CALGARY – At the tail end of a press conference Calgarians have waited years for, Lanny McDonald walked over to premier Danielle Smith with hand extended.
“Congratulations,” said the iconic Flame as he shook her hand.
More than a decade after former team president Ken King started the quest to build a new home for the Calgary Flames, celebrations truly were in order Tuesday as sports and politics came together with an agreement bigger and better than the $600 million event centre plan that fizzled in late 2021.
This time it’s an $800 million event centre with an attached practice/community rink, as part of a $1.2 billion Culture and Entertainment District, blocks north of the Saddledome.
For a franchise licking its wounds and a premier hoping to be re-elected, the timing couldn’t be better.
Finally, a venue befitting a world-class city, highlighting an entertainment district that will revitalize the previously dormant Rivers District by attracting hundreds of millions of investment dollars, businesses, residents, concerts and visitors from around the world.
Long overdue.
What finally pushed this grander vision across the finish line was a $330 million injection from Smith’s Alberta government that just happens to be hoping for Calgary’s support at provincial polling stations May 29.
Regardless of how we got here, the reality is that Wednesday’s announcement in the parking lot where an NHL arena and attached community rink will someday stand, was made better by the last failed attempt to bring the city and Calgary Sports Entertainment Corp together.
The heartache of the Flames backing out of a deal at Christmas 2021 was a blessing in disguise.
The new building will include a $60 million, 1,000-seat practice rink the province will pay half of, while earmarking the rest of their investment for infrastructure that will make the bottlenecked area far more accessible to get to, via a wide 6th St. SE tunnel under the CP tracks, and three lanes into the district off of 17th Ave.
The vision also includes indoor and outdoor gathering spots where the city can congregate for playoff runs or other celebrations.
As one of our nation’s shrewdest negotiators, CSEC majority owner Murray Edwards won again.
Pulling the pin on the last deal landed him an even better deal.
Flames ownership will chip in $356 million for a building they will run, but not own.
(Their commitment in the previous deal was almost $300 million)
A land swap with the Stampede was integral to expand the vision’s footprint from seven acres to 10, on an empty parcel of land just a few blocks north of the Dome.
But it was Smith who rode in with the white horse to get this deal done a month before the election, making good on her promise many months back to help broker a deal this city had proven endlessly it simply couldn’t get done without her.
“Calgary is a vibrant, world-class city deserving, and in need of world-class facilities,” said Smith, proudly wearing a Flames jersey under her blazer.
“Along with Edmonton’s Rogers Place, Alberta will now have two of the best and most modern event centres in all the world.”
As it should.
The city’s price tag went from $300 million to $537 million on the larger project, which includes the cost of a parking structure, the enclosed plaza and 25% of the community rink.
“No added taxes to taxpayers – that’s the question, there’s the answer,” said Councillor Sonya Sharp, who chaired the Event Centre Committee that picked up the pieces from the last failed negotiation.
“You can’t even compare the two (deals) at this point.
“It was a fresh start – we really had to look at all lessons learned. What was used was a team of people that understood the deals before and what didn’t work, and what needed to be done.”
Gary Bettman chipped in with congratulations and confirmed the new arena would be put into the rotation for future drafts and all-star games.
Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar was also earning plenty of praise (okay, mostly from his teammates), who suggested on their group chat the deal finally got done just a week and half after he mentioned in his exit interview the city needed a new arena.
“We’re like ‘Weegsy, what did you do? It took 11 days to figure it all out,’” laughed Nikita Zadorov, who joined a few other players and alumni at the large gathering.
“Great for the city and great for the people of Calgary for sure.
“The past two weeks there’s been some ups and downs in the organization, so definitely some positive news right now.
“It’s going to help the organization bring free agents for sure.
“They’re showing they’re willing to do anything to build a great team and great organization.”
The Flames have been reeling of late after missing the playoffs, dealing with the embarrassment of GM Brad Treliving’s departure and being caught in the crossfire of debate over whether coach Darryl Sutter should be fired.
That, and the stress of forever trying to piece together an arena that means so much to the future of the club, likely contributed to CSEC president and CEO John Bean needing to step away for a few seconds to fight off his emotions as he mentioned the scrutiny involved with running a pro sports team.
As much as this means to the city, he knows this building can also help shore up the widening gap between the league’s desirable and undesirable destinations.
A formidable project like this is a big boost.
“This is quite a bit larger scope of project, well beyond a narrow event center,” said Bean, addressing the difference between this project and the one his group walked away from in 2021.
“With the community arena and the indoor and outdoor gathering places those are really community-centric focused.
“Our community gathering place on the old concept was really to close down Stampede Trail, which really doesn’t work when you take a step back.”
This one works.
The mayor and other officials were crystal clear in pointing out no renderings or timelines can be made until the deal is officially signed off on.
A UCP loss on election night could also cloud the project’s future.
But on this day, handshakes all around.
