At the tail end of a 75-minute press conference at which the Flames unveiled their vision for a transformative facility that would be the envy of the sports world mayor Naheed Nenshi put out a sobering press release.
In his interestingly-timed statement, he applauded Flames ownership for their $200 million initiative and vision before reminding his constituents that while the City of Calgary dearly wants the field house the Flames would build as part of its west end arena and football stadium, the city has no money for such a project.
With that bucket of cold water the mayor did well to represent the knee-jerk reaction of some Calgarians who saw the $890 million price tag complete with the $200 million ask from the city and immediately dismissed it as some sort of gambit from the team’s wealthy owners.