Polynerd

It’s a situation ripped straight from the Simpsons episode, The Old Man and the Lisa. In it Mr. Burns loses his plant through the council of various yes-men and sycophants. Below, some of the script.

Mr. Burns:      I've called you all here because I need some honest

                        answers.  What is my current financial situation?

Yes-man #1:    Great!

Lawyer:           Great!

Smithers:         I hear great.

Then, after losing the plant.

Burns:             I see it all, now.  You're just a bunch of yes-men.  I

                        was making the wrong moves and you were too gutless to

                        tell me!  Isn't that right??

Yes-men:         Oh, yes, sure, etc.

Smithers:         Right on, sir.

This is the only way to explain the recent bizarre mix of news coming from the Katz group. That no one in the room is able to stand up and say, “This is a terrible idea.”

The Katz Group let it be known to the media though “highly placed sources in the negotiations” (or some such malarkey) that they were looking into the possibility of putting the arena on the land of the Enoch Cree reserve northwest of Edmonton. It would presumably locate the arena nearby the large casino development out there.

The other stumble? In what may bethe clumsiest piece of advocacy I’ve ever seen, the Katz group called up five different Edmonton MLA offices offering “communications assistance” to their offices.

As it rapidly becomes obvious that we’re still $100 million dollars shy from building a downtown arena the Katz Group is flailing about trying to save face after conducting the negotiations in bad faith during this entire time.

It’s been quite weird actually. The city has essentially grabbed its ankles in negotiations with the Katz Group. The city and the public purse is taking the most risk here, kicking in $250 million on a planned $450 million development. Despite this significant public investment the Katz Group and the Oilers are getting all operational revenue. This deal essentially makes Northlands disappear. The Katz group will presumably build itself a bigger arena with more luxury boxes that will bring in far more revenue yet he seems fundamentally unwilling kick in more than his promised $100 million on this project. Instead he gone the way of the corporate hostage-taker, playing hardball with people who really want this deal to happen. Do you honestly think Stephen Mandel isn't doing everything he can here? Mandel wants a downtown arena so bad it oozes out of him but Katz has garbled it all from the very beginning.

Let’s look at he Enoch cree "proposal" at this point.

Katz owns the downtown site on which the new arena is being built. They've committed quite a bit of cash, time, and effort in securing those and some surrounding properties. He's fairly locked in as well which is why his whole MOVE THE OILERS negotiating tactic is bollocks. Let's repeat that again - The only real, serious negotiating gambit he has, is to MOVE THE OILERS. While the latest “leaked” plan falls short of that threat it does show the limited range of negotiating options the Katz group has. They’ve committed to a downtown arena. They’ve sung the praises of downtown arenas for the past two years. Now they don’t want to build a downtown arena?

In order to get out of their current barn into a new one of their construction for the 2015 season - Katz has made it quite clear that he won’t be renewing the lease with Northlands when it expires - construction needs to begin post-haste. He already has a significant amount of promised public money as well as designs, drawings and general planning for a downtown site. Moving it to the Enoch Cree site would mean the beginning of even trickier negotiations. He won’t own the land (the reserve will) and he will be dealing with entirely different public funding mechanisms (since he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to pay for the whole thing). This whole Enoch Cree mess is an idle threat of the highest order.

And the second tactic, offering PR services to individual MLA offices? Ridiculous. Akin to calling up the Oilers and saying that you’ll help with their goaltending problem. The province isn’t going to kick in any straight-up cash for this project and it’s easy to see why:

• Ed Stelmach is a lame duck
• The Progressive Conservatives are in the middle of a leadership race
• It’s a politically tumultuous time and the biggest threat to the PCs, the Wildrose, are fiscal hawks
• Any money given for this project essentially has to be doubled for the eventual Calgary arena

The rhetoric, messaging and negotiating done by the Katz group has been a disaster. It’s time to start over. The structure of the current deal is untenable. Either Katz is going to have to kick in more cash or he’s going to have to split some of the revenues with the city.

I just hope someone in the room with Katz has the balls to stand up and say so.