A $100M is a big number, a popular figure, in Edmonton, these days.  Actually, $112M is the cost for the new North Central Community Recreation Centre, under construction, at Commonwealth Stadium.  A hundred million dollars is the amount the Katz Group offered, then withdrew, to fund the new arena project. 

  North Central Community Recreation Centre-meet and play be fit and well

 So I wondered, how much value does $112M buy? Lots, when there's collaborative effort in raising and spending it. The NCCRC was originally conceived as a field house. The Eskimos had $15 from the province for up grades to the stadium. Cost for the field house is $40M. So they ponied up another $5M. The city matched the Esks contribution.  Voila, a field house!  There's more. 

The city was reviewing plans for recreation centre up grades. When a city deal with NAIT fell through, the Eskimos went back to city and said what about a recreation centre up grade, at the stadium. "It just made a lot of sense," says Esks CEO Rick Lelacheur. "One management group, for the field house, the pool, there were just a lot of common threads," he adds .

And more cash required. The  cost went from $40M for the field house to $112M for the field house and recreation centre. The Esks ponied up another $2.5M. Their direct investment, $7.5M, mostly from proceeds of  the Edmonton Trappers sale.  Plus the $15M they received from the province for stadium upgrades for a total of $22.5M, or 20% of the project cost.  That's equivalent to a downpayment we'd make on a house. Opens the door for conventional municipal financing. The city was on the hook for the balance  $89.5M

The need was readily identified. A community centre chartered to improve health and wellness, in a part of town bereft of such amenities. Still, no matter how worthwhile, a $112M project price tag is a prescription for political heart palpitations, cold feet, and limited support. "We spent a lot of  time working with city administration, and we went jointly to council and got 100% approval, says Lelacheur.  

" It was significant effort by the Eskimos that enabled us to get get support and funding, says  Rob Smyth, Community and Facility Services branch manager, at the city. Without their work behind the scenes, it's doubtful the we'd have been able to go ahead," he adds.

So why did it work? It started with a community vision.  Build a legacy asset. Produce a community dividend.  It's an example of  Higher Purpose business practice,  an element traditionally and sorely, in short supply.  An element whose time may be nigh, according to Umair Haque, writing in the Harvard Business Review :

"... if we want to allocate precious talent, energy, and time to what matters instead of what glitters, if we want to create fundamentally new advantages— it's time to give the economy a higher purpose."