Businessman offers $100,000 arena incentive

[GoDogsGo]

Businessman offers $100,000 arena incentive; Gas bar owner Bob Gale puts up cash, but sets deadline for St. Catharines to act

Posted By TONY RICCIUTO

Posted 6 hours ago

Bob Gale has made the City of St. Catharines an offer it can hardly refuse.
But if it does, the city can kiss his $100,000 pledge goodbye and he will gladly spend his money some other way.
During Sunday afternoon's Niagara IceDogs game at Jack Gatecliff Arena, the Niagara Falls businessman, who operates a chain of gas bars, made a surprise announcement during the ceremonial faceoff at centre ice.
He said he is willing to offer $100,000 for youth activities - but only if, within a year, the city can satisfy him that plans are in place to build a new arena.
"I'm just trying to kick-start the new arena in St. Catharines," he said.
The deadline is March 2, 2009. After that, he will take the offer off the table.
"That money could go into a fund or something, just like the one in Niagara Falls, to help the less fortunate so that they would be able to do something in this arena complex," Gale told Osprey News Sunday evening.
"I don't care if it's someone playing a guitar, playing volleyball, hockey or whatever, but it has to be open to anyone from the Niagara region because I'm hoping that everyone will get on board."
He would like to see all levels of government get involved, but they need to get things moving expeditiously.
He said he doesn't have a lot of patience for those who don't act.
The IceDogs games, he added, have been drawing big crowds not only from people in St. Catharines, but also from Niagara Falls, Welland and other communities, so there is a lot of support from around the region.

Gale said he wanted St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan and his council to know they have been doing a good job on this project.
McMullan and councillors Jeff Burch and Andrew Gill have been involved in talks with local investors interested in building a new spectator facility.
St. Catharines city council is expected to vote this month on a study of the economic impact of a new arena in the downtown area.
However, Gale wants to help move it along that much faster.
That's why he imposed the deadline.
"I don't have patience for things in government and why they take so long," Gale said. "I understand there is a process, but let's get it going."
He said it's important for things to be done right, a facility has to be able to pay for itself and it can't be a draw on the taxpayer. "I think I shocked a lot of people. I had thrown the idea around with my family, but hadn't really told anyone about it. I think the crowd got the idea, because they were applauding when I was making my way off the ice," Gale said.
"Maybe I'm the bad guy for doing this, maybe I'm the good guy - I don't care," he said.
Gale said if he doesn't see positive results within a year, then it will show him the city isn't trying and he'll take the offer off the table.
"I don't pull punches and everyone knows where I'm coming from. I'm too much of a veteran when dealing with the government.
"I don't put up with it, I just react."

Article ID# 926543

[Casey]

GO BOB GALE!

[WellandDogsFan]

Great post and good job by Mr Gale!

[pup]

Mayor Mcmullan is to be on 610 CKTB in between 5-6pm today (in 10 minutes) on Kevin Jack's show to respond to Bob Gale's offer yesterday. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

[pup]

So, Mayor McMullan said on 610 that they are looking at a 4000-5000 seat spectator arena that they are projecting to cost between 35-40 million dollars. They would need a site as large as the site that the Jack Gatecliff/Rex Stimers facility currently sits on for it. They are making the arena discussion a priority with city council. He mentioned comparable facilities such as the SSM facility. He made mention of the fact that the SSM facility had a large chunk of funding from Algoma who donated the steel to build it. In the next few years their plan is to look for a major corporate sponsor for naming rights and that money could be used for construction costs. He acknowledged the generosity of Bob Gale for his donation of $100,000. He also said that it would be great if they could get a shovel in the ground during this council's term. :)

[ItsGameTime]

So, Mayor McMullan said on 610 that they are looking at a 4000-5000 seat spectator arena that they are projecting to cost between 35-40 million dollars. They would need a site as large as the site that the Jack Gatecliff/Rex Stimers facility currently sits on for it. They are making it a priority with city council. He mentioned comparable facilities such as the SSM facility. He made mention of the fact that the SSM facility had a large chunk of funding from Algoma who donated the steel to build it. In the next few years their plan is to look for a major corporate sponsor for naming rights and that money could be used for construction costs. He acknowledged the generosity of Bob Gale for his donation of $100,000. He also said that it would be great if they could get a shovel in the ground during this council's term. :)
THis is great news.

[Phil Margonis]

wow great news indeed

algoma is a huge company, billion dollar one. ithink some arab guy or something bought it recently a lot of the ships that go along the canal are algoma central marine ones. i hope they donate more steel for our new and improved Algoma centre or gatorade centre or whatever

great news in any case

[NightHawk2810]

great news indeed

[RioBravo]

I can't believe how early it is and they are already starting some talk. This is awesome news.

[habsfan]

Good article with more info regarding the $100,000 from Bob Gale and .... From the Standard:

Gas mogul puts $100K on table for new IceDogs arena

Posted By Peter Downs

Posted 5 hours ago

Businessman Bob Gale says his time-sensitive $100,000 offer is only the beginning of what he’ll put on the table, if St. Catharines commits to a new arena within a year.
“I’m willing to work with St. Catharines in any way they want. I just wanted to start something to get it going,” the owner of Niagara Falls-based Gales Gas Bars said.
Gale announced prior to Sunday’s Niagara IceDogs’ game at Jack Gatecliff Arena that he would ante up $100,000 for a fund to help needy kids take part in recreational activities at a new St. Catharines arena.
But Gale included a key proviso in the offer — the money won’t materialize if council can’t commit by March 2, 2009 to building a spectator facility.
“I want to see plans, a location and plans. If not, I’ll back out,” he said Monday.
But if council does guarantee it’s going to help build a new venue for the Niagara IceDogs, Gale said he’ll also put money into the capital campaign for the facility.
“I’m certainly going to donate to an arena. When they have an arena I’ll be one of the first ones to donate to it,” he said.
Gale made similar arrangements with the city of Niagara Falls for a new arena that will bear his name when it opens.
He donated $250,000 to help disadvantaged youths participate in activities and committed $1 million toward the construction tab.
The $35-million arena is slated to open next year.
Gale said he’s hopeful his offer will act as the catalyst to bring together various levels of government and private sector sponsors.


“I want to make sure they know we’ve got to get going on this. We need it and we can’t afford to lose this IceDogs team,” he said.
The IceDogs moved into Jack Gatecliff Arena at the beginning of the season and committed to stay there for at least five years.
But the aging arena is the smallest in the Ontario Hockey League and can only accommodate about 3,100 fans.
The team, which regularly sells out for home games, has its sights set on a 5,000-seat facility.
IceDogs owner Bill Burke acknowledged the process to plan a new arena and put together the capital is time-consuming.
However, he said he’s hopeful Gale’s offer may push the project along more quickly.
“I hope it will push the city and the Region to look at it seriously because they don’t want to lose that $100,000 for kids programs. That’s a huge number,” he said.
Mayor Brian McMullan pointed out the city has already begun going through the due diligence process to determine if a new spectator facility is feasible.
Last month McMullan and two other councillors — Jeff Burch and Andrew Gill — met with Gale and a number of unnamed private investors to discuss what it would take to get an arena off the ground.
Burch has also indicated he will put forward a motion for a staff study on potential economic spinoffs of a new downtown arena.
Councillors will vote on March 17 whether or not to go ahead with the study.
“We want to do our due diligence as quickly as possible, but we also want to do it right,” McMullan said.
Failing to plan properly could result in costly overruns that could easily wipe out the benefit of Gale’s $100,000 offer, the mayor said.
He noted the four-arena Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre built by the previous council wound up exceding original estimates by roughly $5.5 million.
Early estimates suggest a new arena could cost around $35 million to $40 million, he said.
“We wouldn’t want to get into cost overruns,” McMullan said.
“That $100,000 could pale by comparison, if you don’t do it right.”
Burch called Gale’s offer “a great start” to help spur involvement from other partners.
“Hopefully we’ll come up with enough interest to make it viable,” he said.
Gill said he doesn’t know whether it’s feasible for the city go through the due-diligence process quickly enough to make a firm commitment to the project by Gale’s deadline.
“If it takes a year, that’s fine. If it takes longer than a year, I’m prepared to wait longer than a year to make sure we protect the taxpayers,” he said.

Article ID# 927141

[ItsGameTime]

This is exciting for the region, the talk of a new arena and we aren't even done season 1 yet. Hopefully we can keep up this steam but like it has been said in the articles you can't just rush it and hope it goes well you have to plan properly or it could be a disaster for all involved.

[GoDogsGo]

well said igt... look at the sports plex.... what a waste of good space....lets make that project our learning curve and dont make the same mistakes....