Let me start off here on a bit of a tangent about the Alberta economy. As you probably know, it's pretty strong -- you can't go a week without seeing a story or report about it:

Alberta’s surging economy over the last four years has been unprecedented in this country’s economic history. Fuelled by investment from soaring energy exports, this China-like growth has lifted average incomes in Alberta to nearly twice the national average. [...]
...Alberta boasts the strongest labour market in North America and the highest wages in Canada.

The singular of data is anecdote, right? I live in Lethbridge, about a 2-hour drive south of Calgary. While the economy here is probably more diversified, we are unquestionably poorer (everything's relative) than Calgary.

Nonetheless, the indicators here too are everywhere. Seemingly every third retail establishment has a sign on the door saying something like, "We may close early at times, without warning, due to staff shortages. Thanks for your understanding."

It's even a good time to be a high school dropout (again, everything's relative) thanks to wage competition for unskilled labour. Gas King, the local Big Dog in the retail gasoline market, changed on Wednesday from a city-wide split of 90% Full Serve/10% Self to maybe 20%/80%, no doubt because they cannot afford to pay a full team of pump jockeys and still charge the same price as self-serve stations.

It hit home personally for me this week too. We have a 3rd Junior Flames Fan on the way at the end of November, and since we have one vehicle that is probably too small for our expanded family and a second that resembles Archie's jalopy, Mrs. Matt and I decided it was time to enter The Minivan Era.

We figured this might be a challenge to finance, though. We wanted to lease it through my company, but the company is less than two years old and has no credit history to speak of. To co-sign, my own personal credit history is fine, but my official income is unimpressive. (Business lesson if you need it: if you collect a similar sum as a proprietor as you did as a wage slave, there is "income splitting" with your spouse/co-owner/business manager, and the business covers some expenses pre-tax that you used to have to pay after-tax. Result: your family can maintain the same standard of living, but your reported income is less than half of what it used to be; in my case, comparable to the aforementioned pump jockeys.)

So anyway, we found what we wanted and went to the car dealer with some dread, basically to find out what kind of hoops we would have to jump through (or if it was even possible) to finance a vehicle lease with (A) no corporate credit and (B) a co-signer with no apparent disposable income. And the verdict was... approved on the spot at 2%.

I don't know if this was because I have a good credit history, or because my company has the word Engineering in the title, or simply because I have a business in (or hell, work in) the province of Alberta. But clearly, there is enough money flying around this end of the country that they assessed me as a good risk one way or another.

All of this is by way of making an important point:

Period. No qualifiers. There's a ton of money here. People are jumping over each other to get Flames tickets. Resales at places like StubHub -- and the LRT platform -- are marked up 100, 200, 300%. Merchandising is huge; in the words of the Flames prez, talking to season ticket holders,

"We like the new jersey, we think you do too because almost every one of you bought one," said King.

Indeed. The Flames are much more Toronto Maple Leafs than they are Winnipeg Jets. But why am I even bringing this whole thing up? Because first of all, I find it annoying when the media lumps Calgary in with places like Florida and Buffalo; I find it infuriating when a Flames employee implies the same:

Seat holders also raised questions about the NHL salary cap being as high as $44 million in 2006-07. Specifically, there are concerns that a higher cap would drive ticket prices and whether the Flames, considered a small market team, would be able to survive with a rising cap.

What garbage. To Ken King's credit, he speaks somewhat proudly of being in the Top 10 payrolls, but at the same time he's quite happy to let others run with the idea that this is a Scrappy Small Market Makes Good type of thing.

The other reason I bring this up is because the Flames have begun the process of building a new arena (or massively renovating the 'Dome). Hey, good for them. They are paying for a seven-figure study of their options. Doubly good for them.

Soon enough, though, because Calgary Loves The Flames, Calgary taxpayers will be asked to kick in for this project. Despite the facts that

1. Hundreds of thousands of Southern Albertans voluntarily give money to the Flames, in exchange for tickets, gear, PPV, etc.
2. The Flames want the new building to increase revenue -- that is, even more people are eager to part with even more of their money towards the Flames

...the organization, along with portions of the media and the city council, will explain to us that it is somehow fair to force the minority segment of Calgarians who don't care about pro hockey to contribute to the Flames' new building via their taxes.

And I say, No. My bona fides as a Flames fan are solid, so I'm comfortable calling the bluff in advance: if the Flames owners want to move the team somewhere else where the public teat is juicier, go ahead. Calgary would immediately become the #1 candidate (by a mile) for expansion or relocation, and I'll be first in line to support -- voluntarily -- that effort.

Miscellaneous other grievances:

• The FAN960 should really stop airing those ads that mock QR77's Stampeders coverage -- the ones that imply how biased it is, since QR77 is the Stamps "broadcast partner". It's embarrassing, and the worst kind of Pot-Kettle crap. I like the job that FAN960 does as the Flames' station for the most part, but the next time they offer any kind of substantial criticism of the organization will be the first.
• Pay-per-view: what the hell? I have no objection to the existence of PPV telecasts (per the bulk of this post, I like it when the Flames admit they're a business and not a public utility). But last year, the schedule didn't even get announced until the end of October. Is that where we're headed again? Why is this so difficult?
• Also on PPV: last season, the cost was $10/game (ordered same-day), or if you wanted to shell out up front for the whole 11-game package, $110. I understand there's an element of convenience there, not having to spend 30 seconds to order the game 11 separate times, but at least for me, this is not a sufficient incentive weighed against (say) the possibility that I might be doing something else even one of those 11 nights, and thus can save $10. The Flames, and Shaw et al, can run their business how they please, but unless there's an actual bulk discount -- or a lovely gift, in the spirit of (for example) renewing my Sports Illustrated subscription -- then I won't be buying the package, and I can't imagine I'm the only customer who thinks this way.

That's it. I'm done airing my grievances, and Hockey Festivus is over. Full training camp for the Flames started this morning, and I am psyched. Prepare for relentless optimism.

Labels: New Arena