Yes, the world economy looks like the 2008 Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Canwest stock is doing the limbo, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' owner-in-waiting insists a new football stadium should be completed for the start of the 2011 CFL season.

Really.

First off, David Asper firmly asserts that the turbulence swirling around the Asper-controlled Canwest media empire has nothing to do with Crestwin Properties, the real estate component of his efforts to buy the Bombers and build a new 30,000-seat football stadium on the University of Manitoba campus.

"It (the stadium proposal) has nothing to do with Canwest in any shape or form. Never did," Asper told the Free Press earlier this week. "It was never part of the equation."

Of course, we're guessing that the bottom falling out of the markets was never part of the equation, either, when number crunching began on what evolved into a $150-million project that involves a $100-million commitment from Asper abetted by an ask of $20 million and $15 million from the federal and provincial governments, respectively.

Needless to say, it was a tough enough sell to seek taxpayers' input in the first place. The feds balked from the outset, but now appear to be warming to a facility that can function for the U of M. Premier Gary Doer has already indicated that the province is willing to play ball.

Then the markets dropped, Canwest's future became a national debate and silence has reigned on a new stadium deal for weeks.

So it's not surprising, then, that even optimists and football fans might be growing leery as to whether the Bombers will be moving into new digs anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter.

However, not only is Asper still bullish on the project, but he countered that lengthy negotiations with governments and other parties may have been an unintended blessing, given the current economic landscape. After all, any stadium deal is contingent upon Crestwin's development of a retail package on the existing site of Canad Inns Stadium, which will be the financial fuel for the entire project.

In other words, no retail revenue, no stadium.

"Imagine if you'd started three years ago and you've got to try and start to operate it now in this economy," Asper reasoned, "bearing in mind that the whole deal only works because of the retail. If you look back in hindsight, it's almost lucky it's taken this long because when we get this deal done and we start to look forward, we'll be moving into an upturn in the economy. The recession will be over."

Hopefully. But then hope has been a cornerstone of Asper's vision, which now seems to have dragged on so long that you'd think it all began when Bud Grant was a rookie head coach. Perhaps that's why Asper is so concentrated on looking forward to 2011 and 2012.

"What the world looks like then is long past the recession," he said. "There is a 'beyond it'. That's how we view this."

Meanwhile, Asper again emphasized the complexity of finalizing a multi-party project that involves public cash to boot.

"There's three levels of government and a university football team for us to get everybody on the same page at the same time," Asper said. "And people try to read into, 'What's taking so long?' But the reality is there's so much detail to be worked through. Each stakeholder has their own interest to look out for."

Still, that doesn't mean Asper is deaf to football fans growing ever more anxious about the state of the stadium project as time passes and economies soften.

"Look, I'm with the fans here," he said. "I'm the most impatient person in the world. People who know me can't believe how calm I've been. But the truth is you do have to have patience. You really do. We're looking for public money and the government just doesn't write you a cheque.

"And No. 2, we've got so many divergent interests that you've got to find some common ground," he continued. "That's a process. And it takes time. This isn't the only thing on the government's agenda or the university's agenda or Crestwin's agenda or the football club's. We're making steady progress behind the scenes and we're moving ever closer to making this a reality.

"You've got to take the world as it comes and you've got to be prepared to be adaptable. And you can't get down about things you can't control. Everybody's rushing to the dark side. Life is over as you know it. But if you look beyond today the sun is going to come up. It does change. And there's a lot of investors looking for opportunities today because you can buy cheap. By 2011, the timing might actually be really good to come into the market."

Who knew?

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 3, 2009 D1