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Showing posts with label communities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communities. Show all posts
Road hockey feud has forever altered Kingston neighbourhood
Jordan Press
Kingston Whig-Standard
Longwood Terrace, a short cul-de-sac nestled away between Collins Bay and Woodbine roads, is the centre of the debate about whether to legalize street hockey.
City council couldn't come to a decision and instead has delayed concluding the matter until the spring at the earliest. For now, playing sports on city streets remains illegal.
The debate has divided a city as residents on both sides of the issue have crowded council and committee meetings in attempts to persuade city politicians to favour their side.
On Longwood Terrace, the debate has had a much more debilitating effect: It has forever divided a neighbourhood.
"It's just shot all to hell. Nobody up here speaks anymore," said resident Penny Faulkner, who opposes changing the bylaw to legalize street sports.
Faulkner said there is no way to resolve the tension among the neighbours.
"The damage is done now," she said. "It will never be repaired."
Wednesday morning in a Kingston courtroom, a local radio station pleaded guilty to violating the city's noise bylaw during a remote broadcast from the street that tried to highlight the controversial issue.
The plea from CTV Limited, which owns radio station Bob FM, meant the lone resident named in the case didn't face a fine.
The city dropped charges against resident Dave Pople and broadcasters Mike Reid and Carl Richards in exchange for the station's guilty plea.
The station will pay a $220 fine.
"They're showing some remorse and saving the city some considerable trial time," city prosecutor Mark McLaughlin told the court.
During the months of debate, Pople has found himself to be one of the people speaking on behalf of those in favour of changing the bylaw, appearing before council more than a year ago to urge officials to make the change.
He had hoped a political decision on the matter would have been made before the start of 2008.
"It's definitely gone on longer than I had anticipated," Pople said. "The wheels at City Hall are really, really grinding slowly."
Those wheels started grinding in early June when Pople stood before city councillors and asked them to start the process to change the bylaw. The move stemmed from a dispute between neighbours.
Some on the west-end street weren't happy with the way the children played. They complained about property damage and children not listening when asked to stay off the lawn.
One day, one resident stumbled on the fact that sports are not allowed on city streets. The bylaw, however, is complaint-driven, meaning if there are no complaints, then no action is taken.
The resident filed a complaint, and a few days later, a municipal bylaw officer handed out notices to 13 homes on the street alerting them to the fact that street sports were illegal and violators could face a fine of up to $5,000.
Since that time, there have been 12 complaints and warnings issued on Longwood Terrace with regards to playing street hockey, said bylaw enforcement manager Kim Leonard. She said that number is the highest of any street in the city.
So far this year, Leonard said, there have been 11 street-sports complaints to the bylaw office, of which three are from Longwood Terrace.
The debate around the city council chamber took a peculiar turn in November. A city committee recommended that the bylaw stay as is, based on information from staff that allowing sports on streets would open up the city to possible lawsuits if someone were injured while playing in the street.
A majority of city councillors weren't convinced and instead decided to have municipal staff craft a bylaw legalizing road hockey based on a similar law in Ottawa.
(The problem with the Ottawa bylaw is that while it legalized street hockey, it didn't change sections of the city's traffic and parking bylaw that prohibits anyone from playing sports on a roadway. Basically, Ottawa passed a bylaw that can't be enforced.)
A draft bylaw is scheduled to be presented to the arts, recreation and community policies committee next month.
Councillor Rob Matheson, whose district includes Longwood Terrace, introduced the idea of changing the bylaw. He said the whole thing has taken longer than he expected. The problem, he said, is that committees are overloaded with work.
He wants to see the debate come to an end very soon.
"I'd like to see it be done with by the time people are able to play street hockey this summer," Matheson said.
While it might have divided neighbours, Matheson said the bylaw has brought together residents in favour of changing the bylaw.
Throughout the debate, Pople and Faulkner talked about their difference of opinion on the matter. But the grind of the debate and the emotions involved have taken their toll.
They have been neighbours for eight years and were good friends.
They don't talk anymore.
"It's definitely black and white now," said Pople. "The line has been drawn in the sand."
The problem, Pople said, is that he doesn't think a council decision will close the rift that has been opened between neighbours on Longwood Terrace.
Jordan Press
Kingston Whig-Standard
Longwood Terrace, a short cul-de-sac nestled away between Collins Bay and Woodbine roads, is the centre of the debate about whether to legalize street hockey.
City council couldn't come to a decision and instead has delayed concluding the matter until the spring at the earliest. For now, playing sports on city streets remains illegal.
The debate has divided a city as residents on both sides of the issue have crowded council and committee meetings in attempts to persuade city politicians to favour their side.
On Longwood Terrace, the debate has had a much more debilitating effect: It has forever divided a neighbourhood.
"It's just shot all to hell. Nobody up here speaks anymore," said resident Penny Faulkner, who opposes changing the bylaw to legalize street sports.
Faulkner said there is no way to resolve the tension among the neighbours.
"The damage is done now," she said. "It will never be repaired."
Wednesday morning in a Kingston courtroom, a local radio station pleaded guilty to violating the city's noise bylaw during a remote broadcast from the street that tried to highlight the controversial issue.
The plea from CTV Limited, which owns radio station Bob FM, meant the lone resident named in the case didn't face a fine.
The city dropped charges against resident Dave Pople and broadcasters Mike Reid and Carl Richards in exchange for the station's guilty plea.
The station will pay a $220 fine.
"They're showing some remorse and saving the city some considerable trial time," city prosecutor Mark McLaughlin told the court.
During the months of debate, Pople has found himself to be one of the people speaking on behalf of those in favour of changing the bylaw, appearing before council more than a year ago to urge officials to make the change.
He had hoped a political decision on the matter would have been made before the start of 2008.
"It's definitely gone on longer than I had anticipated," Pople said. "The wheels at City Hall are really, really grinding slowly."
Those wheels started grinding in early June when Pople stood before city councillors and asked them to start the process to change the bylaw. The move stemmed from a dispute between neighbours.
Some on the west-end street weren't happy with the way the children played. They complained about property damage and children not listening when asked to stay off the lawn.
One day, one resident stumbled on the fact that sports are not allowed on city streets. The bylaw, however, is complaint-driven, meaning if there are no complaints, then no action is taken.
The resident filed a complaint, and a few days later, a municipal bylaw officer handed out notices to 13 homes on the street alerting them to the fact that street sports were illegal and violators could face a fine of up to $5,000.
Since that time, there have been 12 complaints and warnings issued on Longwood Terrace with regards to playing street hockey, said bylaw enforcement manager Kim Leonard. She said that number is the highest of any street in the city.
So far this year, Leonard said, there have been 11 street-sports complaints to the bylaw office, of which three are from Longwood Terrace.
The debate around the city council chamber took a peculiar turn in November. A city committee recommended that the bylaw stay as is, based on information from staff that allowing sports on streets would open up the city to possible lawsuits if someone were injured while playing in the street.
A majority of city councillors weren't convinced and instead decided to have municipal staff craft a bylaw legalizing road hockey based on a similar law in Ottawa.
(The problem with the Ottawa bylaw is that while it legalized street hockey, it didn't change sections of the city's traffic and parking bylaw that prohibits anyone from playing sports on a roadway. Basically, Ottawa passed a bylaw that can't be enforced.)
A draft bylaw is scheduled to be presented to the arts, recreation and community policies committee next month.
Councillor Rob Matheson, whose district includes Longwood Terrace, introduced the idea of changing the bylaw. He said the whole thing has taken longer than he expected. The problem, he said, is that committees are overloaded with work.
He wants to see the debate come to an end very soon.
"I'd like to see it be done with by the time people are able to play street hockey this summer," Matheson said.
While it might have divided neighbours, Matheson said the bylaw has brought together residents in favour of changing the bylaw.
Throughout the debate, Pople and Faulkner talked about their difference of opinion on the matter. But the grind of the debate and the emotions involved have taken their toll.
They have been neighbours for eight years and were good friends.
They don't talk anymore.
"It's definitely black and white now," said Pople. "The line has been drawn in the sand."
The problem, Pople said, is that he doesn't think a council decision will close the rift that has been opened between neighbours on Longwood Terrace.
Auto dealer: scrap deal for Marlins ballparkAssociated Press
MIAMI — Norman Braman, a former owner of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, opposes a giant $3-billion (U.S.) public works deal that includes a long-sought stadium for baseball's Florida Marlins.
Braman is suing to stop Miami's so-called "global agreement" in its tracks, contending it was illegally hatched in secret and improperly uses money intended to cure urban blight and help poor people. Braman wants voters to decide projects of such magnitude, rather than politicians.
"Taxpayers in this town have been ripped off constantly over the years," Braman said in a recent interview in his downtown Miami office. "It's time that as citizens of this community that we say enough is enough — that we're not going to put up with this any more."
The 37,000-seat, retractable-roof Marlins stadium — along with a 6,000-space parking garage and possibly a future adjacent soccer stadium where the soon-to-be-razed Orange Bowl now sits — is only one part of the grand agreement between the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County.
It also envisions a $1-billion tunnel under Biscayne Bay for trucks rumbling to and from the Port of Miami, a passenger trolley line serving the downtown area, additional money for a just-opened performing arts centre with budget problems and work on a park that will become home to several Miami museums.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, politically an independent, said each project has been discussed exhaustively for years, and each will contribute to the city's revitalization and create jobs in different ways.
"This agreement really deals with a number of issues which I think are essential for us to create the kind of city we want to create," Diaz said in an interview.
Braman contends in his lawsuit that the deal approved in December violates Florida's Sunshine Law requiring open government because many negotiating sessions were conducted in private between the city, county and the Marlins. The lawsuit claims that money intended for districts created to fight poverty and blight is being illegally diverted into the projects.
Braman, the Eagles' owner from 1985 to '94, said he's not flatly opposed to a new Marlins stadium but favours private financing — a method the cost-conscious Marlins aren't willing to consider.
If officials would put the issue to voters in a referendum, the 76-year-old Braman said he would drop his lawsuit. But Diaz said many of the projects have already been approved by voters.
As for the Marlins ballpark, Diaz called it "one piece of the puzzle" that adds up to a vibrant economic future for the city. "It's one of these destinations that fill it out," the mayor said. "There's a tremendous intrinsic value to sports."
The Marlins, who hope to play in the new stadium in 2011, have threatened to move to another city if it doesn't get built. They currently play in Dolphin Stadium, home of the NFL team, under financial terms the Marlins don't consider favourable to them.
Marlins executives and owner Jeffrey Loria declined comment on the lawsuit, as did Miami-Dade County officials.
Oklahoma City approves proposal: Voters hope tax will lure NBA team to OklahomaAssociated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City voters approved a sales tax extension Tuesday to fund $121.6 million in improvements to a downtown arena and build a practice facility in hopes of luring an NBA team.
The proposal received support from 44,849 voters, or 62 percent of those who cast ballots, according to final results from the Oklahoma County Election Board.
"We will not let you down. We know we have some work to do and we'll get to it starting first thing tomorrow morning," Cornett said.
Bennett issued a statement Tuesday night thanking Cornett, the city council and the chamber of commerce, which backed a campaign promoting the vote as a way to become a "Big League City."
"Above all, we are grateful to the citizens of Oklahoma City for their continued commitment to excellence," Bennett said.
The Ford Center opened in 2002 and hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons following Hurricane Katrina. Average attendance for those games was more than 18,000, but the proposed upgrades were designed to help increase the arena's ability to generate revenue from multiple sources and also keep up with a new arena in Kansas City, Mo., and one under construction in Tulsa.
"What it did was basically assure we're going to hold our own on Big 12 tournaments and NCAA regionals," Cornett said. "We were in danger of slipping. If we didn't pass this, it was going to be tough for us to get those featured events. That's taken care of, no matter what else happens."
Less than 11/2 hours after polls closed, Cornett announced expected victory to supporters at a watch party at a restaurant in the Bricktown entertainment district.
"You need places like this, you need those important infrastructure elements, you need a strong arts community and you also need to have a sporting presence," Cornett said.
"I couldn't tell you how proud I am that we're creating this complete picture. We really are creating a city where people want to be. This a golden age in Oklahoma City. I think some day we'll be able to look back and people will realize it."
The Ford Center was built using funds from a similar sales tax plan that also raised money to build a minor league ballpark and transform a warehouse district into the city's bustling Bricktown entertainment district. It also hosts a minor league hockey franchise and an arena football team.
The Hornets' temporary stay was the city's first chance to host a professional team from one of the four major league sports.
"I think that the Hornets hooked a lot of people on the NBA. A lot of people follow it now," said Greater Oklahoma City Chamber president Roy Williams. "I believe that this is going to be a renewal sort of unlike we've seen. I think people are going to begin tracking and paying more and more attention that it could be soon that it's announced we're going to be an NBA city."
Planned upgrades include restaurants, clubs, suites and new locker rooms. If no team relocates to Oklahoma City before June 2009, the sales tax will run out after 12 months and the practice facility and any NBA-specific improvements to the Ford Center will not be built.
"The Sonics are in Seattle, and the Sonics can stay in Seattle. That's in the hands of Seattle," Williams said. "Seattle can still keep their team if they're willing to do what it takes to pay for it.
"It's not ours to win. It's Seattle's to lose."
"We will not let you down. We know we have some work to do and we'll get to it starting first thing tomorrow morning," Cornett said.
Bennett issued a statement Tuesday night thanking Cornett, the city council and the chamber of commerce, which backed a campaign promoting the vote as a way to become a "Big League City."
"Above all, we are grateful to the citizens of Oklahoma City for their continued commitment to excellence," Bennett said.
The Ford Center opened in 2002 and hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons following Hurricane Katrina. Average attendance for those games was more than 18,000, but the proposed upgrades were designed to help increase the arena's ability to generate revenue from multiple sources and also keep up with a new arena in Kansas City, Mo., and one under construction in Tulsa.
"What it did was basically assure we're going to hold our own on Big 12 tournaments and NCAA regionals," Cornett said. "We were in danger of slipping. If we didn't pass this, it was going to be tough for us to get those featured events. That's taken care of, no matter what else happens."
Less than 11/2 hours after polls closed, Cornett announced expected victory to supporters at a watch party at a restaurant in the Bricktown entertainment district.
"You need places like this, you need those important infrastructure elements, you need a strong arts community and you also need to have a sporting presence," Cornett said.
"I couldn't tell you how proud I am that we're creating this complete picture. We really are creating a city where people want to be. This a golden age in Oklahoma City. I think some day we'll be able to look back and people will realize it."
The Ford Center was built using funds from a similar sales tax plan that also raised money to build a minor league ballpark and transform a warehouse district into the city's bustling Bricktown entertainment district. It also hosts a minor league hockey franchise and an arena football team.
The Hornets' temporary stay was the city's first chance to host a professional team from one of the four major league sports.
"I think that the Hornets hooked a lot of people on the NBA. A lot of people follow it now," said Greater Oklahoma City Chamber president Roy Williams. "I believe that this is going to be a renewal sort of unlike we've seen. I think people are going to begin tracking and paying more and more attention that it could be soon that it's announced we're going to be an NBA city."
Planned upgrades include restaurants, clubs, suites and new locker rooms. If no team relocates to Oklahoma City before June 2009, the sales tax will run out after 12 months and the practice facility and any NBA-specific improvements to the Ford Center will not be built.
"The Sonics are in Seattle, and the Sonics can stay in Seattle. That's in the hands of Seattle," Williams said. "Seattle can still keep their team if they're willing to do what it takes to pay for it.
"It's not ours to win. It's Seattle's to lose."
Oklahoma City to decide on NBA plan
Associated Press
March 3, 2008 at 4:11 PM EST
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City voters will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote on a $121 million plan aimed at luring the NBA to the city on a full-time basis.
Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett's proposal would spend $97 million to upgrade the Ford Center and another $24.6 million to build an NBA practice facility in hopes of completing the city's courtship of the Seattle SuperSonics.
While Cornett has been promoting the improvements to the Ford Center as mandatory to show Oklahoma City's long-term commitment to the NBA, David Glover has been spearheading opposition to the plan that would extend a one-cent sales tax increase for another 15 months.
Cornett considers the improvements to the Ford Center necessary even if the SuperSonics, owned by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett, don't end up relocating. Without them, Cornett says Oklahoma City will fall behind competitors for concerts, the Big 12 tournament and other events.
Bennett declined interview requests from The Associated Press and through a spokesman refused to say what would happen if the vote fails. The SuperSonics are in the middle of a court battle to break their lease in Seattle, and the NBA Board of Governors will vote in April on Bennett's request to relocate to Oklahoma City.
While reserving comment on the specific proposal in Oklahoma City, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said "the NBA will always support teams' and cities' efforts to enhance the experience for our fans."
The cost of adding restaurants, clubs, suites and other amenities to the Ford Center — which hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two years following Hurricane Katrina — falls about in the middle of the cost fronted by new NBA cities when the past two franchises relocated.
Crist promotes Florida as Arizona lures teams for springAssociated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians are leaving Florida's Grapefruit League for Arizona next year, and the Cincinnati Reds may not be far behind.
No wonder Gov. Charlie Crist decided to show Major League Baseball a little love Tuesday by reviving the annual governor's dinner celebrating the start of spring training.
Crist wants to keep alive a tradition that began in Florida a century ago — teams coming down from the North to get ready for the new season, bringing with them winter-weary fans. The state estimates that spring training contributes $450 million to Florida businesses, with attendance topping 1.7 million last year.
"It adds a lot to our economy, a tremendous amount to the quality of life," Crist said. "One of the best ways to see a baseball game is during spring training. It's up close and personal."
Teams often find municipalities in Florida and Arizona competing to attract them for spring training. Cities and counties offer to build stadiums, in the hope that having a major league team train there will attract tourists. Few teams, like the Dodgers, have spent decades in the same stadium. Instead, many move when they get better offers.
For instance, the Reds said they wanted to stay in Sarasota, but began their negotiations after county officials refused to spend $18 million to upgrade their stadium and practice facilities.
Now they could have a chance to play in a new facility more than 1,800 miles away.
"It's a critical time, no question about it," said Crist, who recalled attending the dinners when he worked as a lawyer for Minor League Baseball and Bob Graham was governor.
Crist sat between Hall of Fame Reds announcer Marty Brennaman and Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. Among others at the head table were Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, former player Fred McGriff; Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy and Don Zimmer, who has spent 54 years working in the majors as a player, manager, coach and adviser.
Ripken recalled first coming to spring training when his father was a manager, and shared memories of his first spring training with the Orioles, when he hit a single off Goose Gossage.
"I've only known baseball and spring training to be Florida," Ripken said to applause from the nearly 800 people at the dinner. "I've had a wonderful time cruising around playing against many great players in the state of Florida."
Florida governors began hosting the baseball dinner about 60 years ago to welcome teams to Florida. That tradition ended in the mid-1990s when the late Lawton Chiles was governor. But Crist believes now is the time to show baseball officials how much he appreciates them.
"The governor deserves enormous credit for reviving these and we're delighted to participate," DuPuy said.
Kevin McCarthy, a University of Florida English professor who wrote a book about the history of baseball in Florida, thinks bringing back the baseball dinner is a good idea.
"When baseball teams see that officialdom is behind baseball, that really means something," McCarthy said.
Florida benefits beyond just ticket sales. McCarthy noted that reporters from cold-weather cities provide appealing accounts of the state.
"They write back not only about the baseball games, but also about what's happening in the cities in Florida in mid-March," he said. "At a time when the Northeast is still really cold, you read about the sunshine and the weather and the great fishing. That's tremendous publicity."
But it's also warm in Arizona, where the Cleveland Indians and New York Giants began training in 1946. The Cactus League expanded to three teams in 1952. Several teams have moved back and forth between the states in the decades that followed, a migration that's been working more in Arizona's favor in recent years.
Next February, when the Indians move back to Arizona and the Dodgers leave Vero Beach after six decades, Florida will be down to 16 spring training teams. Arizona will have 14.
The Reds are negotiating with Goodyear, Ariz., officials and could move from their Sarasota camp in two years, meaning teams would be evenly split between the spring training states.
DuPuy recognizes that, but notes Florida's history goes back much further and remains tremendously successful.
"There will be a critical mass of spring training teams in Florida forever. The Grapefruit League is too important to baseball," DuPuy said after the dinner.
Courtesy of Dr. CFL
Asper’s deal for Bombers nearly done: Franchise will soon become private business
Scott Taylor
National Post
David Asper can now see the light at the end of a 14-month-long tunnel, a light that will result in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ending 75 years of community ownership.
"Yes, I will soon take over sole ownership of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers," Asper said late last week. "But I say 'yes' as part of the overall proposal for a new stadium. I believe now, that in due course, there will be a new stadium."
It is somewhat of a bold position for Asper, the chairman of the National Post and executive vice-president of Canwest Communications, and a man who first presented his plan to privatize the CFL franchise and build a brand new 40,000-seat stadium, back in early January of 2007.
For months, through an often difficult negotiation with the city and provincial and federal governments, Asper was hesitant to answer in the affirmative when asked if he believed he was ever going to take over the team he has cheered for since childhood.
Last Thursday, however, during a lengthy interview in Winnipeg, he admitted that the deal is almost done. "Soon," he said, "the community-owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be privately owned and a new stadium will be under construction.
"Over the past year, me, members of my team, Lyle Bauer and the members of the Blue Bomber board of directors, have made a compelling case that, as a matter of public policy, there is an issue here that must be addressed," Asper said of the 53-year-old Canad Inns Stadium.
"I now believe that after months of negotiation and discussion at various levels, that intelligent people will get this done.
"All three levels of government are willing to make the commitment and are looking at how this project will come together. Where there is a will, there is a way. Over the period of time we've been making our position known, there has grown a better understanding that [a new stadium] is a benefit to the community ? that it's not just a benefit to the football club but to the entire community."
Asper plans to spend $65- million of his own money, with an additional $80-million in public funds, to build a stateof- the-art 40,000-seat football stadium, plus a retail mall in which all profits will go to the football club in order to guarantee the team's long-term future in the community. (The entire project can be viewed at http://www.blueandgold.ca/) The one sticking point is government commitment. The federal and provincial levels have promised no more than $30-million each. Asper wanted them to match the $40-million he plans put into the $120-million stadium plan.
"We will still try to make the case for the original $120-million concept," Asper said. "I guess there is always a chance that the project could end up being smaller, more modest, than the original plan. But I
will try to make the argument that it's worth working toward the original design. Historically, this is a 50-year project. We build it, it has to stand for 50 years.
"I guess, when we have all the cards on the table, we'll see what the money will get us."
One thing seems certain -- the Bombers will soon lose their "community-owned" designation and become a private business. Although there could be more community involvement than there was with the old community ownership.
In Asper's original plan, the public will actually own the stadium; the University of Manitoba football program will be a major beneficiary of the project; amateur sports organizations will be given free use of the building as a training facility during the winter months; and the public will have access to the team's stateof-the-science training and medical facilities.
For Winnipeg, that could be the best news of all.
Asper’s deal for Bombers nearly done: Franchise will soon become private businessScott Taylor
National Post
David Asper can now see the light at the end of a 14-month-long tunnel, a light that will result in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ending 75 years of community ownership.
"Yes, I will soon take over sole ownership of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers," Asper said late last week. "But I say 'yes' as part of the overall proposal for a new stadium. I believe now, that in due course, there will be a new stadium."
It is somewhat of a bold position for Asper, the chairman of the National Post and executive vice-president of Canwest Communications, and a man who first presented his plan to privatize the CFL franchise and build a brand new 40,000-seat stadium, back in early January of 2007.
For months, through an often difficult negotiation with the city and provincial and federal governments, Asper was hesitant to answer in the affirmative when asked if he believed he was ever going to take over the team he has cheered for since childhood.
Last Thursday, however, during a lengthy interview in Winnipeg, he admitted that the deal is almost done. "Soon," he said, "the community-owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be privately owned and a new stadium will be under construction.
"Over the past year, me, members of my team, Lyle Bauer and the members of the Blue Bomber board of directors, have made a compelling case that, as a matter of public policy, there is an issue here that must be addressed," Asper said of the 53-year-old Canad Inns Stadium.
"I now believe that after months of negotiation and discussion at various levels, that intelligent people will get this done.
"All three levels of government are willing to make the commitment and are looking at how this project will come together. Where there is a will, there is a way. Over the period of time we've been making our position known, there has grown a better understanding that [a new stadium] is a benefit to the community ? that it's not just a benefit to the football club but to the entire community."
Asper plans to spend $65- million of his own money, with an additional $80-million in public funds, to build a stateof- the-art 40,000-seat football stadium, plus a retail mall in which all profits will go to the football club in order to guarantee the team's long-term future in the community. (The entire project can be viewed at http://www.blueandgold.ca/) The one sticking point is government commitment. The federal and provincial levels have promised no more than $30-million each. Asper wanted them to match the $40-million he plans put into the $120-million stadium plan.
"We will still try to make the case for the original $120-million concept," Asper said. "I guess there is always a chance that the project could end up being smaller, more modest, than the original plan. But I
will try to make the argument that it's worth working toward the original design. Historically, this is a 50-year project. We build it, it has to stand for 50 years.
"I guess, when we have all the cards on the table, we'll see what the money will get us."
One thing seems certain -- the Bombers will soon lose their "community-owned" designation and become a private business. Although there could be more community involvement than there was with the old community ownership.
In Asper's original plan, the public will actually own the stadium; the University of Manitoba football program will be a major beneficiary of the project; amateur sports organizations will be given free use of the building as a training facility during the winter months; and the public will have access to the team's stateof-the-science training and medical facilities.
For Winnipeg, that could be the best news of all.
Toronto tourism takes $50M hit with loss of race: Layoffs predicted as city loses Grand Prix
Jim Byers & Rick Matsumoto
Thestar.com
Toronto's hospitality industry will take a $50 million hit this summer with the cancellation of the Toronto Grand Prix.
The annual summer racing extravaganza, which began in 1986 as the Molson Indy, attracted tens of thousands of visitors from across the continent.
But sources say the event – which may return in 2009 – fell victim this year to a deal signed between the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series.
Put simply, there wasn't enough room for all the events on both groups' calendars, and the Toronto Grand Prix was sacrificed for the 2008 racing season.
Losing the event will be a huge blow to the city's economy, and could even result in temporary job losses, officials warned last night. But the loss is surviveable, says deputy mayor Joe Pantalone, who heads up Exhibition Place, where the race is centred every summer.
"It would be a hit if we lost the race, but not a fatal hit," Pantalone said. "It would mean less tourism and less international exposure for the city. People see the city's skyline and the CN Tower and the waterfront on TV and it makes Toronto look pretty good."
The deal to unify the two open-wheel race car circuits ends a 12-year battle between the two groups.
Because the Toronto event has been one of the better attended and reliable events on the Champ Car (formerly CART) circuit for years, one source close to the negotiations said Toronto will likely be on next year's schedule.
Duncan Ross, the city's tourism director, said studies have shown the race has an annual impact of $50 million on the city's economy, attracting tens of thousands of paying fans to nearby hotels, bars and malls.
"From a tourism perspective, one thing this event offers is an international and North American broadcast audience," Ross said. "Any chance tourism marketers have for a live TV feed ... is an incredibly positive opportunity. The dynamic images ... have a way of making visitors want to come to the city.
"One of the most important things we can do is to have a diverse calendar with events that appeal to all markets. It's one of the major events we have, along with things like the film festival, Caribana and Pride Day."
Asked if the race would be hard to replace from a tourism standpoint, Ross replied, "Definitely. In a short period of time it would be a challenge. But I think the community would come together to do whatever's possible to be sure something replaces it."
Ross said there could be layoffs, possibly among workers who install seats alongside the race course and such.
But Pantalone said with Toronto in a building boom, many will likely find other work if the 2008 race is cancelled.
"We don't have a full-time staff of construction workers at the Ex," he explained. "But there's no doubt that for the bottom line, it would be a hit. You don't lose a major international attraction without it being a hit."
Tourism Toronto vice president Andrew Weir said he wants to focus on the long term, not just worry about a potential 2008 loss.
"A merger is good for race fans," he said. "It's good for any host city. The audience will be less fragmented (compared to when Champ Car and Indy races ran separately) and that will mean better TV exposure. All the stars of racing will be there, which is what people want to see."
"I think this is a good thing for open-wheel racing, the events, the teams and the drivers," said Charlie Johnstone, CEO of the Toronto Grand Prix. "How it plays out for individual events or teams or drivers, those particulars will still have to be shaken out."
Full details of the pact won't be made public until next week.
Johnstone said the year's hiatus for Toronto could have an adverse affect on fan acceptance for a revival in 2009, but that could be overcome with sustained promotion.
"The only way to do it successfully would be to come back for 2009 at the end of the 2008 season, saying `Here's our title sponsor, here's our support series, our entertainment.'"
No way to gild a golden economy: Economists say B.C.'s boom means the Olympics won't provide much of a financial boost PATRICK BRETHOUR
Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER — The 2010 Winter Games don't start for another two years, but Chris Gardner already has his Olympic gold - in the unlikely form of manufactured steel buildings.
Mr. Gardner and his company, Britco Structures, have won a $32-million contract to build a lodge and townhouse complex in Whistler for the Winter Games, a success that will send the rapidly growing company on yet another hiring spree.
The lure is not just the contract, lucrative as that may be. The real payoff for Britco will come from the ability to tout its Olympic performance, meeting the tight, unforgiving deadlines of the march to 2010. And it won't hurt that its two projects, a 100-room lodge and a 20-unit townhouse complex, will be in the background as the world watches the Games.
"Our facility is going to be in all those shots, all those photos," says Mr. Gardner, director of strategic planning and corporate development at Britco. "We're looking at this as a tremendous opportunity to market a B.C.-based company."
But first the company has to find new workers to manufacture and assemble those buildings; the new business means it will be expanding by 25 per cent. Britco will be on the hunt for help across British Columbia: in Langley, where the company has its headquarters; in Whistler, where it needs construction workers to assemble the buildings; in the Fraser Valley's eastern reaches, where it has a manufacturing facility in Agassiz; and in Penticton in the B.C. Interior, where it has a second manufacturing operation.
The work force at the Penticton site has already tripled in size, so Mr. Gardner is all too familiar with the increasingly severe shortage of labour in B.C. The skilled tradespeople that Britco needs to put up its buildings are in short supply, a consequence of the construction boom reverberating across the province. But with the unemployment rate hovering at an all-time low, B.C. is running short of workers of all sorts. "You see the Help Wanted signs everywhere," Mr. Gardner says.
He knows it won't be easy to find the workers needed for the planned expansion - but he's confident Britco will succeed, and cash in on its Olympic contract, before and after the Games.
"For us, it's a once-in-a-lifetime project," he says.
Britco's ambitions are the standard-issue Olympic dreams in B.C., where the entire province is focused on turning the two-week sporting extravaganza into an enduring economic benefit. But those hopes are coming face to face with the reality of the B.C. economy. Like neighbouring Alberta, B.C. has an unemployment rate lower than what economists believed - at least until very recently - to be possible over the long term.
And super-low unemployment means that, to an extent, any big new initiative such as the Olympics will be diverting workers from existing jobs.
Economists call this crowding out, but another way to look at it is the teeter-totter economy: For something to rise, something else must go down. Concrete used to build the Sea to Sky highway isn't being poured as the foundation of a new office tower. Carpenters who might be renovating homes are building ski jumps instead. And, if the 2010 Games hold true to earlier Olympics, B.C. tourist attractions will find that some of their business ends up flowing into Olympic venues instead.
Despite the glitz and glamour, economists don't believe the Olympics will fundamentally reshape the B.C. economy, which would chug along quite nicely without the 2010 Games. "The overall structure of the economy would not be much different," says Ken Peacock, director of economic research of the Business Council of British Columbia.
Just three blocks away from the rapidly growing Britco's Penticton operations, Greyback Construction Ltd. faces a much different outlook. The 25-year-old construction company doesn't have any direct connection to the Olympics, but it is feeling the pinch from the constricted labour market. It is experiencing the downward swing of the teeter-totter economy.
Greyback has all the work it can handle, and more, from construction jobs throughout the B.C. Interior. The construction sector is sizzling, yet Greyback is turning away work. The reason for this paradox: The company can't find the skilled workers it needs to take on a larger volume of jobs. "If we could get them, we'd go get more work, 'cause there's lots of work," says Larry Kenyon, Greyback's president.
He could always hire staff from competitors, but he has made a deliberate decision not to snatch workers from rival firms. Mr. Kenyon doesn't cite economic theory as his motivation - just the gut conviction that, once he starts luring employees from other firms, his own staff will be targeted. But his hunch aligns perfectly with what economic theory has to say about the state of the labour market in B.C., where full employment means that recruiting employees is a full-time headache.
In part because of the fact of full employment in B.C., the most recent study of the economic effect of the 2010 Games found only a limited impact. British Columbia's gross domestic product is projected to be $186.6-billion in 2016, about 5 per cent more than the $179.4-billion size of the economy if there were no Olympics, according to the study by the Urban Futures Institute in Vancouver prepared for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. And the Olympic effect will largely dissipate by 2016, according to Urban Futures, with the economic growth rate snapping back to what it would have been if the Vancouver Games had never existed.
Still, the expectation remains that the Olympics will deliver a long-term boost to British Columbia. That is certainly the hope of Delta Hotels, which doesn't foresee any great profit windfall from its direct Olympic business, in part because of a deal struck within the industry to limit the price official Olympic visitors pay for rooms in 2010.
But Gordon Johnson, regional vice-president for Delta in the province, says there is a hidden cost to that Olympic business: Other travellers will stay away from Vancouver during the time of the Games. It's an open question for Mr. Johnson as to whether Delta will be better off financially from the Games being held in B.C., at least in the short term.
"This one is so up in the air. We just don't know what business will choose to stay away from Vancouver in February," he says, noting that the arrangements with the Vancouver organizing committee leave the hotel industry with little scope to book other major events during the Games. "My instincts are that it will be a wash."
But he, like much of B.C., remains optimistic that a little of the Olympic glitter will rub off during the span of the Games, boosting the province's profile - leaving Delta to welcome tourists back long after the roar of the crowd has faded. "There are an awful lot of people in this globe," he says, "who have never been to Vancouver."
Buffalo wing and a prayer -- hold the blue cheese.
Don't bet on fans buying chunk of Bills
Garth Woolsey
Thestar.com
If community ownership works so well for the Green Bay Packers, why not the Buffalo Bills?
Well, for one thing the National Football League prohibits the masses from owning and operating its franchises. The Packers are the lone exception to the rule, and their special status was grandfathered into the league's constitution years and years ago. (There are three community teams in the CFL – Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Edmonton – but such arrangements are extremely rare in ``major'' leagues worldwide, football or otherwise.)
For another, the uber-wealthy NFL prefers that its franchises (literally, licences to print money) appreciate in value and change hands, billionaire to billionaire, for the highest possible prices. In such a boldly capitalist environment, community ownership carries the stigma of a socialist/communist scheme.
Still, desperate times demand desperate measures. So, an elected official in Western New York has asked the NFL for rule changes that would allow the Green Bay model to be used to keep the Bills in Buffalo and out of the jaws, potentially, of salivating Toronto interests.
Congressman Brian Higgins has sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has deep Western New York roots, proposing changes that allow folks to purchase stock and maintain voting rights in a franchise.
``We want to make sure the team stays here in the post-Ralph Wilson era. The Bills are a regional treasure and part of the fabric of our community,'' Higgins writes. ``Community ownership in the Bills would give the Buffalo fans that built this franchise a real role in steering the future of this team.''
Higgins proposes either full community ownership or a hybrid in which one party might hold 51 per cent of shares with the other 49 in the community. At the current Forbes.com valuation of $821 million (all figures U.S.), the price of majority ownership would be $419 million. Minority shareholders would be allowed to vote on franchise relocation, with 70 per cent, say, needed to make such a move.
Meanwhile, a possible sugar daddy is in the wings in the person of Tom Golisano, the Rochester, N.Y., billionaire owner of the Buffalo Sabres who has three times run unsuccessfully for the New York governor's job (campaigns that are said to have cost him a total of $93 million).
"I realize what the issue is," he tells Associated Press. "I think I realize how important that organization is to the Buffalo area. And I'll say the same thing I've said before: If the situation arises, I would do what I can to try to keep the team in the area."
Jim Kelly, the old Bills quarterback, is also in the background, suggesting he might be able to patch together an ownership group to go wallet to wallet with the Toronto interests. Inevitably, there is also highly preliminary talk of building a new stadium on the Buffalo lakefront. You know the routine: if you build it, they will stay.
History is not on Buffalo's side. No one would have believed the Cleveland Browns would skip town, until they did, becoming the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts ducked out of Baltimore for Indianapolis in the dead of night. It is still confusing to consider that the Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis while the Cardinals left St. Louis for Arizona and no one's in Los Angeles, not even the Raiders.
The NFL change its rules for the ``good'' of a community? Place fans ahead of dollars? Go all mushy? Maybe when pigs fly.
Don't bet on fans buying chunk of BillsGarth Woolsey
Thestar.com
If community ownership works so well for the Green Bay Packers, why not the Buffalo Bills?
Well, for one thing the National Football League prohibits the masses from owning and operating its franchises. The Packers are the lone exception to the rule, and their special status was grandfathered into the league's constitution years and years ago. (There are three community teams in the CFL – Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Edmonton – but such arrangements are extremely rare in ``major'' leagues worldwide, football or otherwise.)
For another, the uber-wealthy NFL prefers that its franchises (literally, licences to print money) appreciate in value and change hands, billionaire to billionaire, for the highest possible prices. In such a boldly capitalist environment, community ownership carries the stigma of a socialist/communist scheme.
Still, desperate times demand desperate measures. So, an elected official in Western New York has asked the NFL for rule changes that would allow the Green Bay model to be used to keep the Bills in Buffalo and out of the jaws, potentially, of salivating Toronto interests.
Congressman Brian Higgins has sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has deep Western New York roots, proposing changes that allow folks to purchase stock and maintain voting rights in a franchise.
``We want to make sure the team stays here in the post-Ralph Wilson era. The Bills are a regional treasure and part of the fabric of our community,'' Higgins writes. ``Community ownership in the Bills would give the Buffalo fans that built this franchise a real role in steering the future of this team.''
Higgins proposes either full community ownership or a hybrid in which one party might hold 51 per cent of shares with the other 49 in the community. At the current Forbes.com valuation of $821 million (all figures U.S.), the price of majority ownership would be $419 million. Minority shareholders would be allowed to vote on franchise relocation, with 70 per cent, say, needed to make such a move.
Meanwhile, a possible sugar daddy is in the wings in the person of Tom Golisano, the Rochester, N.Y., billionaire owner of the Buffalo Sabres who has three times run unsuccessfully for the New York governor's job (campaigns that are said to have cost him a total of $93 million).
"I realize what the issue is," he tells Associated Press. "I think I realize how important that organization is to the Buffalo area. And I'll say the same thing I've said before: If the situation arises, I would do what I can to try to keep the team in the area."
Jim Kelly, the old Bills quarterback, is also in the background, suggesting he might be able to patch together an ownership group to go wallet to wallet with the Toronto interests. Inevitably, there is also highly preliminary talk of building a new stadium on the Buffalo lakefront. You know the routine: if you build it, they will stay.
History is not on Buffalo's side. No one would have believed the Cleveland Browns would skip town, until they did, becoming the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts ducked out of Baltimore for Indianapolis in the dead of night. It is still confusing to consider that the Rams left Los Angeles for St. Louis while the Cardinals left St. Louis for Arizona and no one's in Los Angeles, not even the Raiders.
The NFL change its rules for the ``good'' of a community? Place fans ahead of dollars? Go all mushy? Maybe when pigs fly.
Watch out ole' boys club!
WNBA's Storm to be sold to group of Seattle women
Associated Press
January 8, 2008
SEATTLE — A group of Seattle women, led by former Deputy Mayor Anne Levinson, will buy the WNBA Seattle Storm from SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett for $10 million.
The purchase option for the franchise was finalized in the last few days, ensuring the Storm will remain in Seattle, while Bennett continues his push to move the SuperSonics to his hometown of Oklahoma City.
"How big is the smile on my face today?" Storm CEO Karen Bryant asked. Bryant, who is not part of the ownership group, will remain with the Storm in her current role.
Two Microsoft Corp. executives and an entrepreneur round out the purchase group, disclosed Tuesday.
The group, calling itself Force 10 Hoops, has until the end of February to close the sale and would need approval of the WNBA board of governors for the standalone franchise.
Levinson, who led the negotiations, said the group was doing it for Storm fans and the community.
The others in Force 10 Hoops are Ginny Gilder, an investment business owner who won a silver medal at the L.A. Olympics; Lisa Brummel, senior vice president of human resources at Microsoft and a Yale softball player; and Dawn Trudeau, who heads Microsoft's database division.
Seattle SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett has owned both teams since July 2006. Bennett's group has filed with the NBA to relocate the Sonics to Bennett's hometown of Oklahoma City.
When Bennett took over ownership, he said he had no intention of splitting the franchises. But last September, he said he might be willing to split the two teams or keep the Storm in Seattle, even if the Sonics were to move. At that time he said the Storm would play the 2008 season in Seattle, but made no commitments beyond that.
The Storm would be the seventh WNBA team independently owned, joining Atlanta, Chicago, Connecticut, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington. They are the third team with a majority female ownership, along with Washington and Los Angeles.
The Seattle team has been successful in its eight years in existence, highlighted by its 2004 WNBA title, the first professional sports title in the city since the 1979 SuperSonics won the NBA championship.
WNBA's Storm to be sold to group of Seattle womenAssociated Press
January 8, 2008
SEATTLE — A group of Seattle women, led by former Deputy Mayor Anne Levinson, will buy the WNBA Seattle Storm from SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett for $10 million.
The purchase option for the franchise was finalized in the last few days, ensuring the Storm will remain in Seattle, while Bennett continues his push to move the SuperSonics to his hometown of Oklahoma City.
"How big is the smile on my face today?" Storm CEO Karen Bryant asked. Bryant, who is not part of the ownership group, will remain with the Storm in her current role.
Two Microsoft Corp. executives and an entrepreneur round out the purchase group, disclosed Tuesday.
The group, calling itself Force 10 Hoops, has until the end of February to close the sale and would need approval of the WNBA board of governors for the standalone franchise.
Levinson, who led the negotiations, said the group was doing it for Storm fans and the community.
The others in Force 10 Hoops are Ginny Gilder, an investment business owner who won a silver medal at the L.A. Olympics; Lisa Brummel, senior vice president of human resources at Microsoft and a Yale softball player; and Dawn Trudeau, who heads Microsoft's database division.
Seattle SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett has owned both teams since July 2006. Bennett's group has filed with the NBA to relocate the Sonics to Bennett's hometown of Oklahoma City.
When Bennett took over ownership, he said he had no intention of splitting the franchises. But last September, he said he might be willing to split the two teams or keep the Storm in Seattle, even if the Sonics were to move. At that time he said the Storm would play the 2008 season in Seattle, but made no commitments beyond that.
The Storm would be the seventh WNBA team independently owned, joining Atlanta, Chicago, Connecticut, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington. They are the third team with a majority female ownership, along with Washington and Los Angeles.
The Seattle team has been successful in its eight years in existence, highlighted by its 2004 WNBA title, the first professional sports title in the city since the 1979 SuperSonics won the NBA championship.
New York v. Texas: Whose got bigger _ _ _ _ _ envy?
Robbery in the park: Fans and taxpayers soaked by new Yankee Stadium
John Rolfe
Many moons ago, while scrawling a hidebound tract for children about the life of David Robinson, I came upon a tale I've never forgotten: Robinson marveling at how, after he'd signed his first contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 1989, everyone wanted to give him free meals and merchandise even though he could more than afford to pay.
This little anecdote came to mind when the New York Daily News reported that VIPs will get free valet parking at the new Yankee Stadium for the next 40 years while fans pay handsomely for the privilege of stowing their junkers, starting this year when the tag jumps from $14 to $17 and then to $19 when the new ballpark opens in 2009. The thumb in the eye is that rates could go as high as $35 per jalopy by 2014.
In the Yankees' defense, parking rates are the bailiwick of New York City which happily trumpeted the wondrous benefits of the new billion dollar House That Steinbrenner Built thanks to team money and tax exempt bonds. The city and state are subsidizing the parking facilities and other goodies. Now the city's Economic Development Corp. admits there will be a shortfall in recouping those funds due to soaring construction costs, thus the need for rate hikes. Meanwhile, 700 VIP spaces will deprive the city of $80 million in revenue during the life of the bonds. Another 900 spaces will be discounted.
Any surprise that Joe and Jo-Ann Fan, not to mention Frank and Francine Taxpayer, will pay the freight twice while the fat cats who can most afford it get a free ride?
Two years ago, Neil deMausewarned in The Village Voice two years ago that the new Stadium, for a cash-machine franchise valued at around $1 billion, would be a money pit, and he has produced a tidy spreadsheet of the public and private costs of New York's two new ballparks. This recent development should make you suspicious when owners and politicians crow that no or few public dollars are being used in these ventures. Always check the fine print, and stay up past midnight when little perks like that valet parking deal are snuck in the back door.
This space has bemoaned the use of public loot to erect palaces for private businesses (teams) on several occasions, and the actual benefits to a city or community have been widely debated and disputed, so I'll spare you another stemwinder. But as Ken Belson noted in the New York Times in July 2006: "The Yankees need the subsidies, tax breaks and new revenue [from a new stadium] not only to pay for the stadium, but also the team's hefty payroll. Without that padding, the Yankees might find it harder to assemble a winning team. And without a winning team, it will be harder to raise tickets prices, broadcast rights and other fees."
If there's a positive here, it's that fans will be encouraged to use mass transit, although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will raise fares in March and another hike is expected in two years. This is the same poverty-stricken MTA that wanted to sell a valuable parcel of land in Manhattan at a low, low discount price to the New York Jets for a new pigskin parlor. Fortunately, the sale and stadium were ultimately torpedoed by state legislators who smelled tar boiling.
All of this makes me cringe when I hear some poobah proclaim that something is being done for the fans. "We're just happy that we're able to do this for the Yankees," George Steinbrenner said most revealingly at the August 2006 groundbreaking, "and happy to do it for you people."
Lately, Roger Goodell was just happy to proclaim that the NFL Network was created for the fans, although it should be obvious that if those mean old cable companies had only agreed to carry it, you would have paid to see Patriots-Giants last Saturday night or been forced to find a gin mill that had it. Once the NFL Network is fully distributed, what do you wanna bet that plum games are kept behind the glass?
Hey, I may be a relic of a time when attending games was cheaper and sports were entirely on free TV, so I'm reacting like someone who finds that their favorite website is asking them to pony up good for content they once got gratis. And I understand that the NFL, or anyone, has a right to sell their own products for whatever the market will bear. But what should smoke your trout are high cockalorums of politics and commerce grinnin' in your face and patting you on the back while they ultimately grab you by the wallet.
John Rolfe
Many moons ago, while scrawling a hidebound tract for children about the life of David Robinson, I came upon a tale I've never forgotten: Robinson marveling at how, after he'd signed his first contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 1989, everyone wanted to give him free meals and merchandise even though he could more than afford to pay.This little anecdote came to mind when the New York Daily News reported that VIPs will get free valet parking at the new Yankee Stadium for the next 40 years while fans pay handsomely for the privilege of stowing their junkers, starting this year when the tag jumps from $14 to $17 and then to $19 when the new ballpark opens in 2009. The thumb in the eye is that rates could go as high as $35 per jalopy by 2014.
In the Yankees' defense, parking rates are the bailiwick of New York City which happily trumpeted the wondrous benefits of the new billion dollar House That Steinbrenner Built thanks to team money and tax exempt bonds. The city and state are subsidizing the parking facilities and other goodies. Now the city's Economic Development Corp. admits there will be a shortfall in recouping those funds due to soaring construction costs, thus the need for rate hikes. Meanwhile, 700 VIP spaces will deprive the city of $80 million in revenue during the life of the bonds. Another 900 spaces will be discounted.
Any surprise that Joe and Jo-Ann Fan, not to mention Frank and Francine Taxpayer, will pay the freight twice while the fat cats who can most afford it get a free ride?
Two years ago, Neil deMausewarned in The Village Voice two years ago that the new Stadium, for a cash-machine franchise valued at around $1 billion, would be a money pit, and he has produced a tidy spreadsheet of the public and private costs of New York's two new ballparks. This recent development should make you suspicious when owners and politicians crow that no or few public dollars are being used in these ventures. Always check the fine print, and stay up past midnight when little perks like that valet parking deal are snuck in the back door.
This space has bemoaned the use of public loot to erect palaces for private businesses (teams) on several occasions, and the actual benefits to a city or community have been widely debated and disputed, so I'll spare you another stemwinder. But as Ken Belson noted in the New York Times in July 2006: "The Yankees need the subsidies, tax breaks and new revenue [from a new stadium] not only to pay for the stadium, but also the team's hefty payroll. Without that padding, the Yankees might find it harder to assemble a winning team. And without a winning team, it will be harder to raise tickets prices, broadcast rights and other fees."
If there's a positive here, it's that fans will be encouraged to use mass transit, although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will raise fares in March and another hike is expected in two years. This is the same poverty-stricken MTA that wanted to sell a valuable parcel of land in Manhattan at a low, low discount price to the New York Jets for a new pigskin parlor. Fortunately, the sale and stadium were ultimately torpedoed by state legislators who smelled tar boiling.
All of this makes me cringe when I hear some poobah proclaim that something is being done for the fans. "We're just happy that we're able to do this for the Yankees," George Steinbrenner said most revealingly at the August 2006 groundbreaking, "and happy to do it for you people."
Lately, Roger Goodell was just happy to proclaim that the NFL Network was created for the fans, although it should be obvious that if those mean old cable companies had only agreed to carry it, you would have paid to see Patriots-Giants last Saturday night or been forced to find a gin mill that had it. Once the NFL Network is fully distributed, what do you wanna bet that plum games are kept behind the glass?
Hey, I may be a relic of a time when attending games was cheaper and sports were entirely on free TV, so I'm reacting like someone who finds that their favorite website is asking them to pony up good for content they once got gratis. And I understand that the NFL, or anyone, has a right to sell their own products for whatever the market will bear. But what should smoke your trout are high cockalorums of politics and commerce grinnin' in your face and patting you on the back while they ultimately grab you by the wallet.
Don't expect any help from the UofT!
Toronto Pan-Am bid likely won't go too far Christopher Hume
Toronto's bid for the 2010 Olympics didn't work out, and it couldn't quite meet the deadline for its Expo 2015 entry. Now there's word the city might go after the Pan-American Games to be held in eight years.
If that fails, who knows what we might try for next – the World Tiddlywinks Championships?
But then, why bother? Hosting such an event is simply not in Toronto's fate.
The reasons have nothing to do with civic willingness, but with the larger question of whether the city and its masters – provincial and federal governments – can muster the will. Don't hold your breath.
Writing about the Pan-Am bid, the Star's Jim Byers noted that, "one Queen's Park source said the government likes the idea at this early stage, especially since it's geared to the entire Golden Horseshoe and not focused on Toronto, which would be a tougher sell politically in other parts of Ontario."
God forbid that Premier Dalton McGuinty should be seen to favour Toronto over Oshawa, Peterborough, Wawa and the rest of the province. Wouldn't that be awful?
Little wonder Toronto has always been passed over. Which is why there's little reason to get excited about the Pan-Am Games. However unremarkable the competing cities – former host sites include Indianapolis, Winnipeg and Cali, Colombia – Toronto, make that, Ontario, is unlikely to be chosen.
To begin with, it doesn't make sense to spread the games over an area that stretches from St. Catharines to Barrie. For a second-tier athletic event to have any impact, it needs to be concentrated in a location where it can create a critical mass of activity and awareness.
Secondly, the proposal makes it obvious that the jurisdictions involved – city and province – cannot rise above the political concerns that have historically kept both from realizing their potential.
Furthermore, city council is an embarrassment and the Legislature barely has a pulse. The former rarely manages get beyond its own dysfunction; the latter exists within a bubble that should have burst three decades ago.
Not only has Canada fallen behind its competitors, it is out of touch with the realities of the 21st century, and more critical, of itself. As national borders grow less and less important in an increasingly global economic order we remain steadfastly rooted in the parochial patterns of our 19th-century past.
Although the world is learning to think ever more regionally, Canada, and Ontario, are defiantly local. That may keep the neighbours happy for the time being, but it's no way to run a province, let alone an economy that's under growing pressure to stay competitive.
Yet hope springs eternal. Last week, we were treated to the spectacle of Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (now Metrolinx) chair, Rob MacIsaac, declaring that in just 20 years the city's transit infrastructure will equal London's. Oh really! This in a region that's already 30 years behind the U.K. What's the plan, magic carpets?
The blame goes well beyond Mac- Isaac, of course, but who does he think he's fooling?
Instead of shovels in the ground, we're treated to this sort of glib complacency. Rather than progress, we get gridlock, and words when we need work. It's no surprise there's such cynicism about the political process in these parts.
If the Pan-Am Games were actually awarded to southern Ontario, they'd have to be renamed the Highway Games because visitors would spend so much time travelling from one venue to another.
But as long as we don't offend Fenelon Falls, no reason to worry.
Ontario, still ours to discover.
Feeding sports fans' insatiable need for rankings...
Ultimate Standings: Buffalo Sabres Are No. 1!
Peter Keating
ESPN The Magazine
Larry Quinn, managing partner of the Buffalo Sabres, knows owner Tom Golisano doesn't like him to talk about other clubs' fans, but he just can't help himself. Anytime the Sabres host archrival Toronto, Quinn enjoys watching the thousands of crazies who make the 101-mile trek to cheer their Leafs.
"Jersey-wearing, face-painted, wig-wearing types, not the kind you see at the Air Canada Centre," says Quinn. "It's ironic that Buffalo has become the place where true Toronto fans can express themselves."
Actually, it makes perfect sense. Because when you ignite fans the Sabres way, you're going to spark passion in your opponents as well as in your own faithful. In this fifth edition of our Ultimate Standings, Buffalo ranks No. 1 among all Big Four pro franchises in giving fans the most back for the emotion, money and time they invest in their teams. Click here to see the Ultimate Standings.
The Sabres weren't always the template. In January 2003, the team went Chapter 11 months after the feds led former owner John Rigas away in chains. (He's appealing a 15-year prison sentence for accounting fraud.) But three months later, Golisano, a billionaire and three-time independent candidate for New York governor, bought the Sabres for $92 million, essentially acquiring the club and HSBC Arena in exchange for paying their debt. Ever since, being a Sabres fan has been found gold for Nickel City residents.
After Golisano and Quinn took over, the Sabres rewarded their staunchest fans by slashing season-ticket prices by 15 percent to 25 percent. But they've also pioneered variable ticket pricing in the NHL, making sure that eight to 11 home games per season feature even lower prices. Result: The average cost of attending a Sabres game is $46.40, 25 percent below the NHL average.
Meanwhile, the Sabres made sure the on-ice product would keep those seats filled, employing a fan-friendly high-speed shoot-and-skate attack. In the midst of a seven-game losing streak in December 2003, Golisano told the team, "I'd rather lose games 6-5 than 3-1," and Quinn and GM Darcy Regier have backed him up, through trades (co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere) and the draft (Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville). Beloved former captain Lindy Ruff, the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL, keeps all the parts moving at breakneck speed. It works: Since 2002, Buffalo has moved from 24th to first in the league in scoring -- while posting a higher winning percentage every year.
It's all good in the Land of Wings: Season ticket sales have rocketed from 5,800 to 14,815 since the 2002-03 season, while local TV ratings have tripled. In February the seven best-selling jerseys at NHL.com belonged to Sidney Crosby and six Sabres, part of a jump of more than 1,000 percent in sales of Sabres swag over the past year. The team is now worth $149 million, and after losing $46 million over the first half of the decade, it turned close to almost a $4.6 million profit in 2005-06, according to Forbes.
And while financial analysts and media types have been carping about the NHL's lousy national TV deal, four hockey franchises landed in our top 10 this year by keeping local fans happy: Buffalo, Anaheim, Nashville and Carolina. These clubs are models for other teams trying to regain footing in the postlockout era. They're big winners on the ice -- last year's Cup winner plus three current division leaders. All four also rank among the league's 10 lowest in fan costs and are in the top 10 of all big league teams in Fan Relations, according to our research. Throw in players and owners who act professionally, make themselves accessible and show their appreciation to fans, and the mix is unbeatable. These franchises also stand as a counterpoint to teams such as the Red Sox and Redskins -- and the Leafs -- who shove ticket and concessions prices as high as their wealthiest customers will allow.
"We don't have that luxury in Buffalo," says Quinn.
As it turns out, the Sabres don't need it. They're luring a broad new generation of fans to one small corner of the NHL: 12 percent of Buffalo's season-ticket holders are from Canada, which means those single-game Leafs (or Sens or Habs) crazies better already have a ticket.
As for the 121 other big league franchises, you'll see them ranked on the following pages according to how well they rated in eight categories. We surveyed more than 80,000 fans on ESPN.com about their favorite teams to get scores in seven areas: Affordability (including ticket prices, parking and concessions); Coaching; Fan Relations (access to players, coaches and management); Ownership (honesty and loyalty); Players (effort and likability); Stadium Experience; and Title Track (prospects for winning a championship). For the final category, Bang for the Buck, we examined how efficiently teams convert dollars from fans into on-field wins (see methodology). The result is the only ranking that combines the fan's perspective with an objective measure of how efficiently teams use fan money.
Some teams have plunged in this year's rankings without doing anything worse. It's just that this year's list is 31 clubs longer -- the lockout prevented us from including NHL franchises last time around and the NBA expansion Charlotte Bobcats are rated for the first time. But in the numbers that follow, you'll find evidence of busted covenants. Some clubs (Royals, Pirates) sell tickets on the cheap in futile attempts to compensate for too few W's. Other teams (Cowboys, Falcons) have hiked prices expecting to compete for titles, and then fallen short, leaving fans twice burned. A few (Nets, Kings) are either moving or have talked so much about relocating that their hometown loyalists feel abandoned. Quite a few more (Bengals, Pacers) have been crushed by a heightened demand for players who act professionally off as well as on the field.
But you'll also find a batch of teams that are perennial powers in our Standings. The Angels, Colts, Pistons, Steelers and Spurs have ranked in our top 10 in each of the past three years. What do they have in common? First, homegrown and hardworking players. Second, committed owners and smart GMs who don't mind spending money but who don't stretch their budgets so far that average fans can't afford to support their spending. And third -- well, what do you know! -- they're financially successful. The value of these five franchises climbed an average of 13.4 percent last year, and they made a collective $81.4 million in profits.
These teams all have learned well the lesson you can see in action every time the Sabres take the ice: invest in fans, and we'll pay you back.
Financial analysis by The Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon: Melynda Stein, Brian McHugh, David Hobbie, Professor Dennis Howard, Kimberley Saunders, Jennifer Wagner, Jared Schoening, Kevin Snyder and Brett Lentz. Polling by Markitecture, Inc. Team rankings by Morty Ain, Jason Catania, Andy Kamenetzky, Brian Kamenetzky, Molly Knight and Eddie Matz.
Ultimate Standings: Buffalo Sabres Are No. 1!Peter Keating
ESPN The Magazine
Larry Quinn, managing partner of the Buffalo Sabres, knows owner Tom Golisano doesn't like him to talk about other clubs' fans, but he just can't help himself. Anytime the Sabres host archrival Toronto, Quinn enjoys watching the thousands of crazies who make the 101-mile trek to cheer their Leafs.
"Jersey-wearing, face-painted, wig-wearing types, not the kind you see at the Air Canada Centre," says Quinn. "It's ironic that Buffalo has become the place where true Toronto fans can express themselves."
Actually, it makes perfect sense. Because when you ignite fans the Sabres way, you're going to spark passion in your opponents as well as in your own faithful. In this fifth edition of our Ultimate Standings, Buffalo ranks No. 1 among all Big Four pro franchises in giving fans the most back for the emotion, money and time they invest in their teams. Click here to see the Ultimate Standings.
The Sabres weren't always the template. In January 2003, the team went Chapter 11 months after the feds led former owner John Rigas away in chains. (He's appealing a 15-year prison sentence for accounting fraud.) But three months later, Golisano, a billionaire and three-time independent candidate for New York governor, bought the Sabres for $92 million, essentially acquiring the club and HSBC Arena in exchange for paying their debt. Ever since, being a Sabres fan has been found gold for Nickel City residents.
After Golisano and Quinn took over, the Sabres rewarded their staunchest fans by slashing season-ticket prices by 15 percent to 25 percent. But they've also pioneered variable ticket pricing in the NHL, making sure that eight to 11 home games per season feature even lower prices. Result: The average cost of attending a Sabres game is $46.40, 25 percent below the NHL average.
Meanwhile, the Sabres made sure the on-ice product would keep those seats filled, employing a fan-friendly high-speed shoot-and-skate attack. In the midst of a seven-game losing streak in December 2003, Golisano told the team, "I'd rather lose games 6-5 than 3-1," and Quinn and GM Darcy Regier have backed him up, through trades (co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere) and the draft (Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville). Beloved former captain Lindy Ruff, the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL, keeps all the parts moving at breakneck speed. It works: Since 2002, Buffalo has moved from 24th to first in the league in scoring -- while posting a higher winning percentage every year.
It's all good in the Land of Wings: Season ticket sales have rocketed from 5,800 to 14,815 since the 2002-03 season, while local TV ratings have tripled. In February the seven best-selling jerseys at NHL.com belonged to Sidney Crosby and six Sabres, part of a jump of more than 1,000 percent in sales of Sabres swag over the past year. The team is now worth $149 million, and after losing $46 million over the first half of the decade, it turned close to almost a $4.6 million profit in 2005-06, according to Forbes.
And while financial analysts and media types have been carping about the NHL's lousy national TV deal, four hockey franchises landed in our top 10 this year by keeping local fans happy: Buffalo, Anaheim, Nashville and Carolina. These clubs are models for other teams trying to regain footing in the postlockout era. They're big winners on the ice -- last year's Cup winner plus three current division leaders. All four also rank among the league's 10 lowest in fan costs and are in the top 10 of all big league teams in Fan Relations, according to our research. Throw in players and owners who act professionally, make themselves accessible and show their appreciation to fans, and the mix is unbeatable. These franchises also stand as a counterpoint to teams such as the Red Sox and Redskins -- and the Leafs -- who shove ticket and concessions prices as high as their wealthiest customers will allow.
"We don't have that luxury in Buffalo," says Quinn.
As it turns out, the Sabres don't need it. They're luring a broad new generation of fans to one small corner of the NHL: 12 percent of Buffalo's season-ticket holders are from Canada, which means those single-game Leafs (or Sens or Habs) crazies better already have a ticket.
As for the 121 other big league franchises, you'll see them ranked on the following pages according to how well they rated in eight categories. We surveyed more than 80,000 fans on ESPN.com about their favorite teams to get scores in seven areas: Affordability (including ticket prices, parking and concessions); Coaching; Fan Relations (access to players, coaches and management); Ownership (honesty and loyalty); Players (effort and likability); Stadium Experience; and Title Track (prospects for winning a championship). For the final category, Bang for the Buck, we examined how efficiently teams convert dollars from fans into on-field wins (see methodology). The result is the only ranking that combines the fan's perspective with an objective measure of how efficiently teams use fan money.
Some teams have plunged in this year's rankings without doing anything worse. It's just that this year's list is 31 clubs longer -- the lockout prevented us from including NHL franchises last time around and the NBA expansion Charlotte Bobcats are rated for the first time. But in the numbers that follow, you'll find evidence of busted covenants. Some clubs (Royals, Pirates) sell tickets on the cheap in futile attempts to compensate for too few W's. Other teams (Cowboys, Falcons) have hiked prices expecting to compete for titles, and then fallen short, leaving fans twice burned. A few (Nets, Kings) are either moving or have talked so much about relocating that their hometown loyalists feel abandoned. Quite a few more (Bengals, Pacers) have been crushed by a heightened demand for players who act professionally off as well as on the field.
But you'll also find a batch of teams that are perennial powers in our Standings. The Angels, Colts, Pistons, Steelers and Spurs have ranked in our top 10 in each of the past three years. What do they have in common? First, homegrown and hardworking players. Second, committed owners and smart GMs who don't mind spending money but who don't stretch their budgets so far that average fans can't afford to support their spending. And third -- well, what do you know! -- they're financially successful. The value of these five franchises climbed an average of 13.4 percent last year, and they made a collective $81.4 million in profits.
These teams all have learned well the lesson you can see in action every time the Sabres take the ice: invest in fans, and we'll pay you back.
Financial analysis by The Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon: Melynda Stein, Brian McHugh, David Hobbie, Professor Dennis Howard, Kimberley Saunders, Jennifer Wagner, Jared Schoening, Kevin Snyder and Brett Lentz. Polling by Markitecture, Inc. Team rankings by Morty Ain, Jason Catania, Andy Kamenetzky, Brian Kamenetzky, Molly Knight and Eddie Matz.
"But is it valid? Reliable? Generalizable?...."
-Some Academic
-Some Academic
What the center of the Cdn. universe needs is an NFL team...
Toronto's surprise claim to fame: Survey that tracks which city events rate international coverage says film fest is T.O.'s technical knockout
Toronto's surprise claim to fame: Survey that tracks which city events rate international coverage says film fest is T.O.'s technical knockoutFrancine Kopun
Toronto Star
The Toronto International Film Festival is the city's biggest international newsmaker by far, according to a new study by a Montreal media monitoring company.
Without it, our biggest claim to fame would be the Toronto Stock Exchange.
"We call it a media eclipse, meaning it's such a big event that it makes everything else look unimportant," said Eric Leveille, general manager of Influence Communication, the company that conducted the study for the Toronto Star and La Presse.
"We would even go so far as to say that while TIFF is going on, it's an excellent time of year for corporations to announce bad news because no one is going to listen. It's eclipsing all other news right now in your city."
The study examined 50 newspapers from eight countries outside of Canada for articles that mentioned Toronto or Montreal – excluding sports stories. Some highlights:
Toronto was mentioned 6,000 times. Montreal was mentioned 3,500 times.
Thirty per cent of the stories about Toronto related to business, with the Toronto Stock Exchange accounting for 13 per cent of mentions.
Another 30 per cent of the stories about Toronto related to culture. In that category, TIFF was by far the biggest story, accounting for one-quarter of all mentions of Toronto.
"This is humongous. Twenty-five per cent of a sector is absolutely huge," said David Lamarche, Influence analyst.
The indie band Arcade Fire was Montreal's top culture story, and it accounted for only 5 per cent of stories in that category. Cirque du Soleil and the Just for Laughs Festival were tied for second – each were named in 4 per cent of stories about culture in Montreal. The Jazz Festival, Leonard Cohen and the Montreal Film Festival tied for third place at 2 per cent each.
TIFF was the most covered topic in the U.K., in the U.S., where it got 10 times more coverage than any other subject in the culture sector, and in India, explained in part by the strong Bollywood connection.
"Bollywood loves Toronto," said Leveille. "More and more they're sending their stars to your city, they're sending their producers out there."
TIFF director Piers Handling said yesterday he knows from first-hand experience that Toronto is known from Houston to Mumbai for the film festival. He argues it's becoming what the Louvre is to Paris – a cultural icon, inextricably linked to the city.
"The festival largely brands the city of Toronto. I'll be so arrogant as to say that to a large extent, we brand Canada," said Handling.
Mayor David Miller said he's not surprised to hear TIFF is such a big news story.
"TIFF is now the most important film festival in the world. It's an extraordinary success," he said, although he stopped short of agreeing with Handling that it should get more funds from any level of government as a result.
The challenge, said Miller, is to use the strength of TIFF to promote Toronto in other ways – as an international business centre, a great place to make films as well as see them, a great place to visit.
Other important Canadian news stories included the AIDS/HIV conference in August 2006, and the Canadian mining industry, which is closely watched in Australia and South Africa. The Dawson College shooting was the biggest news story in Montreal during the period covered by the survey – May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007.
The arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in the Toronto area did not play as widely or as often as Leveille thought it would – it was the fifth-most reported story about Toronto worldwide, behind TIFF, the AIDS conference, the TSX and Conrad Black. He said that might be because stories about the arrests may have referred to "Canada" or "Ontario" rather than "Toronto."
Toronto, the analysts pointed out, continues to enjoy a reputation as "Toronto the Good." An article in one South African paper, for example, discussed whether or not rumours of a law in Toronto requiring pedestrians to give hand signals before turning were true.
But when it comes to tourism, Toronto needs help. Tourism accounted for only 1 per cent of stories about the city in the international press, compared to 6 per cent of stories about Montreal.
The survey also found that the Toronto Star was the most often cited newspaper and the University of Toronto the most-often mentioned university.
In Montreal, McGill was the university most often mentioned in the international press.
Without it, our biggest claim to fame would be the Toronto Stock Exchange.
"We call it a media eclipse, meaning it's such a big event that it makes everything else look unimportant," said Eric Leveille, general manager of Influence Communication, the company that conducted the study for the Toronto Star and La Presse.
"We would even go so far as to say that while TIFF is going on, it's an excellent time of year for corporations to announce bad news because no one is going to listen. It's eclipsing all other news right now in your city."
The study examined 50 newspapers from eight countries outside of Canada for articles that mentioned Toronto or Montreal – excluding sports stories. Some highlights:
Toronto was mentioned 6,000 times. Montreal was mentioned 3,500 times.
Thirty per cent of the stories about Toronto related to business, with the Toronto Stock Exchange accounting for 13 per cent of mentions.
Another 30 per cent of the stories about Toronto related to culture. In that category, TIFF was by far the biggest story, accounting for one-quarter of all mentions of Toronto.
"This is humongous. Twenty-five per cent of a sector is absolutely huge," said David Lamarche, Influence analyst.
The indie band Arcade Fire was Montreal's top culture story, and it accounted for only 5 per cent of stories in that category. Cirque du Soleil and the Just for Laughs Festival were tied for second – each were named in 4 per cent of stories about culture in Montreal. The Jazz Festival, Leonard Cohen and the Montreal Film Festival tied for third place at 2 per cent each.
TIFF was the most covered topic in the U.K., in the U.S., where it got 10 times more coverage than any other subject in the culture sector, and in India, explained in part by the strong Bollywood connection.
"Bollywood loves Toronto," said Leveille. "More and more they're sending their stars to your city, they're sending their producers out there."
TIFF director Piers Handling said yesterday he knows from first-hand experience that Toronto is known from Houston to Mumbai for the film festival. He argues it's becoming what the Louvre is to Paris – a cultural icon, inextricably linked to the city.
"The festival largely brands the city of Toronto. I'll be so arrogant as to say that to a large extent, we brand Canada," said Handling.
Mayor David Miller said he's not surprised to hear TIFF is such a big news story.
"TIFF is now the most important film festival in the world. It's an extraordinary success," he said, although he stopped short of agreeing with Handling that it should get more funds from any level of government as a result.
The challenge, said Miller, is to use the strength of TIFF to promote Toronto in other ways – as an international business centre, a great place to make films as well as see them, a great place to visit.
Other important Canadian news stories included the AIDS/HIV conference in August 2006, and the Canadian mining industry, which is closely watched in Australia and South Africa. The Dawson College shooting was the biggest news story in Montreal during the period covered by the survey – May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007.
The arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in the Toronto area did not play as widely or as often as Leveille thought it would – it was the fifth-most reported story about Toronto worldwide, behind TIFF, the AIDS conference, the TSX and Conrad Black. He said that might be because stories about the arrests may have referred to "Canada" or "Ontario" rather than "Toronto."
Toronto, the analysts pointed out, continues to enjoy a reputation as "Toronto the Good." An article in one South African paper, for example, discussed whether or not rumours of a law in Toronto requiring pedestrians to give hand signals before turning were true.
But when it comes to tourism, Toronto needs help. Tourism accounted for only 1 per cent of stories about the city in the international press, compared to 6 per cent of stories about Montreal.
The survey also found that the Toronto Star was the most often cited newspaper and the University of Toronto the most-often mentioned university.
In Montreal, McGill was the university most often mentioned in the international press.
Excellence in the game of Sorry
Cheers, boos greet Oilers' apology: Full-page ad seen either as much-needed, a waste of money or on the wrong track
Cheers, boos greet Oilers' apology: Full-page ad seen either as much-needed, a waste of money or on the wrong trackAndrea Sands
The Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - A letter from Edmonton Oilers hockey club president Patrick LaForge apologizing for the team's dreadful season has drawn both condemnation and praise from fans.
In a full-page advertisement in Saturday's Journal, LaForge detailed a string of obstacles, including injuries and extended road trips, that hampered the Oilers' performance on the heels of last year's remarkable Stanley Cup run.
"Every Oilers employee and player wants you to know they share your frustration about our results this past year," LaForge wrote in a letter headlined Proud to be in Oil Country.
The letter went on to defend Edmonton as a great place to live, work and play NHL hockey, despite winters that call for "a warm coat and snow tires."
LaForge's letter prompted varied responses from fans posting comments on an Oilers website message board Saturday.
"Should have saved the money," one wrote. "There is no excuse for this past season."
"Good for LaForge and the Oilers," said another writer. "It's about time that they stood up to challenge the fantasies and bad rumours out there."
Another fan questioned the motivation behind the letter.
"He is doing damage control because the Oilers as an organization feel that they blew it this past year."
In an interview on Saturday, LaForge told The Journal the letter is an annual report to the fans and the community.
"We wanted to say we're all in the same place about the team and we wish we were in the playoffs, but there were circumstances that combined to deal us a bad hand," he said. "Of course, we all feel bad about that and we're doing everything we can to get it fixed right now."
Edmonton has been heavily criticized in the media for not being attractive to players, especially since the surprise defection of star defenceman Chris Pronger, who left last year for sunny Anaheim, Calif.
Another blow to Edmonton came in a Hockey News poll of 283 NHL players, which reported Buffalo, then Edmonton, were the places NHL players would least like to be traded among the league's 30 teams.
Edmonton can be a tough place to play hockey, LaForge said. Hockey passions run deep here, and players are scrutinized by knowledgeable fans with high expectations.
"We feel very proud to be in Edmonton and we think it's a great city. We've won five Stanley Cups here and it's our intention to win more," he said.
"Some writers -- from the East and from Edmonton -- have positioned it as somehow a place that's not worthy of NHL players or NHL teams, and we just think people have got that so wrong it's unbelievable."
Edmonton-based player agent Ritch Winter said LaForge and the Oilers need to stop being defensive about Edmonton's climate and start finding ways to make the city more attractive to free-agent players.
"It is a cold and dreary wasteland in the wintertime," Winter said.
"Until we're able to communicate effectively to (players) the intangible benefits of living in Edmonton and playing hockey in Edmonton -- which are great -- our chances of competing in the National Hockey League at the level the fans would like to see this team compete will be negatively affected."
Greg Duquette, a doctoral student in sport management at the University of Alberta, said fans here need to develop a thicker skin to fend off what LaForge called "drive-by criticism."
"I disagree that it is harder to play hockey in Edmonton than in Vancouver or Montreal," Duquette said. "The difference is that residents of those communities are less likely to see the career choices of a few professional athletes as a reflection on the attractiveness of their community."
Longtime season-ticket holder Doug Spaner suggested LaForge should have sent his letter to newspapers across the country instead of within Edmonton.
It didn't tell Oilers fans anything they don't already know, Spaner said in an interview.
"It should be addressed to other hockey players who are going to think twice about signing here," said the 50-year-old psychiatrist.
This season was discouraging for fans, but they won't abandon their beloved Oilers, Spaner said. "If I wasn't deterred by the 1990s, I'm not going to be deterred by one bad season," he laughed.
Cal Nichols, chairman of the Edmonton Oilers ownership group, said team general manager Kevin Lowe has the tools and budget to build a competitive team for next season.
"This is where superior coaching, scouting and managing has to enter into it. ... It's how you manage your assets, because we're all on kind of an equal, level playing field," Nichols said, referring to the NHL salary cap.
If plans for a new downtown arena go ahead, it could help Oilers managers attract star talent and free agents, Nichols added.
Mayor Stephen Mandel is expected to unveil a committee this week that will study the idea of replacing Rexall Place with a $400-million building in the city's core.
In a full-page advertisement in Saturday's Journal, LaForge detailed a string of obstacles, including injuries and extended road trips, that hampered the Oilers' performance on the heels of last year's remarkable Stanley Cup run.
"Every Oilers employee and player wants you to know they share your frustration about our results this past year," LaForge wrote in a letter headlined Proud to be in Oil Country.
The letter went on to defend Edmonton as a great place to live, work and play NHL hockey, despite winters that call for "a warm coat and snow tires."
LaForge's letter prompted varied responses from fans posting comments on an Oilers website message board Saturday.
"Should have saved the money," one wrote. "There is no excuse for this past season."
"Good for LaForge and the Oilers," said another writer. "It's about time that they stood up to challenge the fantasies and bad rumours out there."
Another fan questioned the motivation behind the letter.
"He is doing damage control because the Oilers as an organization feel that they blew it this past year."
In an interview on Saturday, LaForge told The Journal the letter is an annual report to the fans and the community.
"We wanted to say we're all in the same place about the team and we wish we were in the playoffs, but there were circumstances that combined to deal us a bad hand," he said. "Of course, we all feel bad about that and we're doing everything we can to get it fixed right now."
Edmonton has been heavily criticized in the media for not being attractive to players, especially since the surprise defection of star defenceman Chris Pronger, who left last year for sunny Anaheim, Calif.
Another blow to Edmonton came in a Hockey News poll of 283 NHL players, which reported Buffalo, then Edmonton, were the places NHL players would least like to be traded among the league's 30 teams.
Edmonton can be a tough place to play hockey, LaForge said. Hockey passions run deep here, and players are scrutinized by knowledgeable fans with high expectations.
"We feel very proud to be in Edmonton and we think it's a great city. We've won five Stanley Cups here and it's our intention to win more," he said.
"Some writers -- from the East and from Edmonton -- have positioned it as somehow a place that's not worthy of NHL players or NHL teams, and we just think people have got that so wrong it's unbelievable."
Edmonton-based player agent Ritch Winter said LaForge and the Oilers need to stop being defensive about Edmonton's climate and start finding ways to make the city more attractive to free-agent players.
"It is a cold and dreary wasteland in the wintertime," Winter said.
"Until we're able to communicate effectively to (players) the intangible benefits of living in Edmonton and playing hockey in Edmonton -- which are great -- our chances of competing in the National Hockey League at the level the fans would like to see this team compete will be negatively affected."
Greg Duquette, a doctoral student in sport management at the University of Alberta, said fans here need to develop a thicker skin to fend off what LaForge called "drive-by criticism."
"I disagree that it is harder to play hockey in Edmonton than in Vancouver or Montreal," Duquette said. "The difference is that residents of those communities are less likely to see the career choices of a few professional athletes as a reflection on the attractiveness of their community."
Longtime season-ticket holder Doug Spaner suggested LaForge should have sent his letter to newspapers across the country instead of within Edmonton.
It didn't tell Oilers fans anything they don't already know, Spaner said in an interview.
"It should be addressed to other hockey players who are going to think twice about signing here," said the 50-year-old psychiatrist.
This season was discouraging for fans, but they won't abandon their beloved Oilers, Spaner said. "If I wasn't deterred by the 1990s, I'm not going to be deterred by one bad season," he laughed.
Cal Nichols, chairman of the Edmonton Oilers ownership group, said team general manager Kevin Lowe has the tools and budget to build a competitive team for next season.
"This is where superior coaching, scouting and managing has to enter into it. ... It's how you manage your assets, because we're all on kind of an equal, level playing field," Nichols said, referring to the NHL salary cap.
If plans for a new downtown arena go ahead, it could help Oilers managers attract star talent and free agents, Nichols added.
Mayor Stephen Mandel is expected to unveil a committee this week that will study the idea of replacing Rexall Place with a $400-million building in the city's core.
Who dat say dey gonna move dem Saints?
Louisiana, Saints drop exit clauses
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — The New Orleans Saints have come to an agreement with state officials that will keep the team in Louisiana through the 2010 season.
Both sides agreed to toss out contract exit clauses that would have let the NFL team leave the state within the next four years.
"For the foreseeable future, Louisiana's team will keep marching to victory right here," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said at the Governor's Mansion on Monday, announcing the latest developments in ongoing negotiations to keep the Saints in New Orleans.
The contract had allowed the Saints to opt out of its current deal with the state by repaying about $70 million the state has provided in inducements to the team. But the Saints will drop that termination clause, and the state will eliminate its ability to opt out of the contract.
Both sides agreed to continue negotiating on a long-term agreement that could keep the Saints in New Orleans beyond the current contract.
Saints owner Tom Benson is "committed over the next four years to get a long-term deal done here and to stay here forever," said team spokesman Greg Bensel.
The current $186.5 million contract with the Saints was negotiated in 2001 by former Gov. Mike Foster's administration and involves making annual payments to the team on top of other subsidies through 2010.
Those state payments will continue. Blanco said she didn't agree to give the Saints any more money — but ongoing upgrades to the Saints' home stadium, the New Orleans Superdome, will continue.
Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to the Superdome in 2005. The state repaired the domed stadium and invested another $185 million into improvements and upgrades long sought by Benson.
Benson was in Phoenix on Monday for the NFL owners' meeting and was not at the Governor's Mansion for the announcement of the contract changes.
Louisiana, Saints drop exit clausesAssociated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — The New Orleans Saints have come to an agreement with state officials that will keep the team in Louisiana through the 2010 season.
Both sides agreed to toss out contract exit clauses that would have let the NFL team leave the state within the next four years.
"For the foreseeable future, Louisiana's team will keep marching to victory right here," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said at the Governor's Mansion on Monday, announcing the latest developments in ongoing negotiations to keep the Saints in New Orleans.
The contract had allowed the Saints to opt out of its current deal with the state by repaying about $70 million the state has provided in inducements to the team. But the Saints will drop that termination clause, and the state will eliminate its ability to opt out of the contract.
Both sides agreed to continue negotiating on a long-term agreement that could keep the Saints in New Orleans beyond the current contract.
Saints owner Tom Benson is "committed over the next four years to get a long-term deal done here and to stay here forever," said team spokesman Greg Bensel.
The current $186.5 million contract with the Saints was negotiated in 2001 by former Gov. Mike Foster's administration and involves making annual payments to the team on top of other subsidies through 2010.
Those state payments will continue. Blanco said she didn't agree to give the Saints any more money — but ongoing upgrades to the Saints' home stadium, the New Orleans Superdome, will continue.
Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to the Superdome in 2005. The state repaired the domed stadium and invested another $185 million into improvements and upgrades long sought by Benson.
Benson was in Phoenix on Monday for the NFL owners' meeting and was not at the Governor's Mansion for the announcement of the contract changes.
Grapefruit or Cactus: The juice on the value of teams in communities
Spring training always a money-losing business
Brian Milner
Globe and Mail
Just about everyone in and around baseball looks forward to spring training, with its timeless traditions and its new-season promise of success — everyone, that is, except perhaps those responsible for the clubs' finances. For them, spring training is all about juggling costs and reducing expenses. While the business of baseball is booming, the business of spring training is a perennial money-loser for major-league clubs, at least on paper.
"There's a huge cost to operating the organization," Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said from his office overlooking the Jays' Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla.
The Jays pocket all the revenue from their 14 home games, including ticket, concession and merchandise sales. But it's not enough to offset the costs of housing dozens of major-league and minor-league players, coaches, trainers, administrators, team doctors and every other staffer associated with the baseball operation — more than 200 people in all.
Godfrey estimates that the net shortfall is about $1.5-million (Canadian), which is in the same ballpark as that of other clubs, depending on how they do their accounting for player development and other expenses. The Jays, for example, do not include the accommodation costs of general manager J.P. Ricciardi and other club officials in their spring training tab. These are paid out of their department budgets.
Not even the Yankees, who sell out every game in a stadium that seats 10,200 (almost double the Jays' capacity) and have a valuable television deal, turn a profit in Tampa. "My guess is that it would be a loss for everybody," Godfrey said.
That includes the communities that play host to the teams in Florida and Arizona. When it comes to operating and maintaining facilities, "most municipalities would say they lose money, particularly if they have debt to service," said David Cardwell, the executive director of the Florida Grapefruit League Association. "You have to look at a broader picture to determine whether or not it's viable for the community."
Baseball's economic impact in major cities is typically overblown by proponents of new stadiums. But it's hard to argue that the sport isn't important to the health of smaller communities that depend heavily on tourism. Cardwell cites Florida studies showing that spring training adds $18-million (U.S.) to $24-million, for each club, to community coffers. If you took all the spring training activity in Florida and treated it as a single attraction, he said, "it's roughly equivalent to having a Super Bowl in Florida every March."
So it should come as no surprise that Arizona, Florida's rival for the spring rites, has been waging a full-court press to draw more teams. The latest catches are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who intend to vacate their legendary 60-year home in Vero Beach after next spring, and the Cleveland Indians, a Cactus League pioneer in 1946, who will be heading back in 2009 after 16 years in Florida.
The pending departure of the Dodgers has struck a nerve with people nostalgic for the old days when trainloads of fans from the chilly north would crowd into small, rickety grandstands to see their heroes up close. But baseball is all about business and the Dodgers can scarcely pass up a deal that will produce higher revenue, help them attract a better TV package and bring them close to their West Coast fan base.
Arizona's big advantage over Florida, apart from better golfing weather and the close proximity to West Coast teams, is that it has had more money to spend, thanks to a surcharge on rental cars and hotel rooms that is earmarked for the construction and upgrading of facilities. Local communities, in turn, have set up non-profit clubs to operate spring training. That gets them an exemption from sales taxes, which amounts to savings of $100,000 or more a team each spring training.
The addition of the Dodgers and Indians would give Arizona a record 14 teams. But Florida doesn't have to worry about more poaching. None of the 16 remaining clubs have leases coming up for renewal before 2016. And there isn't much room left in the sprawling Arizona suburbs, where the teams are located within short distances of each other.
"We do not have any interest in taking teams from Florida," said Jon Richardson, a Cactus League committee member and onetime GM of the Calgary Cannons. "We realize that there's a point of diminishing returns." Shoehorn in more teams, and "we would be cannibalizing each other's gates."
Spring training always a money-losing businessBrian Milner
Globe and Mail
Just about everyone in and around baseball looks forward to spring training, with its timeless traditions and its new-season promise of success — everyone, that is, except perhaps those responsible for the clubs' finances. For them, spring training is all about juggling costs and reducing expenses. While the business of baseball is booming, the business of spring training is a perennial money-loser for major-league clubs, at least on paper.
"There's a huge cost to operating the organization," Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said from his office overlooking the Jays' Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla.
The Jays pocket all the revenue from their 14 home games, including ticket, concession and merchandise sales. But it's not enough to offset the costs of housing dozens of major-league and minor-league players, coaches, trainers, administrators, team doctors and every other staffer associated with the baseball operation — more than 200 people in all.
Godfrey estimates that the net shortfall is about $1.5-million (Canadian), which is in the same ballpark as that of other clubs, depending on how they do their accounting for player development and other expenses. The Jays, for example, do not include the accommodation costs of general manager J.P. Ricciardi and other club officials in their spring training tab. These are paid out of their department budgets.
Not even the Yankees, who sell out every game in a stadium that seats 10,200 (almost double the Jays' capacity) and have a valuable television deal, turn a profit in Tampa. "My guess is that it would be a loss for everybody," Godfrey said.
That includes the communities that play host to the teams in Florida and Arizona. When it comes to operating and maintaining facilities, "most municipalities would say they lose money, particularly if they have debt to service," said David Cardwell, the executive director of the Florida Grapefruit League Association. "You have to look at a broader picture to determine whether or not it's viable for the community."
Baseball's economic impact in major cities is typically overblown by proponents of new stadiums. But it's hard to argue that the sport isn't important to the health of smaller communities that depend heavily on tourism. Cardwell cites Florida studies showing that spring training adds $18-million (U.S.) to $24-million, for each club, to community coffers. If you took all the spring training activity in Florida and treated it as a single attraction, he said, "it's roughly equivalent to having a Super Bowl in Florida every March."
So it should come as no surprise that Arizona, Florida's rival for the spring rites, has been waging a full-court press to draw more teams. The latest catches are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who intend to vacate their legendary 60-year home in Vero Beach after next spring, and the Cleveland Indians, a Cactus League pioneer in 1946, who will be heading back in 2009 after 16 years in Florida.
The pending departure of the Dodgers has struck a nerve with people nostalgic for the old days when trainloads of fans from the chilly north would crowd into small, rickety grandstands to see their heroes up close. But baseball is all about business and the Dodgers can scarcely pass up a deal that will produce higher revenue, help them attract a better TV package and bring them close to their West Coast fan base.
Arizona's big advantage over Florida, apart from better golfing weather and the close proximity to West Coast teams, is that it has had more money to spend, thanks to a surcharge on rental cars and hotel rooms that is earmarked for the construction and upgrading of facilities. Local communities, in turn, have set up non-profit clubs to operate spring training. That gets them an exemption from sales taxes, which amounts to savings of $100,000 or more a team each spring training.
The addition of the Dodgers and Indians would give Arizona a record 14 teams. But Florida doesn't have to worry about more poaching. None of the 16 remaining clubs have leases coming up for renewal before 2016. And there isn't much room left in the sprawling Arizona suburbs, where the teams are located within short distances of each other.
"We do not have any interest in taking teams from Florida," said Jon Richardson, a Cactus League committee member and onetime GM of the Calgary Cannons. "We realize that there's a point of diminishing returns." Shoehorn in more teams, and "we would be cannibalizing each other's gates."
Major League city? Or just provincial?
Triple-A era closing in Canada
Canadian Press
The Vancouver Canadians were the first to leave, down to Sacramento after the 1999 season. Three years later it was the Calgary Cannons, headed to Albuquerque. The Edmonton Trappers became the Round Rock Express two years after that.
Once the Ottawa Lynx move to Allentown, Pa., following the 2007 season, the demise of triple-A baseball in Canada will be complete. In just eight short years four franchises firmly entrenched in their communities, built on solid foundations, will have disappeared.
The Vancouver Canadians, reborn as a single-A club, will soon be the country's last affiliated minor-league club. Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton have franchises in the independent Northern League.
Along with the Toronto Blue Jays, only five pro ball teams will call Canada home in 2008.
"It's not an easy situation when most of your partners are based in the United States," says Branch B. Rickey, owner and president of the Pacific Coast League, which was home to the clubs in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Adds Blue Jays pitcher Scott Downs, who graduated to the Montreal Expos - now the Washington Nationals - in 2004 after playing in Ottawa and Edmonton: "They were great places to play. It's sad to see minor-league baseball dwindling in Canada."
There are no simple answers to how, or why, no common formula that would have changed things. Geographic isolation, travel issues and aging facilities left the three PCL clubs prone to predatory buyers from more motivated baseball markets in the U.S., and now all three clubs rank in the top-five for minor-league attendance among the 176 teams across the continent.
Ottawa, which plays in the International League, faced fewer challenges but people just stopped going to games and couldn't be lured back. The Lynx will play out the string next summer stocked with the Philadelphia Phillies prospects who will move on to Allentown.
"All of the challenges (in Ottawa) could have been overcome with better attendance," says Randy Mobley, president of the International League. "It has nothing to do with geography, nothing to do with the travel, nothing to do with the Canadian economy.
"The main problem was they couldn't draw 6,000-7,000 fans a night."
But there were larger issues, too.
Major-league teams have never been as demanding of their triple-A affiliates as they are now. They want top-notch facilities, easy access to their players, less travel, worry-free living conditions.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon recalls how when he was the Los Angeles Angels' roving hitting instructor and their triple-A club was in Vancouver, several players couldn't afford to pay their rent.
"The organization had to top them up for a while," he says. "Part of it is also the inconvenience of bringing players back and forth across the border if you need somebody rapidly."
There were troubles with the Canadian dollar, which was substantially weaker than the American greenback only a handful of years ago.
Travel costs for Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary were also prohibitive, with several flights down to the southwestern U.S., and vice-versa for the rest of the league. Concerns about making connecting flights, weather delays, lost luggage and border issues left the league worried about teams arriving late or missing games.
"There was a lot of money at risk," says Rickey, who oversaw all three departures. "There was an extraordinary intersection of opportunity and availability in these three cases."
Vancouver lost its team when ownership in Sacramento approached Rickey and said it had promises of a new stadium from the city and was looking for a team that could be convinced to sell and would be easy to move.
A similar scenario played out in Calgary, when the sting of losing its team to Portland prompted Albuquerque, N.M., to build a stadium and seek out another club.
Alone in Canada, Edmonton was a sitting duck for the buyers from Round Rock, Texas led by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who wanted a triple-A team to replace the double-A club it already owned in the city. The double-A team was moved to Corpus Christi once the triple-A club arrived.
In each instance, the prospective buyers were pointed north as the viability of running a PCL team in Canada diminished. Despite being longstanding fixtures in their communities, the Canadians (1978-99), Trappers (1981-2004) and Cannons (1985-2002) were surprisingly easy to uproot. Their moves were met with little to no resistance.
"Honestly, I would have to admit that's the case," says Rickey.
The Lynx, on the other hand, struggled for years before another suitor came calling for them.
They set International League attendance records when the began play in 1993, averaging nearly 10,000 fans a game. But those numbers steadily declined into the 2,000-range as apathy inexplicably grew toward the team.
"I've thought long and hard about that, I don't have a simple answer for that, I wish I did," says Mobley. "If we could have identified a single issue, we would have tried to address it.
"There were several factors but the predominant one is that spending the night at a triple-A game was not a high priority for the people of the Ottawa area."
Owner Ray Pecor did not return a message seeking comment and has yet to publicly confirm his sale of the club to businessmen in Allentown. Mobley confirms that there's an agreement and approvals in place with a closing date of November 2007.
Travel, by bus, wasn't a problem for the Lynx and crossing the border was not a major problem. There were no geographical issues that made having Ottawa an inconvenience for the other clubs.
"The weather wasn't always the best but we had good fans, they were fun places to play," says Downs. "Edmonton was one of my favourite places to play. I was able to spend a year and a half there and the fans were unbelievable.
"The weather was a little cold but other than that I enjoyed it."
Few former players and coaches have a bad thing to say about their experience in Canada.
"I truly enjoy the Canadian people," says Maddon. "By nature they're very polite, very hospitable. "They treated us great."
But for business reasons, it's unlikely triple-A baseball will be back in Canada anytime soon.
"Certainly there are scenarios that could be extremely favourable to doing so," says Rickey. "I don't think it's in the foreseeable future."
Adds Mobley: "I wouldn't say never but I don't see it happening. I have no reason to believe that may happen."
Triple-A era closing in CanadaCanadian Press
The Vancouver Canadians were the first to leave, down to Sacramento after the 1999 season. Three years later it was the Calgary Cannons, headed to Albuquerque. The Edmonton Trappers became the Round Rock Express two years after that.
Once the Ottawa Lynx move to Allentown, Pa., following the 2007 season, the demise of triple-A baseball in Canada will be complete. In just eight short years four franchises firmly entrenched in their communities, built on solid foundations, will have disappeared.
The Vancouver Canadians, reborn as a single-A club, will soon be the country's last affiliated minor-league club. Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton have franchises in the independent Northern League.
Along with the Toronto Blue Jays, only five pro ball teams will call Canada home in 2008.
"It's not an easy situation when most of your partners are based in the United States," says Branch B. Rickey, owner and president of the Pacific Coast League, which was home to the clubs in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Adds Blue Jays pitcher Scott Downs, who graduated to the Montreal Expos - now the Washington Nationals - in 2004 after playing in Ottawa and Edmonton: "They were great places to play. It's sad to see minor-league baseball dwindling in Canada."
There are no simple answers to how, or why, no common formula that would have changed things. Geographic isolation, travel issues and aging facilities left the three PCL clubs prone to predatory buyers from more motivated baseball markets in the U.S., and now all three clubs rank in the top-five for minor-league attendance among the 176 teams across the continent.
Ottawa, which plays in the International League, faced fewer challenges but people just stopped going to games and couldn't be lured back. The Lynx will play out the string next summer stocked with the Philadelphia Phillies prospects who will move on to Allentown.
"All of the challenges (in Ottawa) could have been overcome with better attendance," says Randy Mobley, president of the International League. "It has nothing to do with geography, nothing to do with the travel, nothing to do with the Canadian economy.
"The main problem was they couldn't draw 6,000-7,000 fans a night."
But there were larger issues, too.
Major-league teams have never been as demanding of their triple-A affiliates as they are now. They want top-notch facilities, easy access to their players, less travel, worry-free living conditions.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon recalls how when he was the Los Angeles Angels' roving hitting instructor and their triple-A club was in Vancouver, several players couldn't afford to pay their rent.
"The organization had to top them up for a while," he says. "Part of it is also the inconvenience of bringing players back and forth across the border if you need somebody rapidly."
There were troubles with the Canadian dollar, which was substantially weaker than the American greenback only a handful of years ago.
Travel costs for Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary were also prohibitive, with several flights down to the southwestern U.S., and vice-versa for the rest of the league. Concerns about making connecting flights, weather delays, lost luggage and border issues left the league worried about teams arriving late or missing games.
"There was a lot of money at risk," says Rickey, who oversaw all three departures. "There was an extraordinary intersection of opportunity and availability in these three cases."
Vancouver lost its team when ownership in Sacramento approached Rickey and said it had promises of a new stadium from the city and was looking for a team that could be convinced to sell and would be easy to move.
A similar scenario played out in Calgary, when the sting of losing its team to Portland prompted Albuquerque, N.M., to build a stadium and seek out another club.
Alone in Canada, Edmonton was a sitting duck for the buyers from Round Rock, Texas led by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who wanted a triple-A team to replace the double-A club it already owned in the city. The double-A team was moved to Corpus Christi once the triple-A club arrived.
In each instance, the prospective buyers were pointed north as the viability of running a PCL team in Canada diminished. Despite being longstanding fixtures in their communities, the Canadians (1978-99), Trappers (1981-2004) and Cannons (1985-2002) were surprisingly easy to uproot. Their moves were met with little to no resistance.
"Honestly, I would have to admit that's the case," says Rickey.
The Lynx, on the other hand, struggled for years before another suitor came calling for them.
They set International League attendance records when the began play in 1993, averaging nearly 10,000 fans a game. But those numbers steadily declined into the 2,000-range as apathy inexplicably grew toward the team.
"I've thought long and hard about that, I don't have a simple answer for that, I wish I did," says Mobley. "If we could have identified a single issue, we would have tried to address it.
"There were several factors but the predominant one is that spending the night at a triple-A game was not a high priority for the people of the Ottawa area."
Owner Ray Pecor did not return a message seeking comment and has yet to publicly confirm his sale of the club to businessmen in Allentown. Mobley confirms that there's an agreement and approvals in place with a closing date of November 2007.
Travel, by bus, wasn't a problem for the Lynx and crossing the border was not a major problem. There were no geographical issues that made having Ottawa an inconvenience for the other clubs.
"The weather wasn't always the best but we had good fans, they were fun places to play," says Downs. "Edmonton was one of my favourite places to play. I was able to spend a year and a half there and the fans were unbelievable.
"The weather was a little cold but other than that I enjoyed it."
Few former players and coaches have a bad thing to say about their experience in Canada.
"I truly enjoy the Canadian people," says Maddon. "By nature they're very polite, very hospitable. "They treated us great."
But for business reasons, it's unlikely triple-A baseball will be back in Canada anytime soon.
"Certainly there are scenarios that could be extremely favourable to doing so," says Rickey. "I don't think it's in the foreseeable future."
Adds Mobley: "I wouldn't say never but I don't see it happening. I have no reason to believe that may happen."
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