This is the story that just won’t go away! While perusing the headlines tonight I came across this article at CBC.ca that says Oilers President Patrick LaForge is looking for an upgrade. An upgraded hockey rink, that is. For a few seconds I considered looking for the previous articles to see what has changed, then I realized that Andy Grabia probably beat me to it. And indeed he did:
It’s no longer an anonymous plan, but one the Oilers and the Mayor both support. There is now a timeline, where before there was none. Cost has gone from $0 to $250 million to $300 or $400 million, to maybe even $1 billion if it includes hotels and such. Rexall has gone from functional to run down.
All that and more, as Andy explains, in the two short months since the original editorial ran in the Edmonton Journal. Andy’s lengthly post also includes some interesting discussion, so check it out.
I’m generally in favor of anything that could have a positive impact on Edmonton’s downtown, so I like the idea of a new complex that would include a state of the art hockey rink. Of course, I also like the idea of a high speed train to Calgary and an East-West addition to the LRT, but thus far those projects have been seen as too expensive to attempt. And that’s what it will come down to with the new rink. Who pays, and how much?
Read: Battle of Alberta
MasterMaq's Blog 
It is really going to come down to money. Of course, once this gets done, the Eskimos will be likely wanting a new stadium as well – Commonwealth is going to be 30 years old next year.