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Oilers ownership declines city council meeting regarding new arena

darylkatzgetty

James

Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz’s group rejected an offer to meet with the local city council to revise plans for a new arena.

Here is a full statement from the team, via Katz Group exec John D. Karvellas:

“While we appreciate the Mayor’s invitation, we do not think such a meeting can be productive until we have reduced the outstanding issues. As we have said previously, we remain committed to working constructively with City Administration to reach an agreement and would be pleased to go before Council with Administration to present a comprehensive and mutually supported proposal, or even a proposal with one or two significant issues still to be resolved. Then, Council can review the proposal and either approve or reject it as it sees fit.”

This comes on the heels of Katz claiming that “all bets are off” regarding the possibility of relocation after the city rejected his request for more money to build the new arena.

Columnist David Staples’ initial reaction is that the press release is confusing, but believes that the Katz Group is trying to negotiate with the city a bit before holding an actual meeting.

Staples thinks it’s actually a good sign in the grand scheme of things. Even so, Staples believes that they should ultimately honor the city’s request - either publicly or privately.

Until then, there might be some tension in the air.