Quote:
Originally Posted by Joborule
I don't buy that. In comparing venues, a player is not going to choose to come to Calgary to simply play in an arena/fieldhouse complex over playing in Toronto at the ACC. A hockey player won't care about the fieldhouse since they won't be playing or using the fieldhouse. Calgary building a state of the art stand alone arena gets the same job done.
With the arena in Victoria Park, and the rivers district plan unfolding, it could be argue the Flames will have an even better arena out of this based on the potential surrounding amenities.
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Well, I don't buy that. The city itself is definitely the strongest feature, but I'll say that a new arena and high quality professional sports facilities do help to sway people's decisions to play here. We wouldn't know because we haven't had new facilities in over 30 years. If facilities didn't matter, no one would build them. And we wouldn't be where we are today with this impasse.
Also, the functional design of the arena doesn't change whether it's in Victoria Park or the West Village. It will feature best practices in sports design and innovation regardless of its geographical location. A dedicated sports district is much, much more ambitious and world-class. We need more than just an arena (we need a stadium and fieldhouse too), and the Victoria Park location doesn't include either.