A proposal to “sell seats like real estate to fund” a new Oilers arena in downtown Edmonton “was met by much skepticism from members of city council and dismissed outright by” Oilers Owner The Katz Group, according to Pamela Roth of the EDMONTON SUN. Chicago-based Stadium Capital Financing Group officials “spent much of Wednesday morning trying to convince council members that their funding model involving Equity Seat Rights is the best solution to meet arena funding shortfalls because it doesn’t involve government funds or taxpayer dollars.” The group “suggests selling ownership of 1,500 new seats and 500 premium club seats in the new arena at a cost” of C$278,000-$417,000 each, which “could raise up to” C$700M. Of that amount, C$550M “would be dedicated to funding the new proposed arena,” C$100M million would go to Oilers ownership and C$50M to building a reserve/community benefits fund. The group also “proposes building a new 20,000-seat arena instead of the 17,100 seats currently at Rexall Place” (EDMONTON SUN, 4/28). In Edmonton, Gordon Kent notes the Equity Seat Rights plan “has never been carried out by a professional sports team.” The Katz Group said that it “isn’t interested,” adding that the proposal "would use future revenues and sacrifice the team’s long-term financial viability." The Katz Group Exec VP/Sports & Entertainment Bob Black in an e-mail said that the team “studied the concept of such so-called ‘seat mortgages’ years ago and determined it wouldn’t work for the downtown arena” (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 4/28).
