Raise the Hammer

Yesterday's $74 million headline reminds me that most journalists are innumerate.

If nothing else, you'd hope that the Spec would subtract the $10 million pledged toward THE OLD STADIUM.

Or the $5 million spent on a soccer team.

Or the $14 million that will go into pursuing two Grey Cup bids.

Or, if they were feeling especially like forensic accountants, the $30 million bid for rights to a decade of virgin facility management, which I have to imagine would net the club all revenues associated with the stadium (and possibly allow them to set their own rent). Without an RFP or bidding cycle, how do we know what management rights are worth? (I know CFL business performance is prepubescent compared to that of the NFL, but as a "for example," Indianapolis had a dozen bidders hustling for management of Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center earlier this year. Yet we're not even expected to flip a coin?)

Whether they're for or against the Hannon site, most people seem to agree that Young's offer, true to his promise of "millions or tens of millions," amounts to kicking in $15 million of the roughly $50 million that the city needs to build the stadium with a 25,000-30,000 capacity.

That's assuming the city doesn't scale back their investment based on the east mountain's elimination of the remediation/downtown stimulus/harbour vision rationale that convinced the majority of council to drain the Future Fund. If, at the very least, they commit to remediating the Rheem site, which seems likely, that widens the funding gap. If they throw downtown a sop as well, that's another shortfall. And then there are the "extras" like the road infrastructure and parking facilities, which could add another $10-20 million to the price tag.

Any question of architectural quality or humanizing design will hinge on the private sector closing the $50 million-$60 million gap that was flagged all those months ago (or, I concede, city politicians introducing tax levies to raise the funds). Hopefully the business sector steps up promptly on August 12, or this may just be 2015's answer to Civic Stadium.