Breaking: Bettman confirms he is in talks with city Mayor to build a new NHL arena.

The NHL is putting on the full court press.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 7 years ago
Breaking: Bettman confirms he is in talks with city Mayor to build a new NHL arena.

The National Hockey League commissioner has just confirmed some big news.

A report from the Canadian Press has revealed that Gary Bettman met with the mayor of Calgary, specifically to discuss a new arena deal. This is big news for hockey fans as the last proposal for a new development project including an NHL arena, a project known as CalgaryNEXT, was rejected by the mayor as well as the taxpayers in Calgary.

From the Canadian Press:

As NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met with media in his annual tour of NHL cities, he confirmed that he spoke earlier in the day with Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi. The idea of a new facility for the Flames to call home was one of the discussion points.

"I actually spent an hour this afternoon with the mayor. We had a very cordial, open, candid conversation," Bettman said. "I'm hopeful that the city and the Flames can be on the same page so this can move forward as quickly as possible."

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Whether or not that becomes a reality anytime soon however is another matter entirely. The Mayor's office is reportedly more interested in a much smaller development plan, one that only includes an NHL ready arena, one to likely be a far less expensive plan than the NHL originally had in mind. 

Bettman used the opportunity point out that the new development project spearheaded by the Edmonton Oilers was paying dividends for that market, and while doing so he dropped a not-so-subtle hint about the urgency of a new building for the Flames.

"The longer this goes, I think in some respects it gets a little more difficult, building costs go up, the amount of time it will take to get into a new arena situation will be longer," he said. "The new building in Edmonton, for example, is doing a lot more business. Perhaps some of it is at the expense of Calgary in terms of concerts and the like."

Call me crazy, but that almost sounded like a subtle jab from the commissioner.

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