NCC terminates Lebreton deal : Mediation to save the deal underway

[Gil Gunderson]

Another city for sure. The NCC is ****ed, owner of the team is ****ed, Kanata is ****ed. There will never be an arena at LeBreton. If there is one at some point in the future, it will be far too late. Our only hope at a franchise would be a Jets-type resurrection. Calling it now. It's really a shame that it is impossible to do business in this city, and impossible to business with this man. It's disgusting. You have billionaires arguing about the most ridiculous ****, meanwhile a million people are left in the lurch.

The NCC was ready.

It’s Melnyk.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

**** that.

I don't know if I want another Lansdowne to be honest. Taking Lebreton and making it a "Central Park" would be amazeballs.

I get why it likely won't happen, but that would be something Ottawa could legit be proud of.

 

[branch]

The NCC was ready.

It’s Melnyk.

NCC was ready, and Eugene did f*** it up, but let's not act like the NCC is in any way competent or able to deliver successful projects in a condensed time frame.

 

[branch]

I don't know if I want another Lansdowne to be honest. Taking Lebreton and making it a "Central Park" would be amazeballs.

I get why it likely won't happen, but that would be something Ottawa could legit be proud of.

Dude it would be a Mickey Mouse unused false park. LeBreton is tiny, it's one parcel of land. It would have a couple 200m bike paths (wow) some coniferous trees (wow), and would be deserted 6 months of the year.

 

[GCK]

The NCC was ready.

It’s Melnyk.

Yes it is Melnyk and Ruddy and Watson. I am completely shocked that the only party I do not blame is the NCC. My world no longer makes sense when the NCC is the reasonable party.

 

[Fandlauer]

NCC was ready, and Eugene did **** it up, but let's not act like the NCC is in any way competent or able to deliver successful projects in a condensed time frame.

The NCC is a joke, but as much as I'd like to blame them, in this one instance it's all Melnyks fault.

 

[branch]

Yes it is Melnyk and Ruddy and Watson. I am completely shocked that the only party I do not blame is the NCC. My world no longer makes sense when the NCC is the reasonable party.

They're all idiots.

 

[CTC]

Three possible outcomes here:

1. Ruddy and Melnyk manage to cut a deal right before the next NCC Board Meeting and present a new, reworked deal to them.

2. NCC throws it back to DevCore, who will put a plot of land on the site aside for an arena and simply wait out Melnyk.

3. NCC blows the process wide open again, at which point all bets are off.

Number one seems highly unlikely, to put it mildly. Two is possible, but the fact that the NCC won't even return DevCore's calls right now make me bet on door number three...

Could be that the NCC is at this time ignoring Devcore due to litigation risk, they don't want to be seen having dealing with another proposal outside of their current contracts? Once the 30 days are up they are free to speak to whomever they wish.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Could be that the NCC is at this time ignoring Devcore due to litigation risk, they don't want to be seen having dealing with another proposal outside of their current contracts? Once the 30 days are up they are free to speak to whomever they wish.

The Citizen article posted in the Devcore thread says exactly that. The NCC are having their lawyers look in to whether or not they're allowed to just move on to devcore without opening themselves up to any lawsuits. It also stated that it isn't a slam dunk if they're allowed and that it may be the right thing to do to restart the process and allow other bidders to get involved. Devcore states they have not received a response from the NCC on their request to have it passed to them.

 

[coladin]

Yeah, you're absolutely right. After over a decade of mediocrity that saw the most beloved player in franchise history leave because the owner and organization were too cheap to keep their promise to him, only to then have his successor and the best defenceman of this generation traded because the owner is a bitter and selfish miser, the best centreman in team history used as a scapegoat when he was traded, missing the playoffs almost every other year and only twice making it past the first round (and in the case of a conference finals appearance, it was clearly a complete Cinderella run that nobody with a reasonable mind thought would go all the way), no firm direction or vision for the team that management and ownership could stick to, a carousel of coaching changes, several of which were questionable hires, and eventually a GM who is nothing but a glorified yes-man for the owner, the real problem is the fans not blindly buying in! The audacity of these people to complain and decide that this isn't a product worth spending money on under the current ownership. Entitled louts, says I!

Hey kids, Uncle Eugene is serving you garbage and has been for years, and you should accept it and be happy about it! Eat that garbage with a smile on your face! Maybe once in a while politely ask dear Uncle Euge to not serve you garbage, but then immediately take another bite of that garbage with that smile permanently plastered on your face! That's what real fans do, and doing anything different means you're an entitled non-fan!

...and Ottawa's situation is different , how, from other franchises? We could probably go through each franchise and write the same storyline. That is Professional sports. The NHL. They all have their gong show moments.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Whatever happens I just want to enjoy the LRT ride through the Ottawa Badlands as long as possible. Maybe the city and NCC could just use taxpayer dollars to remediate the soil and we could have a community garden with some bike paths.

That sounds kinda nice. I've been legitimately considering buying one of the proposed condos but I mostly bike everywhere in the non winter months and live downtown so this would be great for me personally.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[supsens]

yeah, that's what I thought too, just rich guys staring each other down. I don't see any other option now, Melnyk must sell for anything to work. It would be interesting to hear the conversations with Bettman. Bettman can't force him out or anything but I'm sure there are levers he can use. Maybe Watson has even made a call to Gary.

Bettman already stated this deal was dead as per reasons stated in the lawsuit. He also pointed to tampa and edmonton (free rink) as something that works, further he fired a warning shot citing a person uninvited the NHL from a rink (Atlanta) and said the NHL does not go where it's not wanted.(hopefully the classic give us a rink bluff)
EM is not being hung out to dry, the NHL already knew this project was over. And everyone knew a counter suit would follow, this changes nothing
Him not distancing the NHL from the lawsuit may also hint to it having more weight then people around here want to admit. If he were upset about it, he would have made it clear it was Melnyk's beef.

 

[Sens]

Eugene you are delusional

 

[Tundraman]

I wonder if an arena is not an option they would consider building a mixed residential and perhaps a government complex. It's right on the LRT and near the river to serve both sides. Also how far have the Civic hospital plans gone. A major hospital with very close direct LRT access would be great too. It might not be a terrible idea if they re-opened discussions for ideas a short time before making any quick decisions

A provincial - private partnership could pay for a hospital with very little if any provincial money

A federal - private partnership could build a government complex built mostly with private money with the Feds/NCC providing the land it would save tremendous rental costs near the downtown area.

 

[DrEasy]

I wonder if an arena is not an option they would consider building a mixed residential and perhaps a government complex. It's right on the LRT and near the river to serve both sides. Also how far have the Civic hospital plans gone. A major hospital with very close direct LRT access would be great too. It might not be a terrible idea if they re-opened discussions for ideas a short time before making any quick decisions

A provincial - private partnership could pay for a hospital with very little if any provincial money

A federal - private partnership could build a government complex built mostly with private money with the Feds/NCC providing the land it would save tremendous rental costs near the downtown area.

I'd much rather see a state of the art hospital there than an arena. It's wishful thinking though.

 

[Micklebot]

Bettman already stated this deal was dead as per reasons stated in the lawsuit. He also pointed to tampa and edmonton (free rink) as something that works, further he fired a warning shot citing a person uninvited the NHL from a rink (Atlanta) and said the NHL does not go where it's not wanted.(hopefully the classic give us a rink bluff)
EM is not being hung out to dry, the NHL already knew this project was over. And everyone knew a counter suit would follow, this changes nothing
Him not distancing the NHL from the lawsuit may also hint to it having more weight then people around here want to admit. If he were upset about it, he would have made it clear it was Melnyk's beef.

If nothing else, Bettman's comments are always very calculated; he doesn't let out info that he doesn't see value in letting out. There is zero chance that if he is upset with Melnyk, he'd make it public.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

If they open up the bidding process and start all over, I don't think I'll be able to ever attend a Sens game downtown without the use of adult diapers.

 

[supsens]

If nothing else, Bettman's comments are always very calculated; he doesn't let out info that he doesn't see value in letting out. There is zero chance that if he is upset with Melnyk, he'd make it public.

Extreamy caculated thats my point, he would have gracefully laid it on Melnyk when he made his statement, he has the reputation of the entire NHL to consider. You can bet if it was an insane man problem he would have said Mr. Melnyk has a lawsuit and the NHL doesn't get involved in personal matters, or something to that effect.
But he was talking how the NHL likes to work with people but this project wasn't viable

 

[FlyingJ]

...and Ottawa's situation is different , how, from other franchises? We could probably go through each franchise and write the same storyline. That is Professional sports. The NHL. They all have their gong show moments.

Well, how many of these franchises have seen a decade of mediocrity with an owner who has gradually been revealed to be the modern-day version of Harold Ballard, combined with being in a small market, having a bad arena location, the single largest employer in the city (to a degree no other NHL city compares) having massive issues properly paying its employees which directly impacts the team's reliance on a walk-up crowd due to a small corporate market, all of this directly impacting the miserly Ballard Mark 2's moves?

While Ottawa's situation has similarities to others, there's enough here that makes it pretty unique. Oh, and throw in this Lebreton debacle, with the owner of the team being sued for $1 billion. Even in Calgary and Edmonton you didn't see that IIRC.

 

[GCK]

I wonder if an arena is not an option they would consider building a mixed residential and perhaps a government complex. It's right on the LRT and near the river to serve both sides. Also how far have the Civic hospital plans gone. A major hospital with very close direct LRT access would be great too. It might not be a terrible idea if they re-opened discussions for ideas a short time before making any quick decisions

A provincial - private partnership could pay for a hospital with very little if any provincial money

A federal - private partnership could build a government complex built mostly with private money with the Feds/NCC providing the land it would save tremendous rental costs near the downtown area.

Hospital is coming along well.

 

[JD1]

If nothing else, Bettman's comments are always very calculated; he doesn't let out info that he doesn't see value in letting out. There is zero chance that if he is upset with Melnyk, he'd make it public.

did Bettman comment on the shit show this week? gotta link? I'd like to read that

 

[GWNR]

The NCC is useless like most government agencies and crown corps, but this is all Melnyk. He didn't want to pay, plain and simple.

 

[JD1]

something that's bothered me about this city for a long time is public money being invested in sports infrastructure. ... it's bothered me dating back to Howard Darwin and the Lynx

This is a small town in the grander scheme of things and across North America we see public investment in professional sports infrastructure

why not here?

if the folks in here view themselves as fanatics. ... shouldn't the fanatics be in support of some degree of public investment?

I pay taxes. I pay a lot of taxes. much of what I pay goes to things I will never use...to benefit programs I will never be eligible for...if public investment is essentially necessary for the bottom half of North American markets to participate in pro sports why is it such a taboo subject here?

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

something that's bothered me about this city for a long time is public money being invested in sports infrastructure. ... it's bothered me dating back to Howard Darwin and the Lynx

This is a small town in the grander scheme of things and across North America we see public investment in professional sports infrastructure

why not here?

if the folks in here view themselves as fanatics. ... shouldn't the fanatics be in support of some degree of public investment?

I pay taxes. I pay a lot of taxes. much of what I pay goes to things I will never use...to benefit programs I will never be eligible for...if public investment is essentially necessary for the bottom half of North American markets to participate in pro sports why is it such a taboo subject here?

This is interesting ...... first suggestion of this that I've seen or heard coming from the local media.


"Finally, since the LeBreton project is to benefit Ottawa as a whole, some taxpayer funding is justified — especially if it improves the likelihood this thing will actually get done. Later, it now turns out, rather than sooner."

Bagnall: What Ottawa can learn from this Senators-LeBreton mess