Post by JETStender on Jan 15, 2007 15:33:53 GMT -5
Mon Jan 15 2007
RANDY TURNER
SO let's get this straight: an individual representing one of this country's wealthiest, most prominent families offers $65 million of his cash toward a new football stadium and the knee-jerk reaction is.....
Skepticism.
Criticism.
Suspicion.
Opposition.
Take your pick. At least, that's the initial response from the masses who, in this city, seem to awaken from slumber to rally against the construction of any new sports facility like moths to a flame.
In response to an exclusive glimpse at the project in Sunday's paper, here's the initial e-mail reaction: one guy figured Asper, who is ONLY putting up $65 million, is getting too sweet a deal. Another said you can't build a stadium without a roof. Another said the city doesn't need a new stadium at all. And yet another said, based on his eyeballing of the artist's rendering, the partial roof design will lead to ice and snow falling from the sky.
Yeah, the sky is falling all right. Again.
Maybe that's just the vocal minority fastidiously at work, as always.
But good grief. Will we never learn?
Did we not take heed of the overwhelming resistance, in the late 1990s, to ambitious plans to erect a picturesque minor league baseball park on what was then a blight of city landscape and what is now one of Winnipeg's most attractive destinations?
Does no one remember, only a few years ago, the braying of opponents to Mark Chipman's vision of a new, state-of-the-art downtown arena that attracts major events that would never have considered Winnipeg if not for the MTS Centre?
Yet perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when David Asper floats an inspiring $120-million proposal to take ownership of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and build a new stadium. After all, there's no limit of people who are allergic to any project that sinks a tax dollar into something other than a pothole. And that's fine. Everybody has a right to their opinion. Even if it is sadly predictable.
Still, you'd hope that this time if would be different; that Asper's offer to ante up $65 million of his own cash -- $40 million into the stadium and $25 million into retail/commercial development -- might be met with less skepticism, considering the recent history of such ventures.
Seriously, are we so short-sighted as to look a gift horse in the mouth? Is $65 million from a private citizen not enough?
When someone volunteers to spend more than a few life's fortunes on a facility that the entire city can enjoy for generations to come, why is the initial reaction: 'Yeah, but what's in it for you, pal?'
I don't understand, given the flack taken by the likes of Sam Katz, Chipman and now Asper, why these guys even bother in the first place. Asper could simply do what he always has done: buy his season's tickets, serve any function asked of by the club (such as co-chairman of the 2006 Grey Cup committee) and Go Jets Go about the plight of the Bombers like everybody else.
No, this guy wants to introduce the city's football franchise into something called the 21st century. He wants to put up his own money in the hopes of turning the Bombers into a sustainable enterprise operating in a facility -- with its built-in revenue streams of private business -- that has the potential to ensure that the club is independently wealthy.
And that's the rub, as always. It's about potential, and more than just some aesthetically impressive architectural renderings on paper.
Of course, it was all about the potential with the baseball park, too. And how many tens of thousands of fans have spent a summer evening at CanWest Global Park (who owns that company, pray tell?) -- ever since? How many millions of dollars has the park generated, not only for investors but in tax revenue that has probably paid for government funding of the building many times over?
Same with the hockey rink, which in its brief existence has generated millions in tax revenue and -- for an added bonus -- at least keeps Winnipeg on the map when it comes to the possible return of the NHL to this city. It could be argued that any government representatives might want to negotiate terms with Asper not based on potential failure, but rather on which deal is best for the taxpayer given the cash cows that the arena and ballpark have become.
Of course, that's just another thing working against Asper, that gawd forbid his investment might actually return a penny of profit. Because, as we all know, those Aspers are desperate for money.
What was that last week? A $2.3-billion price tag on the family company's deal to buy Alliance Atlantis? Yeah, they need the dough, all right.
For once, let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Wouldn't we just be better off to get on the gift horse and enjoy the ride?
Unless, of course, somebody else out there has $65 million to pony up, too.
randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca
We want your views
What is your reaction to David Asper's proposal to built a new
stadium for the Blue Bombers?
E-mail comments to
feedback@freepress.mb.ca
RANDY TURNER
SO let's get this straight: an individual representing one of this country's wealthiest, most prominent families offers $65 million of his cash toward a new football stadium and the knee-jerk reaction is.....
Skepticism.
Criticism.
Suspicion.
Opposition.
Take your pick. At least, that's the initial response from the masses who, in this city, seem to awaken from slumber to rally against the construction of any new sports facility like moths to a flame.
In response to an exclusive glimpse at the project in Sunday's paper, here's the initial e-mail reaction: one guy figured Asper, who is ONLY putting up $65 million, is getting too sweet a deal. Another said you can't build a stadium without a roof. Another said the city doesn't need a new stadium at all. And yet another said, based on his eyeballing of the artist's rendering, the partial roof design will lead to ice and snow falling from the sky.
Yeah, the sky is falling all right. Again.
Maybe that's just the vocal minority fastidiously at work, as always.
But good grief. Will we never learn?
Did we not take heed of the overwhelming resistance, in the late 1990s, to ambitious plans to erect a picturesque minor league baseball park on what was then a blight of city landscape and what is now one of Winnipeg's most attractive destinations?
Does no one remember, only a few years ago, the braying of opponents to Mark Chipman's vision of a new, state-of-the-art downtown arena that attracts major events that would never have considered Winnipeg if not for the MTS Centre?
Yet perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when David Asper floats an inspiring $120-million proposal to take ownership of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and build a new stadium. After all, there's no limit of people who are allergic to any project that sinks a tax dollar into something other than a pothole. And that's fine. Everybody has a right to their opinion. Even if it is sadly predictable.
Still, you'd hope that this time if would be different; that Asper's offer to ante up $65 million of his own cash -- $40 million into the stadium and $25 million into retail/commercial development -- might be met with less skepticism, considering the recent history of such ventures.
Seriously, are we so short-sighted as to look a gift horse in the mouth? Is $65 million from a private citizen not enough?
When someone volunteers to spend more than a few life's fortunes on a facility that the entire city can enjoy for generations to come, why is the initial reaction: 'Yeah, but what's in it for you, pal?'
I don't understand, given the flack taken by the likes of Sam Katz, Chipman and now Asper, why these guys even bother in the first place. Asper could simply do what he always has done: buy his season's tickets, serve any function asked of by the club (such as co-chairman of the 2006 Grey Cup committee) and Go Jets Go about the plight of the Bombers like everybody else.
No, this guy wants to introduce the city's football franchise into something called the 21st century. He wants to put up his own money in the hopes of turning the Bombers into a sustainable enterprise operating in a facility -- with its built-in revenue streams of private business -- that has the potential to ensure that the club is independently wealthy.
And that's the rub, as always. It's about potential, and more than just some aesthetically impressive architectural renderings on paper.
Of course, it was all about the potential with the baseball park, too. And how many tens of thousands of fans have spent a summer evening at CanWest Global Park (who owns that company, pray tell?) -- ever since? How many millions of dollars has the park generated, not only for investors but in tax revenue that has probably paid for government funding of the building many times over?
Same with the hockey rink, which in its brief existence has generated millions in tax revenue and -- for an added bonus -- at least keeps Winnipeg on the map when it comes to the possible return of the NHL to this city. It could be argued that any government representatives might want to negotiate terms with Asper not based on potential failure, but rather on which deal is best for the taxpayer given the cash cows that the arena and ballpark have become.
Of course, that's just another thing working against Asper, that gawd forbid his investment might actually return a penny of profit. Because, as we all know, those Aspers are desperate for money.
What was that last week? A $2.3-billion price tag on the family company's deal to buy Alliance Atlantis? Yeah, they need the dough, all right.
For once, let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Wouldn't we just be better off to get on the gift horse and enjoy the ride?
Unless, of course, somebody else out there has $65 million to pony up, too.
randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca
We want your views
What is your reaction to David Asper's proposal to built a new
stadium for the Blue Bombers?
E-mail comments to
feedback@freepress.mb.ca