from Rick Bell of the Calgary Sun,
NHL commish Gary Bettman dishes the inside scoop on a mid-March sitdown he had with Nenshi and the mayor’s chief of staff.
It is in that closed-door conversation Bettman says he asked Nenshi a question and got an answer surprising and disappointing the commissioner.
“We were talking about the type of deal that was and wasn’t doable,” says Bettman.
“At one point I said: Let me ask you a question. I wasn’t being threatening. I wanted to understand. What happens if the end result of this is the Flames have to move?”
“And you know what the mayor said to me? So they’ll move.”...
Nenshi responds upon hearing of Bettman recounting the mid-March meeting.
He says his recollection is “somewhat different.”
“It is fair to say he wasn’t making any overt threats. But he certainly did say: You know, if you screw this up the Flames are going to leave and that is going to be miserable and it’ll destroy your city,” says Nenshi.
“I remember very well saying to him: That would be an awful outcome but it’s not going to destroy my city.
“He intimated it is the end of a political career if you lose a hockey team. I said: Be that as it may, we’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got to make the right and the fair deal for taxpayers.”
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.