Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
I slightly prefer standing in an open field in a blizzard with no jacket on to the ‘experience’ that is McMahon Stadium.
The only sane explanation is that you have no intention of ever attending any event at McMahon, so the facility and the experience are not your problem.
As for the Saddledome, the experience will only get worse once the building can no longer generate enough revenue to pay an NHL team. Enjoy the Hitmen games and tractor pulls once that happens.
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Are you really trying to suggest that one of the most profitable teams in the NHL is going to somehow abandon one of the best markets in the NHL?
Last I checked, the Flames were still selling out.
This argument is so disingenuous it poisons the whole conversation. The Saddledome isn't falling apart, it isn't decrepit, it isn't a safety hazard and it isn't preventing fans from coming to games. The flames are still wildly popular, still generate incredible operating income and are benefiting from the national rogers TV deal. The 'dome isn't even ugly!
So, let's dispense with this ludicrous idea that the city of Calgary needs to pay a ####load of money so that the Flames can be even more profitable than the significant profits they are already making. The Flames WANT a new stadium but they don't NEED one. The current one is perfectly acceptable if you want to make between 15-25 million dollars a year. The flames want to make more than that though, but instead of re-investing their profits in their own business (like countless other businesses), they want the city and the province to make them more profitable.
The CFL team is a losing venture if they don't get that new stadium built, but rather than cut their losses they want to city to prop up their poor investment. Seems like corporate welfare to me.
As an organization they've had 10 million or more every year in operating income and have seen the franchise valuation DOUBLE in the last 4 years. They are in no-way hard up, and the saddle dome isn't contributing to lost revenue.
When you spend your time building a false narrative about the deficiencies of the existing building I think it really underscores how lacking in substantive arguments there are for the city to put in ANY money to this project.
The flames seem to have prioritized the PR campaign much higher than the actual project development up to this point which illustrates that they also see the up-hill battle of convincing Calgarians that tax payer money is necessary.