Rich

Go ahead and think that if you want. But the stadium is a one time cost which the government didn't have the money to pay for. Even if the stadium money would have been used somewhere else, then there is additional costs in deferred infrastructure costs that couldn't be completed because it went to the stadium instead. Maybe now they have to rip up a road and rebuild it bottom up rather then pay for maintenance on it to fix it which would have been cheaper in the long run. You can't just say the money would have been spent somewhere else so it doesn't matter. The somewhere else still need to be spent at some point.

It is still a cost to future government budgets when they need to pay the interest. So yes, the taxpayer is paying interest on infrastructure costs. It isn't money that is magically invented because it is government. In fact the Manitoba Governments credit rating has recently been down graded because of their debt and the deficits they run. So the cost of borrowing that money is going up. Just because it isn't talked about in infrastructure projects doesn't mean it isn't there. People just don't like to talk or think about government debt. Ask Detroit how that goes. The government spent an extra 200 million in debt to pay for the stadium (less when you factor in recovered money from the sale of the old stadium property) and since we are in a deficit, we will have less money available in future budgets as it will go to pay down that interest and debt had the stadium not been built. I'm not arguing that it shouldn't have been done or paid but to think there is no cost is naive.

The thing with Lawless is sometimes his speculation is based on solid inside information and sometimes it is speculation. It is tough to know which it is. I have no doubt there will be 9 teams talking to Heenan if he goes to free agency, and if the 200k to Picard is accurate, then 250k to Heenan as a starting offer is not a stretch. The question becomes if 250k is our starting offer, wonder what our limit is. What will Ottawa offer, and does Saskatchewan now have the cap room to match any of those offers. All things being equal, if the money is the same, can't see him leaving Saskatchewan since that is where he is from.

Our provincial government is running a deficit of about $500M right now I believe. So it could be argued the provincial government, who fronted the money for the stadium, took out a loan to pay for it.

Lawless agrees on the January speculation gary lawless ✔ @garylawless Kyle Walters was very careful when answering question on future of #bombers OL Glenn January. Wouldn't be surprised if team went another way

Realistically we can't fill all those holes in FA with proven starters. Free agents typically cost too much to do that and fit it under the cap. I'd be happy with 2 or 3 of those areas filled and the rest is on the scouting staff.

I know these awards usually come from the media and aren't always accurate, but he couldn't have been that bad last year.

I know what his job / purpose is. Doesn't make me hate him any less. From reading other stories of his where I was very knowledgeable on the topic and see how he twists facts to fit whatever narrative he wants, makes me distrust absolutely anything he writes. His job is to sell papers. A combination of him and Friesen make me not read the Sun. And if you hadn't of posted the article, no way I would have known about it. Pretty sure that isn't the reaction his employers want.

Some interesting tweets from Naylor....

If reporters (not that Sinclair is really a reporter) did their job and actually presented facts, then there wouldn’t be people demanding accountability and transparency. It isn’t like this is some huge shell game (well, no more so than most government deals) where people are trying to hide and blurry facts. It isn’t even that hard to do a little research to figure out what is owed on the stadium. Apparently though, anything more than having a single click to tell you everything you want to know is too difficult (actually I take that back, here is a single click that tells you what you want to know, just have to go to google and search for it….). Thanks to Wicek for this article. And as to not paying down the interest ... the original mortgage agreement as detailed below to payback 85 million is 4.5 Million over 44 years which comes out to 198 million total they will be paying back over the term of the mortgage. This probably gets increased by a number of years due to them paying very little in the first couple of years due to the additional 10M loan, but clearly this agreement means they are paying back more then just the interest. Not going to do the math, but I'm guessing this means they got a sweet deal on the interest from the province. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/stadium-a-sweet-deal-253686801.html And then for some comparables from the same article…. Then people still want to complain about how much tax dollars went into IGF and that the Bombers aren’t really paying anything back, let’s look at some more comparables on that front.

They are giving score updates here in the arena. But I won't spoil it for you.

Gotta love Broadbeck. Let's cut all the subsidies to the arts as well because they don't pay that money back. Yes the stadium is going to cost tax payers. In this day and age most venues like the stadium have a component of public funding. It enhances the city and the life of people living there. At least they are paying some back.

Imagine if he was Canadian and the Oilers did this. There would be a huge public backlash. If he was going to be sent down, playing in the World Juniors would be better for him then just going back to his junior team. What this looks like is that management has absolutely no foresight or vision or the ability to plan. They should have known about the 40 game limit 2 - 3 weeks ago and decided to send him down in time for the tournament. It looks like they woke up after New Years, looked at the numbers and realized that he needed to be sent down, instead of having this planned out a while back. It reeks of mismanagement. I'm sure this also leaves a bad taste in Draisaitls mouth that they denied him the right to play for his country. You don't think it matters to him because he played in the tournament twice already? Think of how a Canadian kid would feel if he got denied the right to play for his country and the club sent him back down to juniors two weeks too late. It is things like this that eventually make a player want to leave an organization when they can with UFA.

I did a small amount of research and it seems that he had a few inside contacts to get the info he got on contracts and bonuses and their structure. That along with research. To sell the site he would also need to sell his contacts to verify the information. And maybe that was the deal breaker. The NHL would pickup what this site did if they were smart. The site did a lot to promote the league in terms of drafts and interest in the game. And if not the NHL then then NHLPA since they were the ones who fought to make salaries public.

Don't know if anyone here used the site, but it has ceased operations with this on their webpage. http://capgeek.com/operations-ceased Which is a shame, was a really useful site.

Going to be very interesting to see what happens on our blue line when everyone gets back from injury. From the play of Chiarot to these comments on Buff: Trouba, Bogo, Enstrom, Stuart, Buff, Chiarot.... 2 or 3 of Pardy, Postma, Clitsome, Harrison are going to be trade bait or lost to waivers.

My guess is no. With Enstrom and Bogo both supposed to be back in January (early or late?), they will try to weather the storm. They will be out of a playoff spot quickly if they go on an extended losing streak.

Injuries are really taking its toll on this team. We were just managing with the depleted D core, but now throw in the injury to Kane and the forwards are showing their weaknesses. Pardy and Postman getting exposed. Pile it up and it is bad news.

Who is freaking out in this thread? The jets lost and the reasons why are being discussed in the game day thread. Seems pretty reasonable to me. The Pav vs. Hutch debate will continue no matter what until there is a clear cut starter. I'm ecstatic with our record given that our top 4 D-men are out, however I'm never going to be "happy" after a loss, especially one where we were up 3 - 1 going into the third and only managed a couple of shots in the period.

U.S. Government retaliating? China shutting them down (North Korea's internet goes through China's infrastructure)? Or just a bunch of civilian hackers doing their thing.

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. At some point you have to think that a new promotion will come along and disrupt the industry again (as ECW did). WWE either adapts and copies it or withers. You see it happen in most industries at some point. Things stagnate, someone revolutionizes it, the industry changes and adapts. As long as there is money to be made doing something, someone somewhere will figure out a way to get a cut. May not happen until Vince is gone, just as long as there is a core fan base to keep supporting it until it happens.

That was Punk vs. Cena on Raw and it was one of the best matches I've seen in the last few years. Really makes me wish Punk would just go back to wrestling. When he finally does go back, he will have more power and a bigger push so it will be better for everyone. WWE is really stifling right now. I'd suggest watching NXT if you want to see could wrestling. The myth of Vince McMahon, genus, is really becoming apparently. I have my reservations about Hunter in charge but NXT is really good and RAW isnt. So there's that. I haven't followed wrestling in a really long time. Probably not since the Monday Night wars era (and maybe a little bit after WCW folded). They say wrestling is cyclical. Do you see anything bringing it back to a high (or has it already been there and I just haven't noticed). I remember buying PPVs to watch the shock value of what somebody like Foley would do in a main event. My interest started to wane after he retired. At the same time, I also don't think it is right or realistic to expect people to put their bodies through what he would do.

The goals that Pavelec let in last night weren't necessarily weak goals. A 2 on 1, a give away right in front of the net, etc. But you need your goaltender to make the big saves to keep you in the game sometimes. Hutch seems to be able to make the big save when he has to. And while save percentage never tells the whole story, Pavelec was under .900 again last night, and if you look at his last 5 starts I believe ... not good. If Hutch has a big game tomorrow night, you have to wonder if he doesn't start taking more starts. Or does the Christmas break kind of "reset" things after that. I can't see them trading Pavelec at all this year, too risky as Hutch is still a very young goalie and can yet go through some tough patches. And as you suggest TUP, contract wise there is no reason to trade Pavs right now as Hutch is cheap. I wonder who would even be in the market for him (more Edmonton rumours?). If things continue like this, I can see Hutch taking the job by the end of the season and them trying to move Pavelec in the off season. Hellebuyck may be ready to move up to the NHL soon, but they would probably try to sign a cheaper veteran backup for Hutch if they traded Pavs. In my perfect dream world.... Jets makes the playoff and Hutch steals the job by standing on his head in the playoffs. Nothing against Pavelec, but his ceiling appears to be average. Hutchinson looks like he has the chance to be great.

Looks like the rotation continues and Hutch gets the start tonight.