Post by JETStender on Jan 16, 2007 19:27:30 GMT -5
www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/3843958p-4448102c.html
Doer says province has 'can-do attitude on Bombers z Toews dampens expectations
Tue Jan 16 2007
By Mary Agnes Welch, Bartley Kives and Paul Samyn
PREMIER Gary Doer seems willing to take a plan for a new Bomber stadium and run with it. But Vic Toews and Sam Katz are still stuck in the huddle.
Politicians weighed in yesterday on a proposal floated over the weekend by CanWest Global executive David Asper to build a new $145 million stadium/retail complex for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Asper has promised to chip in $65 million and in exchange he would become the team's private owner. The city is being asked for a $15 million parcel of land, while Ottawa and the province have been asked for $40 million each -- though Premier Gary Doer suspects that number will shrink as negotiations get down to the nitty-gritty.
"We have a can-do attitude toward the future of the Bombers," said Doer. "We have said before we will be part of the solution."
But Doer said he will be as careful negotiating the stadium deal as he was orchestrating funding for the MTS Centre. And he said any deal must come with an ironclad guarantee keeping the team in Winnipeg. That could mean Asper would be forced to repay the province's investment or even turn over title to the stadium if the Bombers ever relocated.
"No Winnipeg Jets," said Doer, referring to the departure of the city's NHL team in 1996. "No one would want us to invest a quarter in a team that might relocate."
If Doer seemed willing to deal, Treasury Board President Vic Toews was quick to dampen expectations that the federal government is about to cut any big cheques to the project, saying funding for an expanded Red River Floodway as well other provincial infrastructure needs are already at the front of the line.
"At this time our priorities in terms of infrastructure are pretty clear," Toews (Provencher) said. "It has been consistently stated to me that we want to be spending our money on roads and bridges and water and sewers and that kind of issue and right now the infrastructure pod is not that full."
Toews also said the Asper-led Canadian Museum for Human Rights is already in line for $100 million from Ottawa.
"So another proposal by the Asper family for $40 million, we are going to have to take a close look at that when the business plan comes. But at this point, I certainly can't commit to anything," said Toews who now controls Ottawa's purse-strings in his new cabinet job.
Mayor Katz, meanwhile, has called the Asper proposal "phenomenal" and "spectacular" but is not convinced the plan will require the city to part with Canad Inns Stadium and the surrounding parking lots, whose combined value has been assessed at $15.7 million by the city.
The Winnipeg Football Club has a 50-year lease on the stadium and surrounding land, which costs the club $1.
Katz said it makes no difference whether or not the land is transferred to Asper or merely continues to be leased out.
"It's six of one, half dozen of the other," he said on Monday. "(But) there has not been a a specific ask of the city at this particular point in time." Over the past six months, Katz has repeatedly said the city will not provide any more money to the Bombers, noting the city already provides the club with a rent-free stadium, a property tax break, entertainment tax revenue from ticket sales and all the revenue from parking and concessions.
The city and province have also bailed out the Bombers several times during the past decade, providing more than $2 million in debt relief since 2000 alone.
Though informal talks have already begun, the politicians say no real negotiating can begin on a funding deal until the football club's board of directors votes to accept Asper's offer. Asper is rumoured to have given the board a three-month deadline to decide, part of an ambitious timeline that could see the stadium open in 2008.
That timeline struck Doer and other politicians as overly optimistic.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca
Doer says province has 'can-do attitude on Bombers z Toews dampens expectations
Tue Jan 16 2007
By Mary Agnes Welch, Bartley Kives and Paul Samyn
PREMIER Gary Doer seems willing to take a plan for a new Bomber stadium and run with it. But Vic Toews and Sam Katz are still stuck in the huddle.
Politicians weighed in yesterday on a proposal floated over the weekend by CanWest Global executive David Asper to build a new $145 million stadium/retail complex for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Asper has promised to chip in $65 million and in exchange he would become the team's private owner. The city is being asked for a $15 million parcel of land, while Ottawa and the province have been asked for $40 million each -- though Premier Gary Doer suspects that number will shrink as negotiations get down to the nitty-gritty.
"We have a can-do attitude toward the future of the Bombers," said Doer. "We have said before we will be part of the solution."
But Doer said he will be as careful negotiating the stadium deal as he was orchestrating funding for the MTS Centre. And he said any deal must come with an ironclad guarantee keeping the team in Winnipeg. That could mean Asper would be forced to repay the province's investment or even turn over title to the stadium if the Bombers ever relocated.
"No Winnipeg Jets," said Doer, referring to the departure of the city's NHL team in 1996. "No one would want us to invest a quarter in a team that might relocate."
If Doer seemed willing to deal, Treasury Board President Vic Toews was quick to dampen expectations that the federal government is about to cut any big cheques to the project, saying funding for an expanded Red River Floodway as well other provincial infrastructure needs are already at the front of the line.
"At this time our priorities in terms of infrastructure are pretty clear," Toews (Provencher) said. "It has been consistently stated to me that we want to be spending our money on roads and bridges and water and sewers and that kind of issue and right now the infrastructure pod is not that full."
Toews also said the Asper-led Canadian Museum for Human Rights is already in line for $100 million from Ottawa.
"So another proposal by the Asper family for $40 million, we are going to have to take a close look at that when the business plan comes. But at this point, I certainly can't commit to anything," said Toews who now controls Ottawa's purse-strings in his new cabinet job.
Mayor Katz, meanwhile, has called the Asper proposal "phenomenal" and "spectacular" but is not convinced the plan will require the city to part with Canad Inns Stadium and the surrounding parking lots, whose combined value has been assessed at $15.7 million by the city.
The Winnipeg Football Club has a 50-year lease on the stadium and surrounding land, which costs the club $1.
Katz said it makes no difference whether or not the land is transferred to Asper or merely continues to be leased out.
"It's six of one, half dozen of the other," he said on Monday. "(But) there has not been a a specific ask of the city at this particular point in time." Over the past six months, Katz has repeatedly said the city will not provide any more money to the Bombers, noting the city already provides the club with a rent-free stadium, a property tax break, entertainment tax revenue from ticket sales and all the revenue from parking and concessions.
The city and province have also bailed out the Bombers several times during the past decade, providing more than $2 million in debt relief since 2000 alone.
Though informal talks have already begun, the politicians say no real negotiating can begin on a funding deal until the football club's board of directors votes to accept Asper's offer. Asper is rumoured to have given the board a three-month deadline to decide, part of an ambitious timeline that could see the stadium open in 2008.
That timeline struck Doer and other politicians as overly optimistic.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca