Every year that passes is another year of lost leverage for the city. Eventually the city will need a new event centre, with or without an NHL team. As the buiding ages and deteriorates, the cost/benefit of reno (vs. new building) becomes less and less palatable to the public (not unlike armchair GMs' retool vs rebuild debate).Then any portion of dollars contributed by private stakeholders (team owners) will be viewed as a private contribution towards a civic need, as opposed to City portion being viewed as handouts to billionaires.
I won't be surprised if the city portion ends up similar to Edmonton's portion. Flames could just wait it out, if they want.
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