Politicians in the Toronto suburb of Markham are convinced that the city’s proposed new 20,000 seat arena will be profitable even without an NHL tenant.

The Globe and Mail report raises serious doubts about those claims, and with no big-league expected to land in the Greater Toronto Area any time soon, questions the wisdom of going ahead with the project.

“One source, who knows the hockey and concert business in the Greater Toronto Area but requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the owners of the Air Canada Center says even if [the Markham venue] can book close to the 50 concerts a year that the ACC averages, they do not bring in enough money to support a large arena,” reports the paper’s David Shoalts.


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