The City, Flames, and Stampede agree to $550M arena & events centre

Hockey fans in Calgary can breathe a sigh of relief as the city and Calgary Flames have come to an agreement on a new arena deal. After years of back-and-forth between the two parties that seemingly went nowhere, it appears a compromise has made this tentative agreement appear. Huh, who woulda thought some discussion and understanding could make a deal go through?

Now, the big question in Calgary remains, who is paying for the new arena? Well, it looks like we all are footing about half the bill, with the Calgary Flames taking the other half. The proposed building comes with a price tag of $550 million, so split evenly that means $275M each for the city and the Flames. Not cheap, but not too devastating at the end of the day.

As we mentioned last week, the new Calgary arena would be located just a couple blocks north of the current Saddledome.

Speaking of the ‘Dome, what’s happening with that bad boy? Unfortunately, the long-term revitalization of East Victoria Park and the Stampede Grounds includes scrapping the iconic Saddledome. Sure, we’ll miss it, but we’re confident that the surrounding developments will honour its legacy.

Here is a quick look at some of the projected numbers behind the new Calgary arena deal.

In case some of those numbers are a little hard to figure out, we’ve broken it down a little more for you.

$400.3 Million – Direct revenue returned to Calgarians over the 35 year deal. This includes naming rights, street-facing retail property taxes, facility fees, etc.

19,000 – That’s how many people might be able to fit inside the main facility. Main facility? Oh, that’s right. A second smaller arena may come along too.

35 years – That’s how many years this agreement will last as is. That means the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (Calgary Flames) will take care of maintenance and upgrades during that period of time. Also, that means the Flames aren’t leaving town for at least 35 years. *Collective sigh of relief*.

2021 – The starting date of construction. The whole project is aiming to be completed by 2024.

So, what do you think, Calgary? Fingers crossed this is the done deal!