Lip Service from Gottesdiener and Baldwin?
January 6, 2006 -- Scott Gray -- WTIC-AM 1080

If the Connecticut Development Authority has it's way progress in downtown Hartford will come to a standstill while they study everything from the ground beneath the city to the sky above, while continuing to lose money on past bad investments.

If Larry Gottesdiener has his way Hartford will soon be on the move up the national market ratings.

If Howard Baldwin has his way Hartford will be a National Hockey League city again within five years.

The right combination of the visions of Gottesdiener and Baldwin could put us on the move within a few months, while the CDA is still empanelling a commission to study the current state of affairs at the Civic Center, which is losing four million dollars a year, and an original proposal from Baldwin.

Larry Gottesdiener is the chief executive of Northland Investment Corporation, which currently has a half billion dollars invested in Hartford's downtown development, a clear indication of his corporation's faith in the viability of the market, a faith not shared by Madison Square Garden-New York, currently responsible for management of the Civic Center.

Last week Gottesdiener made a public proposal for building a new arena in Hartford to replace the Civic Center and bridge the downtown district and the north end.

Baldwin, meanwhile, had presented a proposal to the CDA to take over management of the Civic Center and ownership of an American Hockey League team in the facility, while working with the NHL toward a future franchise move or future expansion back to Hartford, at which time a new facility would become necessary.

Baldwin's proposal has all but died in the hands of the CDA, many of whose members appear to have some personal animosity toward the former Hartford Whalers Managing General Partner and seem determined to keep the stall in effect until he gives up and goes away.

The beauty of the Northland proposal is it removes Civic Center management from the equation and goes right to a new facility, thereby removing the CDA from the mix, their involvement stemming from their own control of the Civic Center and their past mistakes in it's operation. Gottesdiener's proposal would best be forwarded directly to the state legislature for discussions on funding for the proposed two hundred fifty million dollar facility, of which Gottesdiener has already pledged ten percent from Northland.

Baldwin, meanwhile, has pledged twenty to twenty five percent out of his own pocket toward a new facility. Northland and Baldwin have had discussions which Gottesdiener has labled "very preliminary" and Baldwin has classified as lukewarm, but they have not talked since the Nortland proposal became public last week. Their combined financial pledges to the project would go a long way toward easing the public strain of funding the arena, while most such facilities in similar markets rely solely on public financing.

Baldwin also brings to the table a long and successful track record in hockey and an ongoing relationship, and continuing dialogue, with many NHL owners and officials, including Commissioner Gary Bettman.

A Gottesdiener Baldwin marriage would not only bypass the bureaucratic standstill that currently exists, but it would go a long way to expediting a return of the NHL to Hartford while the CDA is left with an outdoor skating facility on the Civic Center site that it should be able to manage.

It's time for talks between Gottesdiener and Baldwin to go beyond "very preliminary", if both sides are offering us more than lip service.

With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.