New Arena For The Oilers

[femme.fatale.]

I have been following the Katz proposal for the new arena very closely. I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this!

This is a really good article!

 

[Murminator]

How come they didn't have as much controversy spending 88 million tax dollars on the abortion of an art gallery? that was said only 2% of Edmontonians will ever visit ....But it will create tourism to Edmonton....Bullchit...it didn't as an ugly old building and 88 mill later nothing changed.
They my as well give Katz my tax dollars also at least more than 2% of Edmontonians will step foot in the place....but they better have a good plan on how to fix the fuggin roads around here 1st....and would a nice park a man made lake with a public beach be too much to ask for? come on Edmonton council get your head outta yer azz


I will rant more later.....

 

[MACHINE]

I agree the Oilers are due for a new rink Rexall is getting some old and out dated

 

[Summitric]

how come they didn't have as much controversy spending 88 million tax dollars on the abortion of an art gallery? That was said only 2% of edmontonians will ever visit ....but it will create tourism to edmonton....bullchit...it didn't as an ugly old building and 88 mill later nothing changed.i will rant more later.....

wow........ Don't get me started on that ugly fuggin' art gallery, that less than 2% of all edmontonians, never mind albertans, will ever visit!!!!!!!!!!!!

Give katz the friggin' money and lets get this thing rollin'!!!!!!!!!

 

[hurt'in albertan]

i totally agree give Katz the money he will give us something alot of people will enjoy!!!

 

[Cyle]

I agree a new arena is needed but giving katz the money on the terms he wants is downright stupid. The city will never see it back that way, katz is lieing saying he isn't making money now to. If he really wants it he should pay for it all himself, or cut the city in on profits to get the money back.

Katz is a frigging retard and the city did something right for once by turning him down. Just another scammer owner of the oilers, what's new

 

[08summit]

I also say give him the money and lets get rolling on a new arena we need something to spruce this city up a bit and be proud of. Can you tell me one owner of a sports team that pays for there own building Cyle?? I don't think so as most cities know the Importance of having a nice venue for there sports teams which draw many people out which in turn generates lots of $$$$ for the city.

 

[plio7]

a very ritch retard though, in certain ways i agree with what you say but lets be honest, who in they're right mind is going to anti up 400 million of they're own money with out looking at the resulting dollars and cents. i do also half believe he's not making much money off the organization at this point.

but all of that aside, i think it is a boost the city could use, we're not just talking an arena, we're talking an entertainment complex, resulting in short term and long term jobs and a possible re-vitalization of an aging city.......and having a private party willing to put up his own money may not come along again

hell why not

I agree a new arena is needed but giving katz the money on the terms he wants is downright stupid. The city will never see it back that way, katz is lieing saying he isn't making money now to. If he really wants it he should pay for it all himself, or cut the city in on profits to get the money back.

Katz is a frigging retard and the city did something right for once by turning him down. Just another scammer owner of the oilers, what's new

 

[pirate31red]

its a much needed arena for the oilers and countless other venues.itll bring alot of jobs that will certainly help the economy in the short term and many long term jobs aswell i say get it built

 

[steveo10]

u guys have a art gallery???

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Hold on, is Edmonchuck really trying to be the next Phoenix?
With Count Buttmann runnin the NHL the taxpayers will possibly end up with a bigger chunk of debt on this building then anyone ever imagined. A couple more losing seasons or basement ones and the place be it new or old will be empty. Taxpayer funded pro sports venues do nothing for the taxpayers. The existing arena generates the same taxpayer revenue as a new one. No new jobs other then construction will be created and after the build you are back where you started with a larger debt.
Seems to me that my last visit to Edmonchuck the roads were tough to tell from the ditches and the gutters were overflowing. Infastructure is a good investment, arena's not such a good investment.
The Aquilini's want to build a new practice rink here downtown, but the parks board wants to stop it because they don't get to decide how the district capitol costs should be spent. No taxpayer funding and the local politico's can't let it happen? It would prolly get the go ahead if they agreed to put in a bike lane or art gallery, go figure?
Just my .02 from the land of private arena's

 

[femme.fatale.]

Some more lit:
New Edmonton Arena

 

[femme.fatale.]

Revitalize Downtown... I have a feeling it's a Katz group website!

 

[Cyle]

Hold on, is Edmonchuck really trying to be the next Phoenix?
With Count Buttmann runnin the NHL the taxpayers will possibly end up with a bigger chunk of debt on this building then anyone ever imagined. A couple more losing seasons or basement ones and the place be it new or old will be empty. Taxpayer funded pro sports venues do nothing for the taxpayers. The existing arena generates the same taxpayer revenue as a new one. No new jobs other then construction will be created and after the build you are back where you started with a larger debt.
Seems to me that my last visit to Edmonchuck the roads were tough to tell from the ditches and the gutters were overflowing. Infastructure is a good investment, arena's not such a good investment.
The Aquilini's want to build a new practice rink here downtown, but the parks board wants to stop it because they don't get to decide how the district capitol costs should be spent. No taxpayer funding and the local politico's can't let it happen? It would prolly get the go ahead if they agreed to put in a bike lane or art gallery, go figure?
Just my .02 from the land of private arena's

Completely agree. The roads are such a joke it's not even funny, working on them everywhere but they are still getting worse.

Spend the money on something EVERYONE will want, ROADS. Not some stupid building. The oilers won't move regardless if they get a new building or not. It won't hurt my feelings one bit if it's rexall place for another 1, 2, or 10 years. I would much rather see half decent roads......not likely but it's nice to imagine I use them everyday, go to a oilers game maybe every 5-10 years, honestly doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[tmix]

why can't we have both a new rink, downtown and smooth roads???

 

[Bogger]

not sure why people think the team is going anywhere......

Basement seasons or not, they sell out every game... my point of view is if the city builds it city gets the revenue and the team can pay rent... if Katz builds it he can have it....

Realistically if it was a money maker Katz would build it no question..he wants help because he knows it's a money losing proposition....

that said..... 400M is not a lot of money...

88M - art gallery
275M - bidding on Expo 2017
2.3B -hosting the 2017 expo
200M - ONE Anthony Henday overpass...

Build the damn thing, our tax dollars are wasted in so many other ways...whats one more...

Just sayin...

 

[MACHINE]

That a Big 10/4 Bogger i agree with u 110%

 

[femme.fatale.]

Completely agree. The roads are such a joke it's not even funny, working on them everywhere but they are still getting worse.

Spend the money on something EVERYONE will want, ROADS. Not some stupid building. The oilers won't move regardless if they get a new building or not. It won't hurt my feelings one bit if it's rexall place for another 1, 2, or 10 years. I would much rather see half decent roads......not likely but it's nice to imagine I use them everyday, go to a oilers game maybe every 5-10 years, honestly doesn't bother me one bit.

Your view is skewed. Your biggest argument for not going ahead with the arena is that EVERYONE will want the roads fixed. This isn't true. NOT EVERYONE in Edmonton drives, NOT EVERYONE drives on the chitty roads, and NOT ALL roads in Edmonton suck. Yes, it's true that many of them need a little TLC, but do go to a northern Alberta town or city that doens't need some degree of road work. We are not blessed with a long road construction season - this is why when you make a trip of any length around the province during the summer you are likely to run into road construction at least once.

Your next argument is that you rarely attend Rexall Place. Is this because you don't like hockey? Because you don't like concerts? Because you like to stay home? Because you don't like to be elbow to elbow with 18 thousand other fans? Because you don't like crowds in the concourse? Because you can't afford it? There are many reasons that one won't use the exisiting facitlity. But for the nearly 18 thousand people who pack those stands for EVERY game, win or lose. Or every concert, good or bad. Or every other event held there, whatever it may be. We deem it to be worth our time, money and effort to get there.

I read an article yesterday which showed the attendance by fans over the last almost 20 years. In the last 5 years, an average of 690,257.8 fans attended Oiler's games each season. (New Edmonton Arena) I haven't managed to find a statistic for how many people attend Rexall Place for other events such as concerts, other sporting events and miscellaneous events. That is nearly 700 thousand people per year- garaunteed, to show up at whatever venue is built for their team. Do you know how much money 700 people spend on nights out? How can this not benefit the downtown? Everytime we go to a game, my husband and I drive 5 hours, go for dinner, have a few drinks, go to the game, pay for parking, usually have more drinks at the game, and snack food, not to mention 50/50 tickets etc. If by some grace of God we both got off work early, we would go shopping in the City Center mall. And I know for a fact that we are not the only ones who travel to go to games. If the new arena were to go ahead, it would have everything we needed all in one area. Instead of having to go down to St Albert Trail to eat dinner at the Keg, we could get away with dinner somewhere around the complex. Instead of paying for parking, we could park at an LRT terminal and walk around at the arena. Instead of playing the parking cluster f@#* game at the end of every event, we would just get on the LRT and have a much easier time getting out of the city.

Think of what that would do for the whole area? It would increase LRT ridership, as there is very little parking downtown - but reduce the awful traffic nightmares on Gretzky and 118. It would bring in more money to the downtown businesses, who are getting a market they may have never seen otherwise. It would benefit the restaurants in the area, as not everyone is going to want to eat at the restaurants in the complex. It would benefit the people who would be employed to build the complex, it would benefit the people employed to work at the complex, in the hotel, restaurants and casino.

Everyone is whining now about LENDING tax dollars to get this project off and running. What about in the 70's when Rexall was originally built?? Who funded that project?

The provincial government put up millions of dollars in grants to build the former Northlands Coliseum in the 1970s, and Calgary's Saddledome in the 1980s. And only last year, each venue got more provincial dollars for upgrades, including $10 million for Rexall Place that helped renovate the Oilers' and visitors' dressing rooms.

OR what about this little stat

Rexall Place (formerly Northlands Coliseum)

Opened in 1974

City: $3.7 million (including land)

Province: $3.7 million

Federal low-interest loan: $10 million

Federal lottery money: about $2 million

Total cost: $17.3 million

Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary (formerly Olympic Saddledome)

Opened in 1983

City: $31.5 million (including land)

Province: $31.5 million

Federal: $29.7 million

Total cost: $97.7 million

(Door not quite shut on provincial aid)

Now from my fan perspective.
I LOVE going to hockey games, I LOVE going to concerts, I LOVE going to other events.

What I would like to see is a new arena for the events held. Nicer seats, more Gold and Silver seats. More room in the concourse. More stuff to see in the concourse during intermissions. More variety in food offered. More bars like the club downstairs. (Maybe even a clean food violation record ... ())
I won't be able to make any games this year, unfortunately. I was hoping to be able to squeeze in the home opener before baby comes, but as I was saying about lack of room on the concourse, I would be afraid to catch a stray elbow, have people constantly bumping into me and josling baby around. If there was more room in the concourse area, this would not be a problem!

Now for my Devil's Advocate opinion...
How can you guys call yourselves the City of Champions, yes, they've had a few basement years, but if the city wants to continue with that tag line, I think they should SUPPORT THEIR TEAMS! But hey, that's just me. The Oiler's have a legacy, and not one that should be shuffled under the carpet, and left to decay just because half of city council is on the board for the Northlands. The building is insufficient and has been for years - hence the substantial renovations over the past few years.

 

[h.karst]

the arena will be built, its just a matter of time for katz group and the city to come to an agreement. Its not too often you find someone who will throw 200M towards a project.

if BC place place gets a new ROOF for 458M it shouldnt be a problem to build an entire arena for 400M with 200M from katz. simple.

With all the speculation and arguments about this, bottom line is they just need to work out all the details. katz has a good plan here, and he is trying to run a business. This is whats best for the 'business'

Cant wait for hockey season!!!!

 

[femme.fatale.]

Cant wait for hockey season!!!!

You and me both!
My husband is counting down the days.... Lucky bugger get's to go to any game he wants this season!

Maybe I'll get to go and take baby if we go to company luxury suite... =)