If the professor from Florida says so, then it's a good bet, I guess.
Look, I get it. It's exciting as Flames fans. Yay. Wave pompoms. Drive by the arena (for those of us who actually live here) and think, "wow, golly, the Flames play
there... right
there... wow!"
It's all very cool.
But what we could do without is people who don't live here, don't know the city anymore, don't pay taxes, and don't have any actual investment in this outside of "I want the hockey team I cheer for from hundreds or thousands of miles away to still have the word 'Calgary' in front of the name" telling everybody else what the "reality" of the situation is.
The "reality," for many who live here, is that we have bigger fish to fry (actual problems, actual needs to be addressed, actual issues that require actual money). The "reality," is that this is an area that the city is doing just fine revitalizing on their own and planned to revitalize with or without the Flames (construction started long ago on many of the improvements). The "reality" is that when thinking of ways to bring investment in and add some "flavour" to your city, "mid-market NHL hockey" is not the only option (so pretending it's this or nothing fools literally no one).
As much as people want to take the condescending tone of "oh well welcome to reality" or "life's not fair I guess!" it's something we, especially those people who actually live here, are quite capable of doing without. Calgarians might be a little bit... "rural," but we aren't stupid.
Nobody here is against major projects. In fact, those that have been (as previously stated, things like the library) are the ones most for this. I think you could poll Calgarians and the overwhelming majority would be happy to have public dollars go to big ticket items that had a tangible impact on our quality of life or investment into the city.
But the "reality" is that nobody is actually explaining why this project, at this price tag, with this deal, for the purpose of hosting this product, is better than anything else.
A world-class concert hall, theater, stadium, etc. There are lots of options. If anything, from the cities I've visited, if your arena or the entertainment district built around it is "the place to be," then it's a sign you're in a bit of a crap city anyway, so who is this really supposed to be fooling?