basing the amount of funds needed from the public on a volatile resource price is dumb. This is something the Flames owners want to attract players and high quality people to THEIR organization, and if "the city is poor because of oil!" is the excuse, it is absolutely not necessary to build this building. The Saddledome has ice and plenty of seats and can stand for a few more years while prices go back up.
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Although the threat of Flames moving is mostly without substance, the fact that Quebec City has a new arena that's waiting for a NHL tennant, Seattle prime for a team in the near future, Las Vegas apparently happening as well, and lets not forget Kansas City also having a new state of the art facility that's waiting for a major tenant, does give Flames owners cards to play with. The city could and should call it's bluff if the owners were to use it, but there always is the possibly that the Flames would sell the team to parties interested in moving the franchise over to mentioned locations.
After all, Minnesota had their team move to Dallas after a new arena couldn't get built.