Calgary announces agreement for new $1.2 billion arena for the Flames

[Tkachuk Norris]

As a Flames fan I'm not one hundred percent super happy with the exterior look. There's a lot going on there. Not sure I want the building to look like a bonfire or hell despite the fact our team's name is the Flames. Anyway, as mentioned earlier the final product may be toned down some.

Praise Scorch

 

[GOilers88]

Good for Flames fans.

A new and proper arena to host their Panthers watch parties.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Thank god they're finally getting a new arena

 

[Bounces R Way]

---

Best nickname I've seen so far :
The Craig Conroy Center for Players Who Can't Skate Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too.

 

[joestevens29]

As a Flames fan I'm not one hundred percent super happy with the exterior look. There's a lot going on there. Not sure I want the building to look like a bonfire or hell despite the fact our team's name is the Flames. Anyway, as mentioned earlier the final product may be toned down some.

Honestly I don't think I really care what any exteriors of any buildings look like, just as long as it's safe.

Give me comfortable seats and the ability to go to the bathroom and grab a beer during intermission, not one or the other.

Was my biggest beef with Rexall place in Edmonton and the Saddledome the few times I was there.

Could be the cheapest exterior look, design and material out there, but given me a beautiful inside. Afterall I'm not really look at the outside of the building very often and when I am it's usually dark and cold outside anyway and I just want to get in the damn place.

 

[Dust]

Calgary also needs a new CFL stadium and if Winnipeg and lowly Regina can boast the prototypes for CFL stadiums then why shouldn't Calgary. Maybe this province would be able to host more global events with world class facilities.

Calgary will be lucky if they get a stadium half as nice as either of those. Lowly McMahon is now the worst facility in the league.

 

[Tofveve]

Calgary will be lucky if they get a stadium half as nice as either of those. Lowly McMahon is now the worst facility in the league.

I agree.

Funny I remember going to a game in the mid-eighties at McMahon and it seemed like a cool stadium. With the success we has in the 90s it was almost full every game it seemed and I went to lots of those. But for 20+ years it's been extremely dated looking.

I think Regina and Winnipeg have by far the best looking and functional stadiums, perfect for the CFL. My personal favorite is Winnipeg but they're very close, practically a tie. Ottawa's home games look pretty good and their stadium is a pretty nice one too. My 4th place team would be BC, but Hamilton probably has a slightly better look with mostly full home games and a lively crowd. So that's almost a toss-up for me. Toronto's stadium looks alright but the crowds are low. I might actually put McMahon as the 7th best only because Edmonton's looks empty and huge - its a great stadium and filling it for home games would launch it to probably 3rd place. Montreal I have to give the worst because it seems undersized and old and purposed for something else.

I'd love it if Calgary could get something similar to Winnipeg or Regina. I think with the TV contracts increasing decade by decade I think the league could eventually justify new stadiums where needed. But we might be a ways away from that still.

 

[Dust]

I agree.

Funny I remember going to a game in the mid-eighties at McMahon and it seemed like a cool stadium. With the success we has in the 90s it was almost full every game it seemed and I went to lots of those. But for 20+ years it's been extremely dated looking.

I think Regina and Winnipeg have by far the best looking and functional stadiums, perfect for the CFL. My personal favorite is Winnipeg but they're very close, practically a tie. Ottawa's home games look pretty good and their stadium is a pretty nice one too. My 4th place team would be BC, but Hamilton probably has a slightly better look with mostly full home games and a lively crowd. So that's almost a toss-up for me. Toronto's stadium looks alright but the crowds are low. I might actually put McMahon as the 7th best only because Edmonton's looks empty and huge - its a great stadium and filling it for home games would launch it to probably 3rd place. Montreal I have to give the worst because it seems undersized and old and purposed for something else.

I'd love it if Calgary could get something similar to Winnipeg or Regina. I think with the TV contracts increasing decade by decade I think the league could eventually justify new stadiums where needed. But we might be a ways away from that still.

Honestly I remember going to some games in the late 80's and 90's in Calgary as well when visiting family and it was probably one of the better one's in the league at the time. Being full or mostly full I think makes us look back at things more fondly.

Sorry I just had to get a "lowly" dig in there

 

[9GWG9]

Just here to say I am a little jealous!

Govt. money and 2nd in line to improve on the mistakes to the North ya lucky dirtbags!

I love the renderings. The glowing flame surrounding the building at night is going to look amazing.

Congrats to the city and fans.

p.s. I am involved in the foundation construction so be nice wink wink

 

[Sniper99]

Announcement: Darryl Sutter is now running the arena too

they'll have his statue outside the arena.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

I'm excited for more property tax raises for the 62nd time in 2 years.

God damn property taxes. We have more than nice parts of BC. I am paying about $1450 a month for my two properties in taxes.

 

[Coffey]

God damn property taxes. We have more than nice parts of BC. I am paying about $1450 a month for my two properties in taxes.

Brutal dude. We had so many raises in the last few years in Edmonton to pay for everything.
I think I pay around 490 a month for mine.

Are you in Van?

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Brutal dude. We had so many raises in the last few years in Edmonton to pay for everything.
I think I pay around 490 a month for mine.

Are you in Van?

No I am in SW Edmonton. I have 1 house that I rent out in the Summerside area and 1 in Sherwood Park (which isn't Edmonton).

 

[CanadienShark]

Happy this is finally happening after almost a decade. Fans deserve a state-of-the-art arena as well as a new entertainment district. Calgary has sorely been missing a central location where there will be nightlife and entertainment; 17th Ave is very spread out and Stephen Ave is questionable at best.

In terms of city vs the Flames group contribution; in a perfect world I think everyone would have liked the Flames to have paid their own way into a new building. That all being said, there are a few factors that everyone seems to just gloss over because we can always make the big bad billionaire the boogeyman.

- The city was using a reserve fund for this upgrade. That fund is dedicated to capital investments; so this is not used to fund social programs, which are already budgeted (in theory).
- The city ran a mega surplus this year of a quarter billion dollars from taxing everyone to death. The City of Calgary's inefficiency to control their finances has been an issue since that jabroni Nenshi was around. In fact years ago when we debated this on the Flames board I posted the finances of the city; it makes no sense from an outsider perspective (like a run-of-the-mill citizen just trying to learn what money gets spent on). Millions of dollars (tens in some cases) spent on generic terminology with no further details provided. I.E: Efficiency Study: 900K. Like, what? What efficiency? What study?
- The Calgary Flames are a huge part of this city. Again, there's this social construct that we need good and bad guys. And people with a lot of money are bad guys. But... like; spend a few minutes at the Children's hospital in Calgary. Look at the Ronald McDonald House. Look at non-for-profit child services including special needs services (Pacekids Programs, etc). You'll see a lot of flaming C's all over. There's a lot of money being re-contributed into important things by the organization. I know there's tax reasons here too, but you can tax loop your profits other ways rather than investing in infrastructure and support for children.

Oh great, the city has extra money from ripping off residents. Many people in the city struggle to make ends meet and the city uses that excess to... Help the richest get richer.

 

[CanadienShark]

Calgary is more or less the unofficial capital just without the title of being the capital city.

It’s larger, it holds more industry. It just doesn’t have the official title

So... Not the capital. That's not how capitals work.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Calgary will be lucky if they get a stadium half as nice as either of those. Lowly McMahon is now the worst facility in the league.

It's interesting that up to now, at least, Calgary has the worst set of major sports facilities of any large Canadian city. It's weird because Calgary is a generally a prosperous place that is pretty nice in most other ways.

The Saddledome is outdated, McMahon is a dump, their baseball stadium is probably semi-abandoned by now. I live in Winnipeg where we have a bit of an inferiority complex relative to Calgary, but all three of our big sports venues are much better than Calgary's.

They do have a pretty impressive set of amateur venues, so at least there's that.

 

[Tofveve]

It's interesting that up to now, at least, Calgary has the worst set of major sports facilities of any large Canadian city. It's weird because Calgary is a generally a prosperous place that is pretty nice in most other ways.

The Saddledome is outdated, McMahon is a dump, their baseball stadium is probably semi-abandoned by now. I live in Winnipeg where we have a bit of an inferiority complex relative to Calgary, but all three of our big sports venues are much better than Calgary's.

They do have a pretty impressive set of amateur venues, so at least there's that.

It is really strange for sure. Calgary is considered to be more white collar while Edmonton is considered to be more blue collar too - yet out of the two cities our main venues are relative dumps. Our downtown high-rise is one of the most impressive in Canada and the city itself is beautiful. Anyway, I guess we just got behind. Not sure when a football stadium will be addressed but at least the arena is.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

God damn property taxes. We have more than nice parts of BC. I am paying about $1450 a month for my two properties in taxes.

Oh no, you have two properties?

Sucks to be you haha

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Pretty good looking space. The “Flames” cladding is a little corny imo but it’s just a rendering which tends to be display more sizzle then the final product so I’m sure it’ll get toned down and probably look better.

Bottom line the Saddle is an absolute dump and if you want to be a world class city you need to have world class facilities. This project and surrounding development resulting from it will benefit the city and province which is why governments generally brush opposition aside and make deals to get these projects built.

The saddledome isn't a dump, there's longer bathroom and food lines at rodgers place in Edmonton, this is about money, owners need a larger lower bowl and a roof that can take the weight for modern concerts and shows

 

[geebster]

Having a saddle shaped arena where the roof gets in the way of you seeing the ice...was not ideal.

Loooong overdue. Not a flames fan but I'm happy for them, hope it's really nice

 

[LordBacon]

New arena is gonna be all flames.

 

[JPeeper]

The saddledome isn't a dump, there's longer bathroom and food lines at rodgers place in Edmonton, this is about money, owners need a larger lower bowl and a roof that can take the weight for modern concerts and shows

I mean relative to McMahon sure. The Dome on its own though is still pretty rough. This isn't just about money, the building can't physically support tons of events because the roof doesn't allow for it, the nosebleeds outside of the first 3 rows are a joke, the design is extremely dated.

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Having a saddle shaped arena where the roof gets in the way of you seeing the ice...was not ideal.

Loooong overdue. Not a flames fan but I'm happy for them, hope it's really nice

Clearly you've never been in it, even in the highest seat on the nosebleeds the roof isn't in the way

 

[Johnnybegood13]

I mean relative to McMahon sure. The Dome on its own though is still pretty rough. This isn't just about money, the building can't physically support tons of events because the roof doesn't allow for it, the nosebleeds outside of the first 3 rows are a joke, the design is extremely dated.

Yes I said that, many large concerts and events had to pass on Calgary because of that, and 3500 extra lower bowl seating is a money maker, it is about money.

 

[Dust]

The saddledome isn't a dump, there's longer bathroom and food lines at rodgers place in Edmonton, this is about money, owners need a larger lower bowl and a roof that can take the weight for modern concerts and shows

Shorter bathroom lines to take a dump, doesn't mean it isn't one in the grand scheme of things.