That seems far-fetched when you consider what kind of money Ron Joyce had at the time.
According to wikipedia, Firestone had a hard time borrowing the money for the expansion fee.
Gabe Macaluso states there were 27 MPs that were backing the Ottawa bid.
Nice democracy.
The reason they backed Ottawa was because they were told up front that Hamilton would never get a team.
Too bad those MPs never mentioned that to Macaluso.
Too bad those MPs also failed to tell Firestone and his group that there would be little government support for the Ottawa arena and the roads leading to it.
MPs may have supported the Ottawa bid, but, didn't back it up with any actual support in terms of any subsidization, or any assistance by the government.
Meanwhile, the election of teh Bob Rae government presented several roadblocks for the Ottawa bid. Before the provincial elections, David Peterson was scheduled to travel with Ottawa to the bid ceremonies, to show his support. The upset of the NDP that year changed all of that.
Rae was not supportive of the bid, as, the Hamilton area was a key area of support for the NDP. As such, after the election, the Ottawa bid was notified that the premier would not be attending the bid ceremonies (obviously) and that attempts to build the Senators arena would be blocked through the rezoning efforts for the land, and, the lack of the government funded infrastructure. According to Firestone, these efforts were tied back to key individuals in the Hamilton area that were trying to weaken Ottawa's bid.
Regarding the expansion fee, I entirely agree that Firestone had difficulties, while the Hamilton bid was more secure. From the conversations I've had with Firestone, the fact that they didn't present any difficulties to the NHL on raising the funds was the key. While other bids may have been more secure, according to Firestone, the fact that they didn't unequivocaly say that there were no problems raising the funds for the expansion fee, was enough to set them back in the eyes of the NHL.
I fully acknowledge that Ottawa should not have received a franchise that day, if the NHL was basing their decisions on what was best for their economic interests. Ottawa was a team without an arena, without land to build an arena, and was severely undercapitalized at the time. The land issues resulted in the arena being scaled back, and the delays resulted in increased costs. The undercapitalization resulted in the bankruptcy ten years later. The only reason they did win the franchise was apparently a very persistent and ambitious presentation of their bid.
