Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
The Flames leave town you'll be cheering for the Oilers for quite some time. If the current ownership can't make it work I don't see a long line of others to give it another go, not without a new building with a sweetheart lease they can get in other cities. Calgary will suffer the same fate as the Jets. You'll have to hope that some major billionaire wants to blow money on a sports team in a second rate city who let their team exit the scene previously. Don't think for a second the NHL would also be complaint in letting a team relocate to Calgary so soon after the Flames left. You'll see Quebec get a team before Calgary. If the Flames move to Seattle, you'll see Portland get a team before Calgary. The city of Calgary will lose their hockey team and that will be that. You'll be pinning for another one for a decade or more. Don't take for granted what you have. Ask the people of St. Louis how they are enjoying their football season.
I am not suggesting that you support any arena proposal, but taking the petulant stance that the Flames can gtfo is just plain silly. You're cutting your nose off to spite your face.
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If in some apocalyptic scenario the Flames left, I'm sure there would be regret and some may feel that they indeed cut off their nose to spite their face. But in end, I think many people are looking at the current Flames, and the mess that is the CalgaryNEXT proposal and are realizing that a pro-sports franchise really isn't vital thing in a city with many more entertainment options than it had when the team first arrived.
I also don't think I'm alone in feeling that the fun of attending games live no longer outweighs the personal and community costs of hosting the franchise, particularly with what CSE has proposed for the project. It's just not hard anymore to say, "I don't want to pay."
In short, letting the Flames go doesn't feel like cutting off one's nose at all; it's more like, the Flames: Take them or leave them, and if it's leave them: Meh, it was fun while it lasted.