CheersMan

You under estimate the skills we have in this city. We have many qualified contractors and professionals capable of handling every stage of this proposal. But like any project, it would go out to tender for all to bid on. A made in Calgary solution checks all the boxes is what I meant. Some want only a butter knife when what we really need is a Swiss Army knife.

Complex proposals that accomplish so much usually have a price tag. Some prefer to piece it out and scatter it around the city at a higher cost to the tax payer.

I agree, CalgaryNext is a brilliant idea and a made in Calgary solution. If they would of handled the original proposal similar to the way they are presently negotiating we could of been in the construction phase by now.

Maybe because they have grown tired of hearing Nenshi tell them that zero tax dollars are available? I was standing in a line up the other day behind two old but elegant ladies who were whispering back and forth. Well, they thought they were whispering but I think they were just hard of hearing. They were saying that Murray Edwards has had enough, he wants out. He is willing to sell his share of the team, which is believed to be the largest portion to the other 4 partners and they are free to continue on down this path. If the partners can’t come up with the cash, he’s willing to buy them out instead. If Edwards buys them out, he would then sell the team to Fertitta in Houston who is standing by, waiting patiently for his turn to play in the billionaire’s sandbox, also known as the NHL.

Let’s chalk it up to yet another failing grade for BT and company this season with Stockton missing the playoffs. This season has been a colossal failure from top to bottom. Some here are becoming accustom to failures, but I’m curious to see in the coming days and weeks ahead if ownership feels the same way.

How would Brodie look, or any player for that mater, if he spouted off in the media that he did not like the way he was being handled by his coach and GM? That would be a sure ticket out of town for any player. Him keeping his mouth shut in the media shows a true sign of professionalism.

Second worst home record (by a whisker) in the league. You'd have to be a tardigrade or similar to survive this disaster.

Brodie's strengths can win you hockey games. I'll take skill over so called "system" any day. This will be one of the easier decisions for our off-season GM.

I think full credit goes to Treeliving (the puppet master) on this one. GG only does what he is told.

Feasters hands being tied is an understatement. He had zero leverage. He played BOS the best he could but insiders knew he only had one trade partner and that was PIT. PIT would have known (thru Iggy’s agent or whoever) that Iggy would only accept being moved to PITS. That would have lowered the return value to somewhere between zero and the two long shot prospects we got. Hard to blame Feaster when PIT was offering nothing else. Edit: Come to think of it, I'm guessing we'd have > 82 pts today if Feaster was still here.

It's tough getting shut-outs in this league, and he has come so close two games in a row.

That's friggin' hilarious! Rittich is getting it done! He is doing his job, and his teammates are chipping in too.

Exit strategy? Toronto purchased him for $50 million. If Detroit would have been even close he’d still be there. Datsyuk had a great career, he turns 40 this summer, how long did you want to keep him for?

That's my feeling as well. No new goalies please.

You might be surprised to hear that the Hitman attendance for a game on Dec 10th was 18,035, not an everyday occurrence but it happens. The Roughnecks drew 12,857 for a preseason game on Nov 18th. The Saddledome is the only building in the city right now that can accommodate these 3 teams. When the new arena is built, the Saddledome with likely see a wrecking ball because the operating cost will be too high for new or zero tenants. If the Flames move into new arena, Hitman and Roughnecks will follow. http://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/history-of-hitmen-teddy-bear-toss-stuffed-with-wonder http://www.nll.com/news/nll-teams-hit-historic-preseason-attendance-marks/ Just an arena still leaves us with a 60-year-old stadium and a field house that is rumored to be highly sought after for decades. One just happens to fit inside the other which tells me there has to be a significant savings there somewhere. I’ve sat thru Western finals in -30C when I was younger but never again. The frigid days are reserved for the younger intoxicated fan while the older fans enjoy it from the comforts of their living room. CalgaryNext is not the only answer, but it was a homegrown solution that checked all the boxes. The number of boxes we want checked off and how they’re checked off is the ongoing debate.

I’ve never been in any of the buildings or facilities you identified above. I believe the LA Lakers share a building with the Kings, but do any of the other buildings/facilities accommodate more that one sport? CalgaryNext could accommodate all the above sporting events plus some, with the exception on MLB. Do any of those buildings promote public training and activities for amateur sport? Is the covered BC Place to fancy for the Lions? CSEC says the cost is $890M, City says its $1.8B, one would think the cost is somewhere in the middle depending of what each side is including in their estimates. Some can’t see the big picture so they want to start with just an arena and figure out how that’s going to be funded. Then they want to turn their attention to a stadium and figure out how that’s going to be funded. Then they want to turn their attention to a field house and figure out how that’s going to be funded. Then they want to turn their attention to the contaminated land and figure out how that’s going to be funded. What are all these added up going to cost and where is the savings? I see the rational for digging one hole, one foundation, one roof, shared walls, one parking lot. One can only imagine the supporting staff required to manage all the separate sporting facilities but with CalgaryNext the supporting staff (parking attendants, ushers, cooks, servers, cleaners, concessions, restaurant’s, security, police, mechanical, electrical, etc.) would be under one roof serving the entire facility. I’m not sure if the stadium portion could accommodate a concert, but with 30,000 seats and thousands of possible temporary floor standing/seats, could we see some of the largest concerts imaginable? Garth would only have had to do one or two shows, not 8.

That’s the $1.8B dollar question. The pie chart the Flames produced was split in almost 4 equal ways, which is a starting point. Property tax and profit sharing appears to be the stumbling block. The CSEC wants to avoid the property tax by having the city own the building. I believe the CSEC also wants to manage the building and keep all the profits. CSEC can’t have both but surely there has to be a deal somewhere in the middle. I’d also be looking for Provincial and Federal money for the cleanup. The contamination was a result of treating railway ties that were used to build a railway connecting everything between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the building of a country. I like the concept of the project, but I don’t pretend to have the financial answers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalgaryNEXT

The Saddledome is totally serviceable and still provides all the needs required for a hockey game. I was not and I’m still not a supporter of a new standalone arena. However, when I seen the masterplan for CalgaryNext I changed my mind. CalgaryNext would have brought us to the forefront for ALL of our sporting and entertainment needs, under one roof, as well as remediate the waste land in the heart of a thriving city. I believe CalgaryNext would have provided the best bang for the buck.

Agreed

When the economy is at its peak, labour, materials and equipment is thin or non existent, therefore prices sky rocket as a result. Recessions are not only a good time to get best bang for the buck but also kick start an economy. Rogers Place employed over 8000 ppl during construction with as many as 1200 ppl on site at one time. As long as Nenshi is mayor there will be no new arena. Four more years I guess before it becomes a conversation piece again.

The Olympics are watched on a world wide scale, that doesn't change. Not really sure what the difference is between Korea and Bejing considering they are similar time zones.

The rest of the team is coming along, albeit a tad slower.

Smith is now beginning to spoil us. He allows one goal with a 0.968 SA% and not a word said from the peanut gallery. That's ok, as long as we're getting the goaltending. Smith is bringing it.

A goaltender gives you a chance to win when he allows < 2.5 goals/gm. Lack gave up 4 yesterday, so no, he did not give us a chance to win. Can Lack be better? I’m not sure, but hope so. Lack was good but not great. You need to be great to win in this league. Smith has been providing great goaltending to date and we are a 0.500 team, which goes to show you where we are at as a team. Take a look at poor ARI minus old man Smith.

It wasn’t that long ago when Schlemko played here. We got him for nothing. I appreciated his play and supported him on here regularly, thought he was a decent dman with limited role. Many here whipped him regularly, simply because he was a 4-6 dman. Bart is getting whipped in a similar fashion for simply being #6 dman. I like Schlemko, he would be an improvement, but our 6 spot needs to be available for a deserving one on a cheap contract, right now Bart is filling that role, Kulak can and will as well, maybe Wotherspoon too. Like someone said earlier, Bart is not the reason this team is losing. Our problems are not goaltending or defensemen.