The offer from the City was far too generous to start with. Outside of Edmonton, most arenas are built with more private money. I can at least understand why the city of Edmonton wanted to get the deal done, it changes their downtown, and moves the arena from the middle of nowhere, to a more central area that needed revitalization.
None of that is happening in Calgary. An entertainment district just takes patrons from other areas of Calgary, it's not additional money. Would it be cool to have, sure, but it's not a big game changer for Calgary. People will still spend their money in the city if they don't go to games, etc. Most families are priced out of going to games, and they still spend their money on other forms of entertainment, or at other local businesses.
Obviously concerts are a bit of a boost, but it's not that many concerts. I'm over the owners trying to get us to pay for their great investment that they don't want to pay for, which obviously makes no sense, unless of course it's a terrible investment.
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