[News] Ken King: Flames' owners no longer pursuing new arena with City of Calgary

[Beninho]

I haven't been intently following this issue as some others here mostly because I live in Victoria but I agree with the above poster who said that many other NHL teams would love to be in Calgary and I have no idea why any would want to be in Seattle. Mariners games are empty and their basketball team never sold out and left to Oklahoma. Good luck Flames if that's your next move, will regret it. Can't say I'll cheer for another team, just will hold out like Jets fans did, Calgarys market is just too good to leave as far as hockey goes.Sad this has put a damper on the start of a promising season

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by robbie111

In 2016 the Flames franchise was estimated worth 410 million. Why not have the city pony up and buy the team and keep them in the Saddledome. Probably be cheaper and city would get all profits going forward.

They did something similar in Utah

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...sferred-trust/.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Flames for Amazon HQ2?

Holy cow what a great post.

Underrated for sure. Visionary.

Scrap the Flames Deal, bring on the Amazon HQ and 20-40k jobs.

Bravo.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnage

I'm guessing from CSEC's perspective, they wanted something similar for West village (leave the details out of this discussion).

The thing is, from the Flames perspective, this district is no different from any other. They are doing Nenshi a favor of coming into his project, and probably not getting any additional 'perk' for doing so (I'm guessing they would expect a better deal from the city for doing them the favor of anchoring their area)

Remember, in their original plan, they had the potential for lots of perks (land, etc). That's not here in this proposal.


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See here's the thing. They want to build a huge sports stadium in the middle of a city core. Unless they want to completely privately fund it, they have no right to demand a certain piece of land, and certainly not within reason to throw childish public fits about it.

You want West Village? Buy it, clean it, build your stadium. Or build it in bloody Balzac if you think that will save you dough. You want the city to chip in? You're going to have to work yourself into the long term plans.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by robbie111

In 2016 the Flames franchise was estimated worth 410 million. Why not have the city pony up and buy the team and keep them in the Saddledome. Probably be cheaper and city would get all profits going forward.

Maybe they could sell shares to the fans like they did in Green Bay. That would be sweet.

[442scotty]

This is all such a downer.... I'm not coming back on this thread... I'm just going to try and get back on track and enjoy the hockey... whatever happens happens...


Suncor..... Please buy the team and build an arena etc

[Lord Carnage]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Because it's the one the city wants as respresented by its elected council and specifically its mayor.



People may hate Nenshi for any number of reasons, but for better or worse he is representing the citizens in this negotiation and personally I'm personally glad he's fighting for what he believes is best for the city. I don't live there anymore so I'm pretty separated from it. It's just nice to see people not rolling over for sports teams aka Edmonton or every US city (except Seattle apparently).

But because he 'wants' it does that have any bearing on a business case?

Because he 'wants' it, the Flames should consider themselves lucky they get anything?

I appreciate the point, and honestly would love if this was a zero dollar public venture, but REALISTICALLY that isn't possible.

And that doesn't mean throw them 10-20 million in infrastructure... it needs to be a shared solution.


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[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

Is a charity golf tournament the right venue to drop this news?

Buddy of mine was at the tournament today, said he saw lots of Bill Smith for mayor stickers and such around, in case anyone was wondering who the CSEC candidate for mayor was going to be.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Beninho

I haven't been intently following this issue as some others here mostly because I live in Victoria but I agree with the above poster who said that many ther NHL teams would love to be in Calgary and I have no idea why any would want to be in Seattle. Mariners games are empty and their basketball team never sold out. Good luck Flames if that's your next move, will regret it. Can't say I'll cheer for another team, just will hold out like Jets fans did. Sad this has put a damper on the start of a promising season

Same arena costs but with an NHL and NBA team to split tenancy, plus the possibility of having bigger concerts, plus not having an outdated and expensive to maintain building. All that with the added benefit of a population three times the size.

Profit wise it's a WAY better situation.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by lvsteven

To paraphrase him:

"We need to focus on winning, beating the folks up north on the ice... of course they beat us with the arena..."

The Flames could be playing in a new, state-of-the-art arena today, if that's what the owners wanted. It's not as though they don't have the money.

[Love]

Ken King is acting like a toddler unwilling to cooperate because the city wouldn't agree to buy him his fieldhouse

[Lord Carnage]

Originally Posted by MattyC

See here's the thing. They want to build a huge sports stadium in the middle of a city core. Unless they want to completely privately fund it, they have no right to demand a certain piece of land, and certainly not within reason to throw childish public fits about it.



You want West Village? Buy it, clean it, build your stadium. Or build it in bloody Balzac if you think that will save you dough. You want the city to chip in? You're going to have to work yourself into the long term plans.

I get that too... the Flames were spinning it as they were doing the city a favor. They were (probably), but they were certainly doing one for themselves too.

There really is a ton of speculation happening around this. Maybe the final proposal is 33/33/33, plus development rights for 1/4 of Nenshi's entertainment corridor or some such (from his video). Maybe that's a way to make this work (give the Flames some area to develop too - compromise)?

I just don't expect Nenshi is being any better than CSEC, and I know I haven't liked the way he's spent most of the city's money (not that I mind it being spent - just don't like how)


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[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by DJones

Same arena costs but with an NHL and NBA team to split tenancy, plus the possibility of having bigger concerts, plus not having an outdated and expensive to maintain building. All that with the added benefit of a population three times the size.

Profit wise it's a WAY better situation.

That's why the Atlanta Thrashers are one of the most profitable NHL franchises in the league right now.

[TheKurgan]

Well you could kind of see this coming. Flames and Nenshi never where on the same page about a new arena. Nothing we can do but enjoy the Flames while we still can.

[oldschoolcalgary]

i still am not sure why Nenshi is the lightning rod for this?

He gets one vote.
He votes last.
If the voting is tied at the end, he essentially casts the tie breaking vote.

I have yet to hear any Councillor unequivocally support public dollars for a new public arena; certainly none that have stepped up to the plate to act as the advocate for the Flames within the council chambers.

I wasn't in the camp of zero public dollars either... i believe i voted for approximately 25-33% public funds as being a reasonable public contribution...

As it stands now, I am not angry at all. If they Flames want to move then they ought to simply announce that date so people don't throw anymore cash in their direction.

We used to have seasons tickets in the office - albeit we split the 4 seats with 2 other groups... I was 50/50 about getting those tickets again, but King has made my decision a resounding no.

Leave. The sooner the better.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I've said it before, but the NHL needs to build infrastructure costs into its operations. The salary cap should not be 70 million if they need public financing to be viable. It should be 50 million, so each team can put away 20 million every year and have the option to build a new arena every 2-3 decades.

The problem there is that larger markets would potentially be subsidizing small ones. With no co-tenant to help anchor the building small teams won't have a chance.

Plus if they were to go that route players start getting a chunk of non hockey related revenue. No way that ever happens.

Flames are not a sustainable business on their own in a place as small as Calgary. They can last a few more years as is.

But in coming years I do think pro sports franchises as is will have a huge problem. Millenials and younger won't have enough interest to keep funding the traditional games of Baseball/Football/Basketball and hockey in Canada or Northern USA. If private enterprise is to own their own building, than places like Calgary will be left out. In a world where governments are needing private companies to build things like roads, bridge's, and Hospitals...I see no way that governments can subsidize arena''s and stadiums.

I think the stadium/arena building bubble is on the verge of bursting.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

That's why the Atlanta Thrashers are one of the most profitable NHL franchises in the league right now.

Lol yup, but there's no logical arguments being made at all by the people who think the city should do whatever it takes to make this happen. It's all purely emotional, which is why the CSEC using these tactics is so effective.

[Love]

I have no problems becoming an Auston Matthews fan Ken King!

[WilliPlett]

Not sure why everyone is against King although he is not a great representative. This is directly done now with the upcoming election. Nenshi is stuck in his ways and will not budge. He would rather spend millions o libraries and art work. If Calgary got the same deal as Edmonton, this deal would be over. Get rid of Nenshi and lets be proud of our great city again. Nenshi must go...

[nik-]

Originally Posted by williplett

not sure why everyone is against king although he is not a great representative. This is directly done now with the upcoming election. Nenshi is stuck in his ways and will not budge. He would rather spend millions o libraries and art work. If calgary got the same deal as edmonton, this deal would be over. Get rid of nenshi and lets be proud of our great city again. Nenshi must go...

lol