City council to discuss next steps in Calgary's arena saga
CBC
City council will get a look behind closed doors today at a plan to get the idea of building a new downtown arena back on track.
The City of Calgary reached a deal in 2019 with the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) for a $600 million new event centre in Victoria Park.
It was amended in the summer of 2021 as the city boosted its financial contribution and CSEC agreed to take on all cost overruns.
But the agreement fell apart just before Christmas when the ownership group of the Calgary Flames walked away, citing rising costs.
Instead of construction starting in January as expected, the deal was terminated. The city said the two sides had already spent up to $25 million before the deal collapsed.
In early January, city council voted unanimously to have city administration seek out a third party to try to restart the process.
That person is expected to approach CSEC to see if there's interest in rekindling talks on a new arena agreement.
It's also possible that third party will seek out other funding partners that might have cash for a new event centre.
Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra is confident Calgary will get a new arena to replace the Saddledome, which opened in 1983.
"I view the development of an event centre as an inevitability in the next several years. I just think it's a question of how do we get there from here," said Carra.
He expects city council will hear Tuesday who administration is recommending to do the shuttle diplomacy with the Flames and develop ideas on other potential funding partners.
Bringing in other parties would mark a new step for the city's quest for a new arena.
Under the previous agreement with CSEC, the city was willing to put up more than $300 million in arena-related costs.
It also agreed to give the Flames' owners the first right to buy a couple of parcels of land in Victoria Park for other developments.