NHL commissioner calls for arena in downtown Edmonton

Not a bad idea...I didn't realize their current rink was that old.

Bettman also needs to call for a few teams to be pulled out of the desert and come home.

I would like to go to games in a new arena that would be cool

Wow, I knew that Albertans were conservative, but not wanting to spend anything from Public Funds when all $$ can be recouped and despite the Economy slowing they're sitting on a huge pile of Cash, just boggles my mind.

Sorry for the run on sentence.

Let Bettman pay for it then.

You can call it old, but Rexall/Skyreach/Northlands already does everything hs mentions. Concerts, conventions and a variety of sports events. I'm still no convinced that a downtown arena is needed.

This is a little off topic but is that really your licence plate bootlegga

It used to be, yes. I have a regular plate these days.

Thats cool

It's not conservativism. Albertans spend tax money like crazy. Klein may have made some cuts in the 90s, but his spending went crazy in the last few years of office.

The problem is that most of us can't see the need to spend $500 million on a new building when the old one seems to be working just fine.

Hmmmm....maybe we should get an NHL commissioner that knows something about hockey. Next thing you know, he'll have a new team in another hotbed of hockey like Montgomery Alabama or something.

Rexall seems fine to me. Parking kind of sucks. How is a downtown stadium going to be any better. What about traffic? Its tough enough already driving from the west end to Rexall for a game - nevermind downtown. Build one by Nisku. At least it'll be a shorter trip from the airport.

Public Transit. Not sure how Edmontons' is, but here in Vancouver the Skytrain has a stop right near GM Place that takes care of much of the Traffic/Parking. Not all of it mind you and there is lots of Parking nearby, but it helps a lot.

Ya, the LRT runs right by Rexall and it works ok, and the bus system is not bad. Never had a problem there. Just way to much already jammed downtown, Rexall seems fine to me. Why spend so much cash?

Where would they put it down town anyway, Ive been out of the city for 3 years now but I dont remember there being an abundance of space for a new arena...