Markham council votes against using public funds for proposed NHL-sized arena

MARKHAM, Ont. – City council in Markham, Ont., voted 11-2 Wednesday night against using any public funds to build an NHL-sized arena.

The vote effectively kills a proposed financial framework with businessman Graham Roustan, the CEO of GTA Sports and Entertainment.

The proposed plan was to have Roustan’s company put up half of the cost, $162.5 million, for a 20,000 set arena while the city would cover the other half.

Last week, Roustan put forth another plan in which he would increase his share of the cost to about $200 million.

Council decided to study that proposal further.