NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman yesterday told Calgary to "get moving on a new arena for the Flames," and that there "should be more urgency to get the project underway, particularly from city council," according to Donna Spencer of the CP. The proposed CalgaryNEXT project includes a "20,000-seat arena and 30,000-seat football stadium." Bettman: "I’m having trouble understanding why there hasn’t been further progress on CalgaryNEXT. No matter what anyone thinks of the proposed CalgaryNEXT project or the cost of the project, the cost is never going to be lower than it is today. ... CalgaryNEXT needs to happen and as part of the broader project, the Flames need a new arena." Spencer noted Bettman and Flames President & CEO Ken King are "scheduled to meet" today with Calgary City Manager Jeff Fielding and a few city councilors, but not Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Bettman: "If this project is going to happen, the mayor needs to embrace it, the city needs to embrace it. If he’s not prepared to embrace it, then people will have to deal with that" (CP, 1/11). In Calgary, Trevor Howell notes Bettman "begged Calgary’s elected officials, business and community leaders" to back the Flames’ pitch to build the C$890M sports complex, making a "hard sell." But Nenshi "maintained city council would not be swayed by the commissioner’s comments." He said sarcastically, "Calgarians require very wealthy people from New York to come and tell us what we need to do in our community because they understand vibrancy better than we do. Perhaps, in other cities that he has come to, the city councils have just written cheques based on back-of-napkin proposals without any consultation to the public or without any analysis. That’s not how we operate here" (CALGARY HERALD, 1/12).
LOOK TO THE NORTH: The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric Duhatschek writes Bettman's "primary strength" in his 23-year tenure has "always been his ability to sell things." While "stumping on behalf of CalgaryNEXT," Bettman played on the "rivalry between Calgary and its northern neighbour." He suggested that if Edmonton "could get a 'visionary' new arena project approved via a private-public partnership, then Calgary should be able to manage it as well." The "harder sell" will be convincing Nenshi (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/12).
