You can mark this past Wednesday as the day Hamilton's enduring NHL dream died.

Without a single sigh of regret, city councillors voted to explore building a new "right sized" 10,000-seat sports arena downtown to replace the antiquated FirstOntario Centre.

That's about half the capacity needed to host an NHL-level hockey team.

And that means this city's decades old ambition of landing a big time hockey franchise at the FirstOntario Centre, formerly known as Copps Coliseum, has basically breathed its last.

Some may shed a tear, others may say good riddance.

Either way, councillors opted to establish a steering committee to pick a new site and seek out private sector partners to build a $130-million facility too small for an NHL team as part of a phased redevelopment of the city's entertainment venues in the core.

During the discussion, Ernst and Young consultant Zack Pendley gently tapped a nail into the coffin of the city's former obsession with one day seeing National Hockey League banners hanging in the 17,400-seat arena at Bay Street North and York Boulevard.

"We all know this facility was built with the intention of attracting an NHL team and I think we can all say that we've given up that hope," said Pendley.

No elected official contradicted him. They were looking ahead, not behind.

The goal now is to build a 10,000-seat sports and event centre in four or five years and, once it's up and running, demolish FirstOntario Centre and either sell the city-owned land or partner with the private sector on a mixed-use development project, including a new 70,000-square-foot convention centre.

Once a new convention centre is built, the recommended plan is to demolish the existing one and, again, either sell the city-owned land or partner on a development project with the private sector.

Ernst and Young figure the strategy will not only put an end to shovelling millions of tax dollars into outdated facilities which no longer meet the city's needs, it will also accelerate some $300 million in private sector investment, generate new property taxes in the core, and capture new income streams.

Pendley says "the importance of a 10,000-seat arena is critical." It will meet modern market demands, generate broader economic activity, and generate about $20 million in revenue over 30 years.

City staff agree: it simply makes more financial sense to build a new "right-sized" arena than maintaining the costly status quo or retrofitting FirstOntario Centre.

So, bye bye Hamilton's NHL pie in the sky. It's been a fantastical ride. The vision of landing an NHL team has been synonymous with the arena ever since it opened in 1985.

The last time the idea reared its head in a halfway serious fashion was in 2012, when the global entertainment companies who were competing to operate the city's three downtown venues suggested they could use their connections to help get a franchise.

Nothing came of it, of course. But over the years, there were about a dozen attempts to bring a team here. Former BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie made several stabs, including the Nashville Predators in 2007 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006.

The bid by the late Ron Joyce, co-founder of the Tim Hortons empire, arguably came the closest in 1991. But in the end, they all crashed against league opposition, market preferences, or the cost of retrofitting FirstOntario Centre to modern standards.

The decision to leave the past behind and investigate building a 10,000-seater needs to be ratified at next week's council meeting.

The only hitch is expected to be a forlorn hope by Couns. Esther Pauls and Terry Whitehead to study the possibility of locating it at Lime Ridge Mall rather than downtown.

Other than that, the die appears to have been cast and Hamilton's NHL dream has come up snake eyes.

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Andrew Dreschel's commentary appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. adreschel@thespec.com @AndrewDreschel

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