Flames could leave Calgary without new hockey arena, team's Brian Burke warns

The Flames could leave Calgary if a new hockey arena isn't built, the team's president of operations said, also urging tax breaks for Canadian players to make northern NHLteams more competitive.

Speaking to a crowd at the Canadian Club of Calgary, things got heated when an audience member and longtime season ticket holder questioned Brian Burke on the team's pursuit of public money for anew arenaand suggested there was nowhere for the team to go.

• CalgaryNext on life-support as council votes unanimously in favour of 'Plan B' near Saddledome

"You don't think we could find a place to go? With a straight face you're saying that.Let's see. Quebec. Oh yeah, they have a brand-new building that meets NHL standards," Burke said to Chris McCrae.

"Quebec. OK, you just said we had nowhere to go?"

When pressed byMcCraeon why public dollars should be used to finance an arena for the team, Burke said, "I think most intelligent people get this. Sorry my learned friend."

Prior to that exchange, Burke argued for publicly funded professional sports arenas. He said the reluctance of Canadian citiesto spend on professional sports puts them at a significant disadvantage.

"In the U.S.,it has long been acceptable to use public money to construct arenas and stadiums. It's long been acceptable to give a pro team a favourable lease based on the benefits pro teams bring to the marketplace," he said.

Ken King, the president and CEO of the Calgary Sport and Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Flames, downplayed Burke's comments.

"Brian Burke runs hockey operations for the Calgary Flames and he and manyCalgarianshave strong views about this topic," he said in a statement.

"However, he is not our spokesperson regarding a new events centre for our city. We remain committed to our dialogue with the city and very optimistic we will get to a positive conclusion. We admire everyone's enthusiasm on this subject."

Calgary mayor responds

Mayor Naheed Nenshi told CBC News he sees Burke's comments as posturing and a negotiating tactic.

"This is me kind of shrugging," he said when asked for a reaction. "This is page 26 of the script. It's always page 26 of the script in every city, and my job now is, I'm supposed to go to page 27 and 28 in the script when I point out that Rogers has given them billions of dollars and they're not going to let them remove a team from a western Canadian market, that in order for them to go to Quebec, they'll have to sell the team to Pierre Karl Peladeau, and he's not going to give them a deal the way they're going to get in Calgary, blah, blah, blah. I'm not interested in doing that."

Nenshi said the city has been "very, very clear on our non-negotiables."

"The first one is the one I always say, public money requires public benefit, so you've got to negotiate," he said.

"Five out of the seven teams in Canada have privately owned rinks, only Edmonton and Calgary are publicly owned, and the Edmonton deal may have been right for Edmonton, where they desperately needed revitalization and construction in their downtown core, that is not the case in Calgary so we have to find a new model."

CalgaryNextvoted down

The Flames have been gunning for a new arena in the city for years. The proposedCalgaryNextcomplex that would include a publicfieldhouseand CFL stadium in the West Village, was effectivelykilled by city council, which voted in favour of a "Plan B" stadium near the existingSaddledome.

Burke said he's optimistic a deal will be reached in the near future for a new arena in Victoria Park. He said thatwith the impending opening of Detroit's new arena, Calgary will have the oldest building in the league by more than 10 years.

New York City, which technically has the oldest arena in the league, spent $1 billion to essentially rebuild Madison Square Garden.

"Frankly, when we put outCalgaryNext, I was personally amazedthe city didn't say, 'Thank you, let's do it,'" he said.

Burke saidtheproposed project would not only have changed the face of downtown Calgary for the next 100years, thefieldhousewould have also filled the No. 1 recreation need inCalgary.

Tax breaks for players

Burke said additional challenges Canadian teams face compared withAmerican professional sports teams are the exchange rate and taxation.

"The playing field is far from level," he said.

Because all players in the NHL are paidin U.S. dollars, Burke said,a $72-million USsalary cap equates to over $100 million Cdn.

"Right there you've got a situation where $30-million potential profit or potential use of funds for operating expenditures is wiped out," he said.

The higher taxation rates in Canada are also unfair for NHL players on Canadian teams. Burke said he believes athletes should be eligible for some sort of tax break.

"These guys makebig money but they have short careers," Burke said. "If you're a doctor, you might make a good living for 45 years.We're going to have to figure out how to tax the athletes equitably for the Canadian teams to be able to compete.