[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I reject your position outright. You're taking a populist view point of, if they can't make it go in their current situation or they can't build their own damn building then its time to close up shop.

You don't know what populist means.

But its far more complicated then that. On the spending side of things you've got currency instability

You mean the same thing every business in Calgary deals with that sells things imported from the US (car dealerships, retail stores, equipment distributors)?

you've got increasing salaries that are negotiated pretty much by the NHL and NHLPA.

Like many franchises, regional offices or many forms of business that deal with unions. Oh, also any business that employs people at minimum wage.

In terms of revenues they're entirely limited by the building that they're in and where that revenue goes.

You mean like, oh, every restaurant in the city? Limited tables, limited appeal to each location, and pricing that must match the product and facility accordingly. Except those businesses don't get TV revenue, merchandise revenue, or revenue sharing. The Flames are on easy street in this aspect.

The city and the province and federally they all get some benefit from having an NHL team or a CFL team, lets not pretend that the city for example is so burdened by the venture. There are tax dollars and employment that all flow to the government.

Completely debatable. Most studies have indicated entertainment spending is not affected by major sports work stoppages, it just finds other homes. Most other forms of entertainment aren't subsidized by the government and do just fine.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm onside with the city building an arena. However it the city wants to for example continue to receive revenues from taxation from an NHL or they want to be looked at as a major league city there is now a cost to that entering and staying in that club.

Calgarians are the only ones that think this is a "World Class" city or a "Major League" city. It's a pretty nice place for sure.

Do I think Milwaukee or Buffalo is somehow legitimized because they have professional sports teams? Is Seattle less attractive because they lost their NBA team?

As a hockey fan, of course I'd be sad about losing the cultural element of having the Flames in town, but that doesn't mean we should respond to any blackmail about them leaving. A city with as many hockey fans and corporate dollars as us is a viable hockey market. It's not our city councils job to ensure the business of hockey is profitable.

If we're all fine with Nenshi saying no and slamming the door on anything from the city, then lets get that in the air, and let the Flames decide if they want to go it on their own here, or start working with the NHL on negotiating something elsewhere. Or as you say, shutdown the business.

I believe it wasn't slamming the door and saying "no" but more saying "how about we try something that isn't ridiculous, and maybe look at something that is adequately served by transportation and can leverage the Stampede, National Music Centre, Conferences etc in supporting hotel and entertainment establishments instead of diluting development on both sides of a currently stagnating city centre?"

I'm not about to defend Nenshi's public tone, but this wasn't a "slamming the door" situation.