NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. (CP) -- Plans to bring the Ontario Hockey League back to Niagara Falls have been iced for a second time.
Niagara Falls city council turned down the OHL's Mississauga IceDogs Monday for the second time in two weeks.
They voted unanimously to reject the second proposal from Capital Sports Management, the owners of the OHL team. The company has been trying since Jan. 8 to convince city council to build a C$40-million sports and entertainment centre that would host the team as its main tenant.
"The major discussion was we could not afford Capital Sports' proposal to us," said Niagara Falls city counsellor Carolynn Ioannoni. "The whole thing is designed to make Capital Sports a huge amount of money at the expense of the taxpayer."
The revised offer from Capital Sports would have seen Toronto investor Tom Bitove buy the team and move it to Niagara Falls. The city would own the 5,000-seat sports and entertainment centre, but Capital Sports would have become the manager of the new facility. Capital Sports owns the NHL's Ottawa Senators and owns the Scotiabank Place, their home rink.
The company's second proposal would have given the city about $1.4 million in annual revenue from the sports and entertainment centre which could have been used to pay down $18 million in public debt over 30 years.
Council had turned down the first proposal Jan. 22 because it did not include an opportunity to get revenue from the centre.
Politicians had discussed the revised offer which Capital Sports had sent to city staff last week. Staff gave them a briefing on the financial and community implications of going ahead with the sports and entertainment centre.
It could lead to a 5.9 per cent increase in property taxes, compared to a 2.7 per cent increase for the twin-pad arena the city has been planning to replace Niagara Falls Memorial arena and adding to the available ice pads for community groups, the city's chief administrative officer John MacDonald said.
The city would have to borrow close to $53 million to build the sports and entertainment centre once buying land, providing parking and a one-year retrofit to Memorial arena were included, MacDonald said.
He compared that to a total debenture of $15.6 million for the twin-pad arena on the old Cyanamid property the city has been planning for a year, he added.
Monday's vote seems to bring to an end almost a month of talk about the possibility of reviving junior A in a city that hasn't had that level of play since 1996 when the Thunder franchise left town for Erie, Penn.
Capital Sports chief operating officer Cyril Leeder waited at city hall to hear council's verdict. It wasn't the answer he was looking for. But he thanked city officials for reviewing his company's offer.
"We appreciate you getting back to us with a quick response," Leeder said.
He called it unusual that there had not been any direct negotiation between his company and city officials. The company submitted its written bids to city staff. They reviewed them and summarized them to council. It was a "fairly unique" process, Leeder said.
But the Municipal Act doesn't allow council to bring private developers behind closed doors for direct talks, said counsellor Victor Pietrangelo.
Later, Leeder said the council appeared to be more focused on landing a convention centre and completing the twin-pad arena than they were on an OHL-calibre sports centre.
"A major entertainment centre like we were talking about isn't on the radar screen yet," Leeder said.
Turning down the opportunity to bring back OHL hockey wasn't a snub to Leeder, Capital Sports or local hockey fans, said counsellor. Vince Kerrio.
"We really are grateful for his offer. The community would love to have a hockey team. We just can't afford to pay for it," Kerrio said.
Council unanimously agreed to send a counter-offer to Capital Sports that would give them 20 acres of city-owned land south of Niagara Square worth $2 million, $8 million in city funding, and assistance finding other government funding and other investors. But Ioannoni said that should be the last offer to Capital Sports and they want a yes-no answer within seven days.
Leeder said he would need time to consider that counter-offer, but Monday he wasn't even familiar with the site they had suggested.
"I need to actually see their resolution to understand it a bit better," Leeder said, adding he will talk to the city officials Tuesday for more information.
"I'll get together with our group and pass that along," Leeder said.
(By Corey Larocque, Niagara Falls Review)
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