Olympics bid could solve arena impasse

Time for posturing is over, Marc Chikinda writes

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where ALPH, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea. — from the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem Upper management and ownership of the Calgary Flames no doubt wish they, like the fabled ruler of old, could just snap their fingers and a new pleasure-dome would be built for their team beside another almost sacred river.

Unfortunately, with a stubborn and re-elected mayor and city council on one side and an intransigent Flames ownership on the other, a new arena seems no closer to construction than ever.

For some, like me, who don’t often attend hockey games, this state of affairs would not ordinarily serve to cause undue alarm. Except that I do like to attend a concert or two on a regular basis.

The idea that I and many others have to travel to Edmonton to see preferred artists simply because the iconic but woefully inadequate Saddledome roof can’t support modern day production and sound equipment is not only galling, but also utterly illogical.

How then to bring the warring parties together in common cause without breaking the taxpayers’ bank and provide Flames owners with a decent return on investment?

I believe there is a way. I am an enthusiastic backer of another Winter Olympics bid for the City of Calgary.

If we incorporate the construction of a new arena into any new Olympic bid we can bring more funding parties to the bargaining/funding table.

The current and now long ossified Saddledome was completed two years before the 1988 Games. Calgary then proceeded to hold the most profitable Winter Games in Olympic history. Those profits were used to fund amateur athletics and much of what today still provides World Cup competition at Canada Olympic Park/WinSport.

The economic benefits continued far after the Games ended. Tourism in 1988 boomed. An attendance record for the Calgary Stampede was set that year. A Winter Olympic Games held in the North American time zone brings more viewership and thus advertising revenue for the networks. The time has come for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to realize the current funding provided to Olympic host cities is inadequate to modern circumstances.

With a more reasonable contribution from these lords of the rings, funding a new arena becomes more feasible when all three levels of government and the IOC act together along with the ownership of the Calgary Flames.

In Calgary, we have — in the main — all the facilities we need to accommodate the athletic components of a new Games. We will need new residences for athletes and media alike, but what we don’t have is a modern arena to house the marquee events of any Winter Olympics — hockey and figure skating. (The Europeans would say downhill skiing is the marquee event of a Winter Olympics, but in North America the TV ratings say hockey and figure skiing garner the biggest audience).

There is a win-win-win formula that awaits only goodwill from all sides.

Back in the day, when I was a faculty association president, I used to negotiate contracts on behalf of close to 400 members.

I quickly learned petulant walkouts, while dramatic, seldom resulted in victory at the bargaining table. Flames ownership needs to realize this.

Similarly, the mayor could learn to suffer those he may view as fools a little more gladly and put some water in his wine.

The time for posturing on both sides is now over. The time for creative problem-solving is long overdue.

I am an enthusiastic backer of another Winter Olympics bid for the City of Calgary.