New Edmonton Arena Construction will begin in March 2014

[browna]

Originally Posted by Major Major

The partnership has never been disputed. The city agreed to put in substantial cash. Katz agreed then renegged to get essentially the entirety of the bill payed for. Then when they said no, Katz made wild and irresponsible threats that were also ridiculous. Then once both parties cooled down, they put another deal in place, it just happens to be missing a bunch of money. The city has been a willing partner the entire time. That is not the problem here.

I am sure Katz has a different idea of the word/meaning of "partnership" than the city does, and always has.

It Katz can't make a go of it in Edmonton, as he said from the start, because he doesn't feel he's got enough support from his partners, its well within his right to sell the team. Is there anyone in Edmonton willing to take that off his hands...without the new building, that he as the previous owner, said was essential for making the franchise a viable business venture? Who knows, but unlikely.

The hub bub he created with the Seattle thing a while back "shocked" people, but it was just him exploring options.

With Seattle missing out on that NBA franchise, and a building on its way to being ready needing a tenant, and, Seattle being closer to Katz then Edmonton is, I wouldn't be surprised to see those avenues explored, though likely a little less public, in the months ahead.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by browna

The hub bub he created with the Seattle thing a while back "shocked" people, but it was just him exploring options.

With Seattle missing out on that NBA franchise, and a building on its way to being ready needing a tenant, and, Seattle being closer to Katz then Edmonton is, I wouldn't be surprised to see those avenues explored, though likely a little less public, in the months ahead.

Seattle hasn't given up yet on the Sacramento NBA franchise.

LOS ANGELES/SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Seattle investor group vying to purchase the Sacramento Kings NBA team has vastly increased its offer to buy the basketball franchise, hoping to wrest momentum away from a Sacramento group that wants to keep the team in California's capital.
Hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, who is fighting to bring the team to Seattle to replace the city's beloved SuperSonics, posted on his website on Friday that his group's new offer would value the team at $625 million, up $75 million from a prior offer.
Hansen, who leads a group of investors that includes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, had announced a deal in January to buy a controlling interest in the team from the wealthy Maloof family - at the time valuing the franchise at $525 million.

I don't know if it's changed but originally the new arena was only going to be built when a NBA franchise has been secured.

[dying4acup]

Originally Posted by browna

I am sure Katz has a different idea of the word/meaning of "partnership" than the city does, and always has.

It Katz can't make a go of it in Edmonton, as he said from the start, because he doesn't feel he's got enough support from his partners, its well within his right to sell the team. Is there anyone in Edmonton willing to take that off his hands...without the new building, that he as the previous owner, said was essential for making the franchise a viable business venture? Who knows, but unlikely.

The hub bub he created with the Seattle thing a while back "shocked" people, but it was just him exploring options.

With Seattle missing out on that NBA franchise, and a building on its way to being ready needing a tenant, and, Seattle being closer to Katz then Edmonton is, I wouldn't be surprised to see those avenues explored, though likely a little less public, in the months ahead.

Seattle hasn't yet started to build a new arena. There is an ageement in place baced on an NBA tenant. The nba tenant would love an NHL lease.

I'm not an expert, but 2 minutes of research and a little bit of research told me that. Am I inaccurate?

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by browna

With Seattle missing out on that NBA franchise, and a building on its way to being ready needing a tenant, and, Seattle being closer to Katz then Edmonton is, I wouldn't be surprised to see those avenues explored, though likely a little less public, in the months ahead.

Ya, its obviously a messy situation, but I would say there is about a zero percent chance that serious avenues of moving the Oilers to Seattle are explored. Not saying that Katz won't stage another sideshow to squeeze a little more juice out of the dirty unkept lemon tree that is the city of Edmonton, but there will never be a serious discussion of moving the Oilers.
I am not convinced that there won't be a buyer if he decides that the team is a dead end without a fully paid grossly overpriced arena.
Likely he or someone else will realize that this is a profitable endeavor with a cherry arena deal, the catch is you need to build a cheaper rink.

[killer_carlson]

Katz took out an ad in the Journal to apologize for the Seattle thing. The suggestion he would move the team to Seattle did have a big impact in the marketplace, but ompletely opposite to what Katz had wanted. It was another public relations disaster, which is what you can call his entire arena negotiation.

Even Kevin Lowe's last stunt about Fans Who Buy Tickets was a disaster, as the other million Edmontonians whose taxes are subsidizing the team

[Locke]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Katz took out an ad in the Journal to apologize for the Seattle thing. The suggestion he would move the team to Seattle did have a big impact in the marketplace, but ompletely opposite to what Katz had wanted. It was another public relations disaster, which is what you can call his entire arena negotiation.

Even Kevin Lowe's last stunt about Fans Who Buy Tickets was a disaster, as the other million Edmontonians whose taxes are subsidizing the team

Which is just more evidence that the slimeball was playing games with the Edmonton City Council, he just sucks at it.

[killer_carlson]

It strikes me that Katz has surrounded himself with people telling him the same thing, all smarter than the marthas and henrys in the marketplace. I call this the Michael Ignatief model of leadership. You are really popular within your room of like minded people, but out of touch with the rest of the world.

Katz has to come out and let the public know why they should again be covering a shortfall, thereby setting a precedent if or when there is another shortfall in the project. His silence is eroding his support daily.

[Ruttiger]

Speculation on CHED right now that the final funding has been secured. Special council meeting called for tomorrow at 1:30.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by old-fart

Edmonton citizens are morons if the agree to that deal.

Originally Posted by Ruttiger

Speculation on CHED right now that the final funding has been secured. Special council meeting called for tomorrow at 1:30.

Not that I would ever want to poke fun at our northern neighbors but....

[CaptainCrunch]

If the province is involved then they'd better open the check book for Calgary as well.

[Southside]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If the province is involved then they'd better open the check book for Calgary as well.

Katz made that donation to the Redford campaign in hopes of securing many multiples in return.

[Ruttiger]

My guess is $0 from the province. Many people will rejoice.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Ruttiger

My guess is $0 from the province. Many people will rejoice.

It'll just be the same shell-game thats going on now.

"The Province will not put up money for a private arena, however, the City of Edmonton can use civic-assigned money in a fund that the Province funnels money into...."

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by Locke

It'll just be the same shell-game thats going on now.

"The Province will not put up money for a private arena, however, the City of Edmonton can use civic-assigned money in a fund that the Province funnels money into...."

Exactly. This whole fiasco has been an embarrassment to the City of Edmonton, the Province of Alberta, and the Katz Group. Everybody involved looks bad.

The Katz Group has its hand out looking for a publicly funded building which they will use to earn huge profits, and got caught in a political donation scandal which looks like they tried to buy a favour.

The Province (the Tories, more particularly) look weak in the knees and gloss over the fact they are funding this arena.

The City of Edmonton is making a gift to a billionaire, supported mostly by people who earn incomes such that they can't even afford to buy tickets to the games.

The whole thing stinks.

[MoneyGuy]

This thing will get done. I never had any doubt, although it's taking far longer than I thought.

[OILFAN #81]

Edmonton City council just voted 10-3 in approving the project. Financial framework has been agreed upon.

[oilboy2]

Extra cash came from crl fund boost, Katz tossed another 15 million and the grant the regional municipalities voted to apply for. Shovels to hit groud early 14 or late 13.

[metallicat]

I want to see a total write-up on the entire project, including costs and where the money is coming from. Also can't wait to see how much of an increase my tickets are going to be next year.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by oilboy2

Extra cash came from crl fund boost, Katz tossed another 15 million and the grant the regional municipalities voted to apply for. Shovels to hit groud early 14 or late 13.

The grant is provincial money right?

Guess Katz bribe to the province paid off, I wonder how much pressure the Provinical Gov't applied to the City of Edmonton to get that money into the arena.

[nik-]

So how much of his own scratch is Katz putting in? And is is true he owns the land in the area and is selling it back to the city?