Image Credit: 5of7/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

It’s been more than six months since the Calgary Flames announced that they were no longer pursuing the construction of a new arena in downtown Calgary. However, a Calgary city councilor (Jeff Davison) has filed a motion that could create a committee to revive arena negotiations between the team and the city. The motion will appear before city council on May 28, 2018.

Before both parties ceased negotiations last fall, the proposal for the new arena included the construction of a $555M arena that would be split three ways between the city, the Calgary Flames and a tax placed on Flames tickets. The city of Calgary and the Calgary Flames would each contribute $185M towards the project. The arena would be built in the Victoria Park section of downtown Calgary which sits not far from the Scotiabank Saddledome. Neither Calgary Flames President Ken King or Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi seem to be fond of the arena negotiations that took place in 2017.

2018 marks Jeff Davison’s first year as a member of Calgary’s city council. Davison insists that the construction of a new arena is very important and not doing so runs the risk of losing the Flames to another city. Cities like Quebec City, Seattle and Houston have expressed interest in bringing an NHL team to their city. In fact, Seattle's season ticket drive to test the NHL waters was a huge success. Las Vegas became the National Hockey League’s newest expansion team when they debuted the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017.

The Calgary Flames are owned and operated by Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp., who also own the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders. Representatives from the Calgary Flames stated that they have no new updates regarding negotiations with the city. It’s obvious that the Calgary Flames do not want to be stuck with the oldest NHL arena in Canada. The Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets have the two newest hockey arenas in Canada. The Ottawa Senators are having much more success planning the construction of their new downtown arena.

 

Related Articles

• Scotiabank Saddledome Seating Chart
• Calgary Flames Hotels On The Road
• Breakdown of the Scotiabank Saddledome Seating Chart
• Hotels Near Scotiabank Saddledome
• What's In The "Heroin Beer" At The Scotiabank Saddledome?
• Sports Bars Near The Scotiabank Saddledome