Calgary Flames President and CEO Ken King told media today that the organization is “no longer pursuing a new facility” in Calgary (audio link). King stated that the city and the organization have reached an impasse and that the organization sees no point in continuing talks. The Flames currently play out of the Scotiabank Saddledome which was built in 1983. It remains the second oldest arena in the NHL after Madison Square Garden, but the Garden received a recent billion dollar renovation.
The roadblock between the City and the Flames seems to center on public funding. King would not get into specifics, but he sighted differences in opinion on contributions as the main impediment. It is reasonable to assume—given the proclivity of public stadium financing—that the Flames want the city of Calgary to provide some sort of substantial funding and a specific location. Calgary’s mayor, however, has repeatedly indicated that he will do what’s best for the city.
The timing of this announcement is peculiar for two reasons. One, the current Calgary mayor just started his re-election campaign yesterday, and two, Seattle just announced an agreement to build a $600MM arena. The first means that the NHL may lobby for a mayoral candidate that supports a new arena. King even mentioned the mayor’s re-election campaign numerous times during the press conference. The second—the new Seattle arena—presents an implied and unspoken Plan B for any city who cannot agree on a new stadium.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman weighed in as well, stating that the city and team needs a new arena (audio link). He does state that the Flames are not immediately going to move, but that no new arena will have long-term consequences. Both King and Bettman stressed that they are not trying to pressure the city to build a new arena, but the conversational undertones seem to imply otherwise.
Will this be a cog in the machinations to bring the NHL and NBA to Seattle…?
I smell a potential move to Seattle.
So the NHL’s going to try and get Calgary a mayor who will use tax payer money to build an arena that’s not wanted/needed? Nice!
Want to be a big league city with big league sports? You gotta pay up. That’s just how it is.
And we know it’s more than worth it in the end, because every city that has lost a team tries desperately to get another one. As soon as the Rams and Chargers left town (s), those cities started lobbying for other teams.
Actually, look at Seattle. They refused to build the building for the Sonics and now they are going to spend far more building a building after it’s too late and hoping to get/steal another team.
Pro sports generates a ton of ancillary economic activity which generates a ton of tax revenue. Taxpayers win out in the end. Just build the building.
The Flames/NHL need to cool down on this. We all know the NHL wants the $500M expansion fee they will get out of Seattle. They aren’t going to move the team to Quebec either, as the whole East vs West balance will be thrown off again. The fact that Calgary is looking at a potential bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics likely means a new hockey arena is a guarantee (assuming Calgary both bids and wins the right to host). That is 8 hockey seasons away. A new arena takes a minimum of 2 years, maybe 3, to build fully start to finish. Therefore, at the latest, you are looking at a new arena likely completed probably one full hockey season ahead of Olympic competition (2024-2025 NHL season). The Saddledome may need replacing, but you cannot tell me the NHL and Flames cannot work something out with the city/province/country once the whole Olympic issue is resolved.
Nenshi isn’t stupid either. He will win this election, regardless of the NHL and Flames throwing shade at his campaign. He sees that Seattle’s arena is 100% privately funded and I am sure a major part of the hang up is that he would prefer more private money being put into the project the Flames put forward. If the Flames are serious about a new arena, then ownership needs to work out a much better deal with the city on the funding side and not expect a billion dollar project to paid for by someone other than the organization.