Remember this?

“Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the future of the Lynx Stadium.

Presently the Ottawa Lynx have two years remaining on their lease at the Coventry Road facility and despite recent media reports we have not been officially informed that they intend to breach their contract at this time.

Until such time as the Lynx breach their contract, discussions regarding the future of this facility would be premature yet we continue to review our options for the long term use of this facility.

The Mayor’s goal is to ensure that we protect the interests of the taxpayers while continuing to make this facility available for the enjoyment of the citizens of Ottawa. I continue to follow the developments and hope that we may find a solution that fulfills both of those goals.

Sincerely,

Lynne Manion
Administrative Services Coordinator
Mayor’s Office, City of Ottawa”    (emphasis added)

You’ll have to forgive me if I sound less than optimistic here, but I expect Mr. Wolff’s sublease proposal to be met with a cowardly non-response.  Being as objective as I possibly can under the circumstances, I can’t come up with a single plausible reason why the City wouldn’t entertain a sub-lease.  But early feedback would seem to suggest that they believe their legal position would be threatened by such a move, rendering it impossible for them to collect the roughly $3.1M they believe Mr. Pecor owes.  I’m not a lawyer, but I can’t see how this could be the case - at worst, rather than collecting a prescribed damage payment from the Lynx ($216K in 2008 and 108K in 2009) for breaking the lease early, they would instead collect lease payments from an Independent League team.  The $3.1M debt was negotiated at the time the team was sold by Mr. Darwin to Mr. Pecor and is something which is essentially independent of the operating agreement; that is to say, whether the Lynx continue to play at Lynx Stadium or not, that debt (to the City of Nepean) remains.  With respect to that debt, there is NOTHING peremptory upon the City by allowing a sublease.

It begs the question though, doesn’t it? Why not allow the CAN AM League to sublease the facility? If it is simply a petty tactic to prevent the Lynx from mitigating any part of their damage claim, then there is something profoundly wrong with the culture at City Hall.

Here’s hoping I’m wrong and that the City surprises us next week.