The Maple Leafs declared "any hope" of building a
C$300M arena at Union Station "dead," after team and city
officials were still C$40M apart after three weeks of
negotiations, according to Bruce DeMara of the TORONTO STAR.
MLG Dir Larry Tanenbaum: "Despite the best efforts of all
parties, we unfortunately could not reach an agreement."
Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall: "At the end of the day, the law
requires that we get fair market value and we never got
close to that." Leafs spokesperson Bob Stellick said the
team will begin exploring other sites but "stressed there's
no great urgency." Stellick: "In the short term, we've got
a very viable arena." Raptors President Richard Peddie, who
"said the Raptors have repeatedly tried to entice" the Leafs
to share the Air Canada Centre, "warned the Leafs will find
themselves in a difficult position competing against" the
Raptors' Air Canada Centre. Peddie: "Their (Leafs) decision
is do they want to be second in the market? ... And
typically in this type of business, the first one with the
shovel in the ground wins" (TORONTO STAR, 7/19).
REAX: In Toronto, columnist Steve Simmons wondered if
the city realized "it wasn't just affecting the future of
one franchise but of two? This is a deal that city hall had
to find a way to make, no matter what the price" (TORONTO
SUN, 7/20). Also in Toronto, Chris Young calls a single-
tenant Air Canada Centre a "much bigger risk than the dual
project with the Leafs for which [Raptors GM Isiah] Thomas
was hoping and negotiating" (TORONTO STAR, 7/20).
