Hamilton isn't chasing a National Hockey League franchise right now. Nor is the expansion-minded NHL rapping on our door.

But on the verge of the 30th anniversary of the opening of Copps Coliseum, the city has quietly commissioned a $100,000 report on the state of the aging arena with an eye to making it NHL-friendly.

"I think it's best characterized as us completing our homework to ensure if ever there was an opportunity, then we would be ready," says city manager Chris Murray.

How the city is going about the study is oddly creative, to say the least.

After an unsolicited approach by lawyer and consultant Jasper Kujavsky, the city contracted him in late summer to stickhandle the arena assessment as well as explore economic development opportunities such as a new convention centre in the area.

In return for a city paycheque of up to $50,000, Kujavsky drummed up private-sector funding of about $100,000, which he used to hire Toronto-based Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects (BBB), internationally recognized experts in sports-related venues whose clients include the NHL and NBA.

BBB will assess all structural and mechanical systems in the arena — now called FirstOntario Centre — to see if they can be elevated to 21st-century NHL standards.

BBB will also assess the district in terms of other sport/entertainment/hospitality opportunities.

If First Place Centre can be overhauled, a related but as yet unfunded study will look at options such as modernizing the 17,000-seat arena's lower and upper bowls in separate phases.

Kujavsky, best known for his unsuccessful effort to bring the Canadian Music Hall of Fame to Hamilton, says he's in the middle of raising another $100,000 to pay for the second componen2t.

"If everything with regards to a two-phase transformation of the arena were both studied and implemented, it would give you an NHL-ready arena," he says.

According to Kujavsky, BBB is the same company that billionaire Jim Balsillie used during his 2006-07 attempts to move an NHL team to Hamilton.

Back then, it was estimated it would cost about $160 million to bring the city-owned coliseum up to NHL standards.

If it's still doable — and Kujavsky thinks it is — he figures the price tag will be closer to $300 million today.

Murray didn't need council's approval to hire Kujavsky because the city's procurement policy allows him to spend up to $250,000 without permission.

Noting that the city needs to seize opportunities to work with the private sector, Murray believes it's getting "good value" from the $50,000 plunge with Kujavsky.

"The timing is appropriate given the fact that we're now looking at an arena which is about 30 years old and starting to look at the long-term prospects for that facility."

According to Murray, BBB is already sitting down with city staff to go over the details of the assessment. He hopes to see the report in the first quarter of 2016.

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A spokesperson for BBB was not available. But Murray notes the company is a known quantity with an impressive track record.

BBB and its subsidiary Stadium Consultants International designed the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and led renovations at Madison Square Gardens in New York, Calgary's Saddledome, and Edmonton's Rexall Place.

Murray says the study will spell out the kind of capital investments the city may need to maintain the building in its current form "or some other form as discussed or suggested by the architect."

That brings us back to the recurring NHL dream.

Murray maintains that if the city's previous attempts at landing a team have taught it anything, it's that it needs to ensure it's done its homework if the NHL ever chooses to expand or relocate a team in southern Ontario.

"So on that, it's our responsibility to look at our arena as well as downtown and the opportunities it presents."

Murray acknowledges the prospect of building a new convention centre in the area — Kujavsky suggests the surplus Sir John A. Macdonald school as a possibility — may be "blueskying."

But he also notes when council turned management of HECFI facilities over to private operators, staff concluded the current convention centre is too small and the arena too big for the amount of activity occurring there.

Murray also quite rightly argues that with its regional GO and major LRT investments, its booming residential and commercial markets, its downtown revitalization, and its waterfront redevelopment plans, Hamilton is looking pretty good to all sorts of people these days.

In other words, if the NHL ever chooses to kick Hamilton's tires, at least the city will have an arena business plan put together by the right people to wave under their corporate noses.

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