City councillors voted to resume talks with Oilers billionaire owner Daryl Katz after Katz鈥檕fficials promised to abandon demands for an extra $210 million in direct subsidies from taxpayers.
Both sides are still hoping to get a deal in place to put shovels in the ground by April on the $478-million downtown rink.
Mayor Stephen Mandel said the two sides still need to resolve the core issue: the Oilers say they need more taxpayer dollars to make a profit on the deal while the city says they don鈥檛.
鈥淭his is all about money,鈥� said Mandel. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a great vision to build a wonderful downtown and create a bunch of new buildings and all kinds of marvellous things.
鈥淏ut let鈥檚 face it, at the end of the day if [the Oilers] don鈥檛 have enough money to pay their bills, it鈥檚 not good for them and it鈥檚 sure not good for the city.鈥�
The decision was made after John Karvellas, a vice-president and lead negotiator for the Katz Group, and other Katz Group officials made a pitch to council that talks resume.
