No city money for stadium reno, says mayor

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz is rooting for David Asper's new stadium plan to pan out, but if it doesn't, don't expect Katz to dig too deep into the city's coffers to renovate Canad Inns Stadium.
During an editorial board meeting with the Winnipeg Sun yesterday, Katz said the city has already given the Winnipeg Football Club a sweetheart of a deal at Canad Inns Stadium that includes the right to play in the facility for $1 per year, access to concession and naming rights revenue and the ability to develop retail space at the stadium site, among other perks.
"We turned everything over to them. If we had that revenue still, I'd be happy to give it to them. We've given them everything already," Katz said. "I would maintain an open mind but I'd definitely be reminding them what we've given. It's also not like we're sitting on a pile of money."
Whether or not to renovate Canad Inns Stadium using money gathered from Winnipeg taxpayers will be a moot point if Asper's plan to erect a stadium at the University of Manitoba comes to fruition.
GLITCH
Katz called Asper's plan "a fantastic deal" because it uses only a small percentage of public money to get a major project done.
"If David Asper is successful I think we should all be dancing in the streets," he said.
However, Asper's plan has run into a glitch of late as the businessman was forced to ask the Bombers board for an extension of time to secure tenants for the retail complex that would be built on the site of the existing Canad Inns Stadium. The stadium would be torn down and replaced by stores, providing the revenue necessary to finance the stadium deal.
If Asper cannot secure enough tenants to move into the space, the entire deal could be in jeopardy, at which point the football club would have to look at other options.
One of those would be to renovate the existing stadium, which is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.
Katz said he's hoping it never comes to that but if it does he'd at least be willing to listen to suggestions from the Bombers board for other ways the city could help out, even though he's not prepared to hand over any money for renovations.

Deank wrote:"How come nobody is mentioning option #3 ask others for development proposals?"

I keep telling you, kneepads.. and apparently lots of them.