Bettman: No basis for a Calgary arena deal anytime soon

[Roughneck]

Why not tax coffee? $0.15 a cup.

And add $0.05 to the environmental fee for bottled drinks.

Probably have the loans paid off in no time.

[Flash Walken]

Maybe the city should tax dodge dealerships for the goddamned rams clogging up the concourse?

Maybe the city should tax sales of plywood to help pay for the arena?

Is there some way to tax people riding down the bow in dinghies?

Is it time the city's population of Geese pay their fair share towards a new arena for the wealthiest ownership group in the NHL?

What other completely unrelated business profits can we shanghai to pay for the capital costs of another viable business?

[GioforPM]

I don't think the city can impose a tax without an amendment to the MGA or a separate act of the Province. They don't have the power to institute a tax via just a city bylaw, IIRC.

A user fee might be legal though.

[DJones]

Fact is, the nhl is not a sustainable business model without government subsidies. Not in smaller markets anyway. Calgary can't fill an arena the 300 nights a year that it requires to be profitable.

To fix the problem would require a complete rewrite of the players contracts as well as the profit sharing model. So in other words it's not going to happen in the short term. So they'll limp along as long as they can until the whole thing collapses. In all likelihood they will find somewhere else to go after Calgary. If ten teams were all in a similar situation there might be leverage to change something but Calgary by itself is just not enough.

I don't see how we keep the Flames without forking over the tax money. It sucks, it's not fair, ect, ect. But at this point of time there isn't much options. We lose the team, the owners get a large payout for their retirement from the sport. It's a lose/lose situation while the Owners are in a win/win situation.

[jayswin]

Interesting fact, or maybe just an anomaly at the moment, but looking at Ticketmaster, Edmonton really doesn't have much of anything that Calgary doesn't have for arena shows in the next year.

At one time it was comical how many more major shows they had.

[Frequitude]

Bettman's trembling seemed a little more pronounced than in previous years. I was honestly wondering if he has some sort of Parkinsons type ailment that I wasn't aware of.

I sure hope not. Current disagreement aside, the guy has done a hell of a job for the NHL and the viability of a team in Calgary. I hope he's around for a while longer.

[Max Cow Disease]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Bettman's trembling seemed a little more pronounced than in previous years. I was honestly wondering if he has some sort of Parkinsons type ailment that I wasn't aware of.

I sure hope not. Current disagreement aside, the guy has done a hell of a job for the NHL and the viability of a team in Calgary. I hope he's around for a while longer.

...I didn’t notice it being much worse and just presumed that’s the way he always was. If it were in fact some form of ailment my use of “wigglehead Bettman” would certainly warrant reconsideration.

[ken0042]

We now have 2 threads discussing the same subject. While we understand the reason this thread was started, the OP should have gone into the news only thread, as well as the discussion in the discussion thread.