Still Stirring the Pot - Stadiums and Revitalization

Where do I start?

This brave commentator has been embroiled in the great stadium debate and I'm making a lot more enemies than friends these days.  It seems to be the price I'm paying in trying to make reasonable arguments for trying to work with the Tiger Cats.  People continuously think that the city can go it alone and that they will get some other sports franchise and that they will revitalize the downtown core.  For the three weeks the complex is in use, it probably will.  But what about after that?

How will a 15000 seat stadium attract any franchise?  One debate I ran into during a Twitter duel was that one guy insisted that there would be a soccer team playing there.  That's when I pointed out that there was one person who owned the rights to have a recognized franchise for the CONCACAF Champions League and that he also owned the Tiger-Cats, so when he leaves the prospect would be gone.

To that he replied asking, how can a league not take on such a city with the right business plan?  That's when I pointed out that when he currently is a part owner in an existing NASL franchise so if the city disses him, how will they handle someone who did that to one of their own?  I mean the NHL punished Hamilton again through Jim Balsillie.  And who runs the NHL?  The owners.  So who runs the sports leagues all around us?  The owners do.  So if a city chases out a current owner, what makes you think they will not turn away that same city wanting the said franchise after what you already did?

I am not gaining friends with this, because for all the sentimentality that exists, people are denying the truth that the moving of the Tiger-Cats can and might happen.  The city created this poisonous atmosphere and used the people of this city to try to shame Bob Young into returning to the table.  There was no point in him doing so, because he was expecting a partnership and it turned into a proprietorship in the city's favour.  But they are the landlords, you say?

Ok, let's take that tack for a second.  Let's say you are the prospective tenant of a unit and that you were expected to move in.  Then you realize that you can't live in the conditions provided by your soon-to-be landlord.  What do you do?  You air your grievance to the landlord, who says "tough," and you are told to deal with it.  Then what do you do?  You don't move in and you tell the landlord that the deal's off.  That's classic "Landlord/Tenant Act" stuff, kids.  And that's exactly what Bob Young did.  So what does he get for his trouble?  Grief and lots if it!  And for pointing that out, I'm the bad guy. 

So then I get grief from an expert in city planning who is saying that this stadium will revitalize downtown, without knowing that the West Harbour location is away from the downtown core and that old tired argument of urban sprawl on the East Mountain, where it's happening whether one likes it or not.  Some are congratulating Mr. Eisenberger's vision of city building, while either forgetting or being unaware of the fact that there were four buildings in trouble under his watch, namely Lister Block, a James Street North building almost condemned, a St. Joesph's Drive apartment building with its retaining wall and foundation faltering, and the now razed old Century Theatre on Mary St.  And forget that other old argument that because I was against the city going it alone against the Tiger-Cats that I must be siding with the East Mountain crowd, which at best obfuscates the whole argument to begin with.  As one of many sitting on the fence, there are people knocking us off.

My position is simple.  The city cannot afford to go it alone on a new stadium without the Tiger Cats to occupy it.  Without the economic spin-off associated with them, the stadium will just sit as a white elephant.  It will be another Copps Coliseum, which is now on the road to losing the Bulldogs to another city in Quebec.  With the Tiger-Cats moving out, 250 jobs leave town and several local community organizations lose the support that the 50/50 draws get for them.  The community services provided by the players would be gone and the city will have lost its soul.  And that's another unpopular argument.

And of course there are people claiming that the team will not move because they can't.  They hold on to this one eventhough the CFL has said so while there were two franchises that faltered in the nations capital.  The original was there since the inception of the CFL and the other was the expansion in its place.  The CFL let them go as surely as they allow will this team to go to greener pastures.

People are willing to let our team go away so they can have a stadium on the waterfront that will not attract anything more than high school sports and other obscure events.  So they satisfy the city building and urban planning crowd, while alienating those passionate fans who are livid about losing their team, who are being told to let it go and that they are not worth it.

So it's turning into a hot summer, boiling with passions in both the downtown revitalization and the Tiger Cat fans camps.  And it is dividing this city in such a horrible way.  If this is the leadership of Fred Eisenberger, who would rather divide than unite, who would rather alienate than reconcile, and who would rather obfuscate than reason, then I will take someone else.

I don't know how this will all unravel, but there remains one more week to bring the Tiger-Cats back to the table or lose them, possibly along with the stadium, forever.  And I am not feeling very optimistic right now.