It seems the Calgary Flames time at the Saddledome is limited. The City of Calgary, the Alberta government, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (“CSEC”), and the Calgary Stampede recently had been in negotiations, and on Tuesday, April 25, they reached an agreement. A deal has been reached to replace the Saddledome with a new event center and to make improvements to the surrounding area.[1] As of now, there is no estimated timeline for the completion of the new event center.
News of this new deal comes after a failed deal in 2019. The Flames and the City of Calgary had previously reached an agreement in July 2019 for the development of a new event center. That plan included a 19,000 seat arena, but it was scrapped in December 2021 after a failed conclusion relating to escalating expenditures, including risk associated with inflation and additional infrastructure and climate costs.
The total cost of the project is projected to be more than $1.2 billion, with $800 million to be used to build a new arena that will be the home of the Calgary Flames. This cost will be distributed three ways between the city, CSEC, and the province.[2] The city’s share will be $537 million and it will own the $800 million event center. In addition, CSEC is on the hook for $356 million, and the province is providing $330 million towards the project, which mostly covers infrastructure and land costs, as well as the demolition of the Saddledome.
When discussing the deal, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement, “[t]oday’s announcement is the culmination of so much work by so many and is fantastic news for the city of Calgary, the province of Alberta and the Calgary Flames. I want to thank Mayor Gondek, Premier Smith, Councilwoman Sharp, the Calgary Stampede, and the ownership of the Flames, led by Murray Edwards, for their tireless efforts in bringing us to this day. And I extend special thanks to the terrific hockey fans of Calgary for their unflinching support of their team and our League. We can’t wait to drop the puck in a new, state-of-the-art arena and look forward to what this development will do for all Calgarians.”[3]
The news of this new arena is likely to be well received by everyone, including, fans, media, and players. Saddledome is widely regarded as one of the worst arenas to play. Both the home and away locker rooms are not comparable to the locker rooms, home and away, for other teams, and most players do not like traveling to Calgary. In 2014, Calgary Flames President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke said the Saddledome was clearly the second-worst arena in the NHL.[4] It will be interesting to see how long this project takes and whether there will be any more setbacks, however, one thing is certain, the Flames will finally have a state of the art arena that will rival some of the best arenas in the NHL.
[1] https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/flames-city-of-calgary-alberta-premier-to-make-important-announcement-on-new-arena/#
[2] https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgary-event-centre-update
[3] https://www.nhl.com/news/calgary-flames-reach-agreement-for-new-arena/c-343896282
[4] https://arenadigest.com/2014/06/09/burke-flames-second-worst-arena-nhl/