Councillors hope fresh perspectives can get arena talks moving again
With arena negotiations in a stalemate for more than six months, rookie city councillor Jeff Davison says it’s incumbent on the city to revive talks with the owners of the Calgary Flames.
Davison filed a notice of motion Tuesday on behalf of nine other councillors seeking to get both parties back to the negotiating table. The motion, which is expected to come before council on May 28, would establish an event centre exploration committee that includes three councillors, city manager Jeff Fielding and Calgary Municipal Land Corp. president Michael Brown.
Calgary Economic Development board chair Steve Allan and CMLC board chair Lyle Edwards would also serve as advisers.
“We’ve got to change up the way we look at it,” said Davison. “At the end of the day, obviously, negotiations came to an impasse the last time, so going back in with the same negotiation team and the same tactics I just don’t think is going to get us there. We’re trying to involve every councillor a little bit differently this go round.”
In addition to Davison, councillors Shane Keating, Diane Colley-Urquhart, Peter Demong, Sean Chu, Joe Magliocca, Ward Sutherland, George Chahal, Evan Woolley and Gian-Carlo Carra sponsored the notice of motion.
Davison said he isn’t in favour of committing more public dollars than what’s been offered by the city to date toward a potential arena, but that those details would get sorted out later on as the proposed committee works toward a deal that makes sense “for every Calgarian.”
“There’s no new deal at this point,” he said. “The how, the where, the when, what a deal looks like, all of those things are ultimately to be determined. But we’ve got to start from some point and I believe, as city council, it shouldn’t be us sitting around waiting for business to engage with us. We should be going out there and actively engaging with business and trying to make this happen.”
On Monday, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp., the company that owns the Flames, said in a statement that “based on what has transpired to date, we have no basis on which to believe anything has changed with respect to a new arena.”
A spokesman for the Flames declined to comment further on Tuesday.
Sutherland said the proposed committee would offer a “blank sheet” when it comes to arena talks.
“It’s no secret there’s been some animosity on both sides and this gives an opportunity with the new team to see if we can move it forward,” Sutherland said. “There’s an old saying about negotiations. You know you’ve done a good job when both parties walk away and they’re not overly happy but they can live with the deal. I think that’s the outcome that we need.”
He added all options would be on the table if talks restarted.
“It’s too important for Calgary to let this go,” he said.
In September, Mayor Naheed Nenshi revealed details of a proposal that would see the city pay one-third the cost of a $555-million building. The hockey club would pay $185 million, with the remaining third coming from a ticket surcharge.
But Flames president and CEO Ken King called the offer misleading because the city ’s cash infusion into the project would be paid back by the Flames in taxes, an equity share or some other mechanism, and the proposed ticket surcharge would come from the Flames’ operations, constituting revenue from the team.
Chu, a vocal opponent of spending taxpayer dollars on the project, said he felt the city’s offer last fall was fair, but that he sponsored the notice of motion because the city should remain open for conversation.
He blamed talks going sideways last time on strong personalities of both Nenshi and King.
“You have two strong persons butting heads. I don’t think much can be done,” said Chu.
“I think the difference is that this time it will be different people doing it. Hopefully, we’ll take the personality out of the equation.”
You know you’ve done a good job when both parties walk away and they’re not overly happy but they can live with the deal. I think that’s the outcome that we need.