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City of Edmonton Approves New Arena

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:02 pm
by WaukeeBlues
Niiice.

The mayor's comment is great.

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TSN wrote:EDMONTON -- Edmonton city council has voted to continue on with the design work on the proposed downtown arena.

It's going to move forward even though right now, the price tag for the project is $35 million higher than the approved budget of $450 million.

The vote was 10-3 with councillors Kerry Diotte, Tony Caterina and Linda Sloan voting against the design proposal.

Council has identified $17 million in items that can be cut from the design and still have a plus or minus variance of 20 per cent.

Councillor Karen Leibovici says she doesn't think there will be any problem in bringing the project in at $450 million.

Mayor Stephen Mandel is urging that the project go ahead without scaling things back too much.

"We've heard time and time from citizens, they don't want us to build anything for crap," Mandel said.

"They want us to build a good building, so I think at some point in time council is going to have to decide if it is going to be over, what is the overage going to look like."

Sloan says she doesn't like where this is going.

"I frankly don't care if (the arena exterior is) zinc or steel and I don't have any questions for the consultants because I think we're not at the stage where we can discuss the next stage."

"If we're going to build the bloody thing we need to get together and find consensus and find differences we have with ourselves and solve them," said Mandel.

"This project is about more than an arena. It is a catalyst for revitalizing downtown, and it is important to realize council's vision for a strong and vibrant core to our city."

The arena would be the new home for the NHL Edmonton Oilers, owned by drugstore magnate Darryl Katz.

The city is to pay $125 million towards the building, with another $125 million coming from a ticket tax and Katz putting up $100 million -- leaving a shortfall of $100 million.

City officials are still trying to secure $100 million in funding from the province -- an amount that was part of 17 conditions discussed when the arena agreement was made.
Linky!

Re: City of Edmonton Approves New Arena

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:20 pm
by glen a richter
I have a friend who's an Oilers fan. She'll be quite pleased to know that they're planning an arena with modern lighting where you can actually see the game.

Re: City of Edmonton Approves New Arena

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:27 pm
by dmiles2186
Good for them. They're really the main show in town and one of the NHL's greatest dynasties. It would be a shame if they were to move for any reason (not that they were going to). It will be interesting to see that after the wave of all of these new arenas in every sport how long the new arenas will last. Scottrade has already been around 18 years and looks like it's in tip top shape but in today's stadium lifespan, that's almost ancient. The Edward Jones dome is just a tad bit older and it's practically ancient in NFL terms.

Regardless, I'm with glen, maybe it won't look like a crowded warehouse on TV anymore when the Blues play the Oil.

Re: City of Edmonton Approves New Arena

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:01 pm
by STLADOGG
I was watching the show "Oil Change" and they were talking about having a new arena and its good to see it happen.

Re: City of Edmonton Approves New Arena

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:32 pm
by WaukeeBlues
And they'll probably be turning the corner into serious and prolonged Stanley Cup contention around the time this sucker is up and running. That town will be rocking here in a few years. I still can't believe three straight 1st overall draft picks :x Not fair.

I still like the Doug Weight/Ryan Smyth era copper-drop jerseys way more than the new ones trying to imitate the Wayne Gretzky era.

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vs.


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I generally don't like the modern sports trend in most of the major leagues of re-introducing the retro looks. Meh. Just... meh.