Calgary announces agreement for new $1.2 billion arena for the Flames

[ujju2]

They are getting $300mill towards the project. Edmonton got nada.
And Smith was also opposed to any money going towards any arena when she was in opposition. And now...suddenly the tune changed. Arena close to home. She is in power. Election next month.
Can you smell it? I can.

That was two governments ago, at a time where we were running multi-billion dollar deficits. We now have multi-billion dollar surpluses. Timing matters.

 

[93LEAFS]

Calgary is Alberta's premier city? Didn't know that (I'm American never been to Alberta). I had thought Edmonton was the premier city.

It's a St. Louis/Kansas City situation for Missouri or a Cincinnatti/Cleveland situation for Ohio, or if you want to be charitable a Houston/Dallas situation for Texas. I haven't been in awhile, but Calgary's downtown was significantly nicer when I have visted both. Edmonton is more a government town, whereas Calgary tends to be where most of the high-finance related to oil deals are done. It's not like a Toronto, MTL or Vancouver situation where one city is clearly the dominant city in the province.

Best possible use of taxpayer money…other than returning it to the taxpayers themselves.

yeah, way better than healthcare, education, or rebuilding the heritage fund.....

 

[Connor McBaevid]

That was two governments ago, at a time where we were running multi-billion dollar deficits. We now have multi-billion dollar surpluses. Timing matters.

I have a feeling the UCP didn't need to do this to get your vote.

 

[snag]

That was two governments ago, at a time where we were running multi-billion dollar deficits. We now have multi-billion dollar surpluses. Timing matters.

We also have about $90billion more debt. We also have an economy that needs diversifying. We have health care and education that are fighting for financial scraps and are under constant threat.

But yeah, let's throw money at a billionaire.

 

[Petey O]

There's a rampant violent crime problem and city wide homelessness and malaise. A sports arena is DEFINITELY what the city needs right now.

 

[Figgy44]

This election is gonna suck. One has their head in the clouds, the other their head up their ass.

If the provincial government is involved... I can't help but wonder if we'll suddenly start to see some Olympic bid project money trickle into the province as well.

A few years ago, Calgarians squashed an 2026 Olympic bid via referendum. I've started hearing rumors about attempts on Olympic bids again lately.

Best possible use of taxpayer money…other than returning it to the taxpayers themselves.

Been there, done that as well. It wasn't successful for Ralph (RIP).

 

[bossram]

Nice of the Premiere to buy a bunch of votes right before the election. Sad thing is it will probably work

Will this work? $500+M in provincial dollars for Calgary to get an arena.

Some people in Calgary will hate this, and everyone in Edmonton will.

It's a supremely dumb plan. Nearly $900M in public dollars for a private arena.

 

[ujju2]

I have a feeling the UCP didn't need to do this to get your vote.

I have a feeling they didn't need to do this to lose yours... Anyways, let's leave the politics to DMs

Edit: I'm also an Edmontonian and an Oilers fan, so you're right, this has no bearing on my vote regardless.

 

[Mike Jones]

And as opposition, she was staunchly opposed to Edmonton getting money for Rogers.

Right! I forgot about that one. But she has to support now because she needs the votes.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Stadiums/Arenas should not be publicly financed. The fact people think its acceptable for billionaires to pit municipality against municipality for arenas is comical. Historically, all they do is just realocate where entertainemnt money is spent within a metro area over actually generating more.

woah woah woah. This here is an Events Centre. Totally different.

 

[Oilers88]

Nice of the Premiere to buy a bunch of votes right before the election. Sad thing is it will probably work

At least they're not being subtle about it.

 

[Mike Jones]

Dear Gawd - this is worst than I thought.

Let the F**kers move to Utah.

And provincial funding pending a provincial election? C'mon - we can see through that Calgary vote-buying crap.

 

[JPeeper]

The arena went from $550 million to over $630 because of rising costs and delays. ~3 months before they were to break ground Joyti gets elected mayor and spends more money to do her own cost/environmental analysis and says that the Flames need to pay $10 mil more for environment and road costs. Flames ownership laughs and cancels the old deal. Now with this new deal Flames ownership pays barely anything more than they were before and tax payer contributions have nearly tripled (from $330 to near $880 and that includes all Albertans now).

THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PLAY CHICKEN WITH A BILLIONARE YOU IDIOTS. He played you for $700 million.

Absolutely disgraceful from every politician involved, can't hate on the billionaire, he played these fools like a fiddle.

 

[snag]

At least they're not being subtle about it.

Well.....now since Edmonton is still trying to figure out wtf to do about Northlands, you know this is going cost even more once Edmonton holds out their hands.....

 

[93LEAFS]

The arena went from $550 million to over $630 because of rising costs and delays. ~3 months before they were to break ground Joyti gets elected mayor and spends more money to do her own cost/environmental analysis and says that the Flames need to pay $10 mil more for environment and road costs. Flames ownership laughs and cancels the old deal. Now with this new deal Flames ownership pays barely anything more than they were before and tax payer contributions have nearly tripled (from $330 to near $880 and that includes all Albertans now).

THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PLAY CHICKEN WITH A BILLIONARE YOU IDIOTS. He played you for $700 million.

Absolutely disgraceful from every politician involved, can't hate on the billionaire, he played these fools like a fiddle.

Or you could just not ever agree to play ball with billionaires. Leafs and Raptors are doing fine in a privately funded arena.

If every major municipality chose to not play ball with being extorted, these guys wouldn't move teams from viable market places.

 

[JPeeper]

Or you could just not ever agree to play ball with billionaires. Leafs and Raptors are doing fine in a privately funded arena.

If every major municipality chose to not play ball with being extorted, these guys wouldn't move teams from viable market places.

Comparing the Flames situation to the Leafs is like comparing apples to brake pads. Completely different. Ownership is completely different, the amount of revenue is different. Situations are not the same.

I do agree with your point though.

 

[Mike Jones]

Or you could just not ever agree to play ball with billionaires. Leafs and Raptors are doing fine in a privately funded arena.

If every major municipality chose to not play ball with being extorted, these guys wouldn't move teams from viable market places.

There is more than enough money in Calgary and the rest of the hockey world to make a privately funded arena. There are lots of rich people and entities here who can become investment partners and help pay for a privately funded arena.

The problem is that the owners knew that the politicians would cave and they were right.

 

[Connor McBaevid]

Or you could just not ever agree to play ball with billionaires. Leafs and Raptors are doing fine in a privately funded arena.

I don't know how much money a sports team makes so I can't provide proof, but hosting two Big 4 teams instead of one makes this apples to oranges.

I'm not arguing your point. I agree it's BS, but I wouldn't want to be the politician in a city that called their bluff and was wrong.

 

[9911]

Best possible use of taxpayer money…other than returning it to the taxpayers themselves.

let the taxpayers decide then. There’s an election on May 29th. It can be on the ballot.

 

[Mike Jones]

Well.....now since Edmonton is still trying to figure out wtf to do about Northlands, you know this is going cost even more once Edmonton holds out their hands.....

Maybe the province can throw the Northlands building on a trailer and drag it down here to a new site in Calgary.

Win/win.

let the taxpayers decide then. There’s an election on May 29th. It can be on the ballot.

The previous Calgary city council was burned the last time they did this. They put a winter Olympic proposal to a vote and we said no. They've learned from their 'mistake' and won't repeat it.

 

[93LEAFS]

I don't know how much money a sports team makes so I can't provide proof, but hosting two Big 4 teams instead of one makes this apples to oranges.

I'm not arguing your point. I agree it's BS, but I wouldn't want to be the politician in a city that called their bluff and was wrong.

The Raptors arena was privately financed before the Leafs and Raptors ownership merged in the late 1990s, we almost got two downtown competing arenas privately financed due to this. But, weren't Jets and Vancouver privately financed outside the renovations for the 2010 Olympics? In general, publically funded arenas almost never work out for taxpayers they tend to just realocate entertainment money within a city to a specific area rather than bring in more overall revenue for the city/province and take money away from things that actually matter.

 

[GreenLine]

Excellent point about provincial money! Why should taxpayers in Peace River pay to make the Flames owners even richer?

The city economy - a city the ruling party needs to win in order to hold onto power in the upcoming provincial election - but not the provincial.

I'm not in favor of playthings for billionaires being propped up by government handouts, but this is a bit delusional. A disproportionate amount of tax revenue is spent subsidizing the inefficient lifestyles of rural and suburban populations.

 

[Mike Jones]

I'm not in favor of playthings for billionaires being propped up by government handouts, but this is a bit delusional. A disproportionate amount of tax revenue is spent subsidizing the inefficient lifestyles of rural and suburban populations.

In a democracy one of the goals of a government is to serve the common good across the board. Sometimes that means spreading the money around so that everybody has a level playing field in terms of public services.

 

[Oilers88]

Well.....now since Edmonton is still trying to figure out wtf to do about Northlands, you know this is going cost even more once Edmonton holds out their hands.....

Call my cynical, but I don't think Edmonton is going to get much from the current government. The UCP won 1/20 ridings in Edmonton in 2019, and the NDP won all 20 back in 2015. On the flip side, the UCP won 23/26 in Calgary in 2019, but the PC's only won 8/26 in Calgary in 2015, which was a huge reason they lost.

I think both parties kind of assume rural Alberta is a lock for the UCP, and Edmonton is safe NDP territory. Calgary is the battleground, and I'm expecting Calgary will be the beneficiary of some fairly blatant pandering.

 

[DarksideGhost]

Poverty, Crime, and Inflation in Alberta. People are living pay check to pay check. $300million of tax payer money to billionare private area?! In Calgary? This is all sorts of wrong. Hell Edmonton never got a dime. This is buying votes for the up coming election