Quote:
Originally Posted by AFireInside
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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It is a terrible investment. It's a money losing venture for all involved. The City has to decide if it wants an event centre and an NHL franchise long term and if they see benefit in that or not.
If they don't, likely time to tell the CSE and the NHL that when the Dome truly stops being a tolerable solutions for the Flames to look a selling the team.
If they do, the city should do their diligence and understand exactly how much they will be willing to pay for, and try to get the private partners in this endeavor to put up as much as they possibly can.
But people need to understand, there is NO business case in the city of Calgary (or Edmonton, which is why that deal required public funds) where it makes sense for any private investor to put up close to a billion dollars investment to build an Event Centre here. I said it in another thread, but the return on investment from a basic savings account is a better business case than the capital outlay required for this new rink.
Not wanting public funds to go to an event center is 100% a viable position. But thinking this is some savvy play by Edwards or any private company to get someone else to give them a handout on an amazing business opportunity that they should just pay for themselves is completely off on the economics on this project.