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in the race. Today, Im in yellow, but maybe tomorrow I go home; this is the Tour de France, he added. In this moment, Im not an

in News 23.05.2019 06:26
von jj009 • 1.455 Beiträge

EDMONTON -- The on-again-off-again deal to build a new rink for the Edmonton Oilers is on -- again. City councillors and the Edmonton Oilers agreed Wednesday to split the cost of the final $30 million needed to green light the wavy-shaped steel-and-glass structure in the citys downtown in time for the 2016-17 NHL season. "This has been a long and difficult process," Mayor Stephen Mandel told councillors. "We need to make sure that we build a city that attracts and retains the younger generation." Construction is to start next spring and the city plans to pay off some of its debt through increased tax revenues from shops and businesses expected to spring up around the arena. The total cost, including the rink and surrounding infrastructure, comes in at $604.5 million. Under the arrangement, the Oilers are to pay $161.5 million, the city $279 million and another $125 million is to come from a ticket tax. Last week, Mandel and political leaders from surrounding regions voted to seek another $25 million from the province under a regional grant program. The city says it will seek an additional $14 million in grants for a community rink attached to the project. "The result today is a landmark agreement that enables our city to move forward in an enormously positive way," said Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz, who was not at Wednesdays council meeting, but spoke with reporters via speaker phone. The decision saves a resurrected deal agreed to by council and Katz in January, but which had slipped into limbo after Premier Alison Redfords government refused to provide $100 million. Redford and her predecessor Ed Stelmach never promised any direct funding, but city council struck the deal in January anyway, hoping the money would come through somehow. When it didnt, councillors scrambled to find alternative sources for the cash. Last month, they voted to use $45 million in provincial infrastructure grant money. On Wednesday they changed that plan. They now expect that money to accrue from increased tax revenues around the arena. Political leaders from the capital region narrowly voted last week to back an application for the $25-million provincial grant. That left $30 million. Half of the remainder is to come from Katz and the city expects the other half to be recouped from increased tax revenues arising from the development. The deal has divided Edmontonians into those who want public dollars to go to the arena, those who dont and those who are OK with public money, but say the deal is far too lopsided in Katzs favour. Last week, Mandel got into an argument with hecklers in council chambers, who demanded he put the arena on a plebiscite. The city is to build and own the arena and pay for all major repairs and renovations. The Oilers, in turn, are to pay $6 million a year in lease payments and pay for day-to-day arena upkeep. Katz is to keep all the profits from tickets, concessions and parking for all events -- Oilers-related or otherwise. Katz also is to receive $2 million a year from the city in return for advertising for 10 years and to keep naming rights for the building, estimated at $1 million to $3 million a year. In return, Katz has promised the Oilers will stay in Edmonton for 35 years. The vote was not unanimous. Coun. Kerry Diotte said the deal was poor for taxpayers when it was first struck in 2011 and is worse now. "This has morphed into a Frankenstein monster. Even the worst referee in the NHL could see this is way offside," Diotte told councillors. Coun. Tony Caterina agreed. He said no one knows for sure if the extra tax revenues from the arena will materialize. The risk tolerance for taxpayers, he said, is "way too high." Councils decision wrote what many hope will be the final chapter in what has become the citys longest-running soap opera. The deal has been talked about for seven years and been on a roller coaster for the last two. Councillors and Katz first shook hands in the fall of 2011, but the deal fell apart a year later when Katz demanded an extra $210 million from taxpayers and refused to meet with councillors in public to explain why. He also incurred wrath from fans and councillors when he began talks aimed at moving the team to Seattle. Katz eventually dropped the Seattle threat and the $210-million demand, and in January the two sides resurrected the deal, with Katz off the hook for major repairs to the facility. Katz -- a pharmacy billionaire who owns the Rexall chain of drugstores -- is currently tenant of Rexall Place, where the Oilers now play. Its an arena owned by an arms-length city board. Katz says the Oilers need wider revenue streams to be viable. He has said he is losing millions of dollars a year, but city council has not been allowed to see the teams books. The Oilers are ranked in the middle or higher among revenue-producing teams in the NHL. Cheap Air Jordan 4 Nz . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Air Jordan 4 Nz . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. http://www.airjordan4nz.com/ . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Air Jordan 4 Nz Sale . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. Authentic Jordans Shoes Wholesale .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. ANGERS, France -- Tour de France leader and world champion Peter Sagan has weighed in once more with his strong concerns for rider safety. But this time, he has called for the world body of cycling to introduce a law change that would allow for less congested and dangerous finales.Sagan (Tinkoff), who kept the yellow leaders jersey by finishing fourth in Mondays 223.5km Stage 3 from Granville to Angers in Brittany behind winner British sprinter Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), believes the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) should look at neutralising stages that are settled in bunch sprints several kilometres before the finish.He believes if the times for overall classification were taken before the race neared the finish, it would stop those vying for overall victory from getting involved in the sprints as they have been to avoid the crashes or splits that can happen and lead to costly time losses.It very dangerous. That is how I see things, Sagan said after the stage. Sagan is still first overall, eight seconds ahead of second-placed Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (FDJ) and 10 seconds up on Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in third.At 14 seconds are all but four overall favourites, led by Briton Chris Froome (Sky) in fourth. Further back are Italys Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) in 28th overall at 25 seconds, Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) in 31st at the same time, Spaniard Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in 57th at 1:02 and Australian Richie Porte (BMC), who is 77th at 1:59.Sagans call to the UCI follows his outburst on Sunday, when he won Stage 2 and took the leaders yellow jersey. He spoke of the safety hazards that come with riders in the peloton not respecting each other.Its very hard to enjoy racing on the bike, Sagan said Sunday. When I did my first Tour de France, it was a different race. Now everyone rides as if they dont care about life. Last year, it was very bad, and this year is very bad, but its the riders decision how they ride.You never know if youll be able to continue in the race. Today, Im in yellow, but maybe tomorrow I go home; this is the Tour de France, he added. In this moment, Im not an important rider in peloton [to change things]. Nobody cares. Its as if they lost their brains. I dont know what has happened. There are stupid crashes.Before there was respect: When someone did something, they threw bottles at him or beat him with a pump, but cycling has lost this.The stakes are now so high in cyclingSagans argument earned much agreement from Cavendish. The Manx Missile, whose Tour stage win took his tally to 28 overall in the Tour and tied him with the second-best all-time mark with French icon Bernard Hinault, also believes there has been a change in mindset among riders.The mentality has a changed a little bit. Some guys -- not all GC guys -- in the past, they used to all go to the back and roll in in a gentlemans kind of agreement, Cavendish said Sunday. Now, there are some riders who actively want to be ahead of the split. Its not just that they dont want to get caught out, so they dont want to be behind the split. They try to be up there hoping there is a split so they can get a few seconds. This is nothing to do with the course really, you know. Its more the riders.He has got a point, but the problem is that the stakes are now so high in cycling. There is more money going, Cavendish added about SSagans comments.dddddddddddd He earns so much money that guys want to do so well to emulate how much money he earns. So they are going to try and take risks to do that.The difference between guys who win and lose is evident. The guys who win understand it. They have respect for each other. They are the first to congratulate the other guys who win. Its the ones who never win anything ... not all of them, its not fair to bracket every rider, but generically a lot of guys dont win, and they kind of feel bitterness toward the guys who win. Instead of appreciating what they have done, they kind of resent it.Its getting more dangerous in the bunchAdam Hansen, an Australian delegate of the Cyclistes Professionnels Associé, said the organization has asked the UCI to consider timing general classification in sprint stages with three kilometres to go.Hansen, 35, who is racing in a record 15th-consecutive three-week grand tour here, said Sagans remarks on Sunday were correct, but he added that the issue of respect among the riders was a responsibility for the riders to resolve and not the CPA.Hansen, who is not the CPA delegate at the Tour (those delegates are ex-French cyclists Jan Xavier and Pascal Chanteur), said the CPA believes it would be a bit safer if the times were taken at three kilometres to go [in a stage], not up until the final sprint.That way the sprinters can sprint and do their messy stuff, Hansen explained, and GC guys can relax and get out of the sprinters teams way.Hansen added that the CPAs proposed rule change on timing overall classification times in sprint stages would reduce stress leading up to and during a sprint finish. The proposed change is part of a CPA security plan that has been submitted to the UCI that also includes proposed measures for better security overall in races.Asked of Sagans concerns about rider behaviour, Hansen told ESPN: It is true what he says, thats for sure. Its getting more dangerous in the bunch. On the other side, there is more pressure from sponsors, the teams are getting stronger, teams are getting smarter. I think the level between the riders is becoming closer, so this doesnt help, either.Hansen also cited the last stage of this years Giro dItalia that he raced in. The race jury took times at the end of the second last eight-kilometre finishing circuit due to wet conditions.A lot of guys sat up and said, We dont want to be in that fight. We dont want to risk our lives just to get the same time. Hansen said. We got the same time, so we were out of the race and let the sprinters race [for the stage win] and that was a spectacular finish.That is one of the things riders are pushing for -- to have the rules changed so it is safe for the riders. Otherwise, we sort of get forced to race like idiots.Hansen said the race jurys call for the Giro final was backed by the majority of riders there from a poll taken through a new online communication system from the CPA. He said results have been used to bolster the CPAs UCI submission on race safety.I think 96 percent of the Giro riders agreed [neutralising the stage] was the right decision, Hansen said. Its definitely what the riders want, but trying to get the UCI to change the rules is something different. ' ' '

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