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It certainly is the easiest.

After all, it’s only worth the two-thirds of a billion dollars if you sell it.

It’s worth a fraction of that in Calgary, where the political and business climate is such that the reality may just be that the Calgary Flames have outgrown this town.

While profitable, the Flames lose ground on all 30 NHL rivals every day they stay in the 34-year-old Saddledome where the team has maxed out the revenue it can generate.

The team can’t possibly continue to play there long-term.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi, whose attitude has proven to be the biggest impediment to having meaningful negotiations on the possibility of a much-needed new venue, is here for at least another four years.

The Flames will decide on their future long before then.

The mayor needs to find a way to be the bigger man by coming up with a way to get the Flames back to the negotiating table to build something the city will eventually have to build (with or without the Flames in town).

His ego likely won’t allow that.

At this point it looks like the best hope Calgarians have of getting an arena and keeping the team is a 2026 Winter Olympics bid the city will have to make a final decision on by the summer.

If Nenshi thinks the arena is a bad investment of local tax dollars for the people, he’s wholly insane if he thinks the guaranteed-to-expand price tag of the fraudulent five-ring circus is a prudent commitment.

When the city inevitably realizes as much and opts not to pursue the Games, the arena hopes will essentially disappear, followed soon thereafter by the Flames.