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Belan and project partner Lee Genier, who was the Saskatchewan Rush president before stepping down midway through last season, were in city council chambers Wednesday for a special meeting of the governance and priorities committee. The committee heard from user groups seeking city assistance, financial and otherwise, for a variety of projects — including an expanded master plan for Gordie Howe Sports Complex, and a dedicated year-round indoor lacrosse facility.

Belan said his soccer vision requires no financial impact on taxpayers, although his initial proposal does involve the city donating land for the stadium at the site of the current city yards.

In the meantime, he is ready to play games at the Prairieland Park grandstand until the new stadium can be constructed downtown. He estimates it would take nine to 10 months to build the new stadium, and he envisions playing games at Prairieland in 2019 and 2020 before moving into a new facility in 2021, he said.

“One funding mechanism could be (donated) land, but that’s not the only one,” Belan said after his 25-minute address and question and answer session with councillors.

“There are a number of others. I don’t want to get pigeonholed into saying that’s the only one that we’re looking at. It’s a discussion with city planners, and we’re going to be guided by them, to say ‘This fits within the policies of the city; this is what we’re able to do; here’s some of our budgetary constraints; how are we going to work around that?’ My background is finance, and I’m accustomed to developing complex financing structures. We can lend some ideas and some support to the city, in how we ultimately do that together with them.”