[News] Calgary, Alberta, & CSEC agree in principle to $1.223bn Event Centre + infrastructure

[Demzy84]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I haven't seen this asked and think I covered the whole thread.

Does this deal include any commitment to the Flames remaining in Calgary for a certain period of time? Publicly financed stadium deals in other cities have often had a minimum year commitment to not move the team...

Pretty sure it’s a 35 year commitment the Flames are tied to since it’s a 35 year lease commitment

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I haven't seen this asked and think I covered the whole thread.

Does this deal include any commitment to the Flames remaining in Calgary for a certain period of time? Publicly financed stadium deals in other cities have often had a minimum year commitment to not move the team...

I am pretty sure it includes a 35 year lease agreement and I imagine getting out of it would be so punitive that they wouldn't even try.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Demzy84

Everyone I know who voted no on the 2026 Olympics were worried about cost overruns and that the $330M the city had estimated to pay would turn into $1B or more

And now, here we are spending $1.2B on an entertainment district instead of getting a new arena, a revamped WinSport/Oval/McMahon Stadium, and a 5000 person arena next to McMahon

Risking $700m in cost overruns seems like a good gamble if you’re getting $5B in investment from multiple levels of government that a “Yes” would’ve triggered.

Plus the global spotlight on our city for 17 days, plus, conceivably, a the first best on best international hockey tournament in 10 years. Here. In Calgary.


I dunno. Seemed like a pretty easy call then, and an even easier one now.

It would’ve given the whole city a plan, a vision, an objective to work towards - be better than Vancouver 2010.

Or not.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Calgary has already prioritized spending locally and differently for decades. We're 1.5-2.0 million people in this metro area and have the sports venue quality of a city of 250,000 to 500,000. We have a crumbling arena from the early 80s and a 1960s era concrete slab football stadium. We have literally overprioritized 'differently' all over the place forever. It's time to do this and get it done.

Nothing wrong with getting it done, what is wrong is taxpayers get so little benefit for such a huge cost, while CSEC gets such a huge benefit for so little cost.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Nothing wrong with getting it done, what is wrong is taxpayers get so little benefit for such a huge cost, while CSEC gets such a huge benefit for so little cost.

The taxpayers ####ed themselves by not making it clear to council that a new arena was a priority a decade ago. It should have been top of the agenda after the flood.

It finally got done when there was political will to get it done - they said “Nenshi, we can’t let the Flames’ hand picked candidate do this deal. So please, figure it out.”

And he did.

Then COVID happened.

That’s life. My car shouldn’t have cost what it did, but there’s a microchip shortage.

This shouldn’t cost what it costs. It’s the price we pay for putting off an obvious decision for ten years.

It’s only going to get more expensive. So just do it. At least the province is covering a sizeable chunk.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

The taxpayers ####ed themselves by not making it clear to council that a new arena was a priority a decade ago. It should have been top of the agenda after the flood.

It finally got done when there was political will to get it done - they said “Nenshi, we can’t let the Flames’ hand picked candidate do this deal. So please, figure it out.”

And he did.

Then COVID happened.

That’s life. My car shouldn’t have cost what it did, but there’s a microchip shortage.

This shouldn’t cost what it costs. It’s the price we pay for putting off an obvious decision for ten years.

It’s only going to get more expensive. So just do it. At least the province is covering a sizeable chunk.

That's a fun take, this is OUR fault! LOL The Flames spent over a decade coming forward with unworkable plans and being incredibly hard to work with. So now it just costs what it costs? And again, I'm not so upset about the price(though it feels ridiculous) it's the taxpayer share of that cost with what appears to be very little benefit.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think the whole thing gets kyboshed anyway. There will just be too much controversy. Just by the comments on here with a sizable number of hardcore fans up in arms about it, imagine how people who don't even care hockey or events will feel about it.

[Looch City]

What I wonder is...out of those for the arena & the deal, how many of them would be against the deal if it was the NDP announcing the Provincial funding?

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Looch City

What I wonder is...out of those for the arena & the deal, how many of them would be against the deal if it was the NDP announcing the Provincial funding?

I don't know if they'd be outright against it, it would be more like "good, the NDP finally saw reason. Oh they did something good for once" etc etc like you saw near the end of their term on the Energy file.

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think the whole thing gets kyboshed anyway. There will just be too much controversy. Just by the comments on here with a sizable number of hardcore fans up in arms about it, imagine how people who don't even care hockey or events will feel about it.

Most of my friends were pumped when the news came out.

Our current arena is an actual joke with the crumbling roof.

[Demzy84]

Originally Posted by Looch City

What I wonder is...out of those for the arena & the deal, how many of them would be against the deal if it was the NDP announcing the Provincial funding?

Would be even better if the NDP did it cause then those on the other side of the political spectrum wouldn’t be complaining about it along with the UCP people haha

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Demzy84

Would be even better if the NDP did it cause then those on the other side of the political spectrum wouldn’t be complaining about it along with the UCP people haha

tell me you don't know a lot of NDP supporters without telling me you don't know a lot of NDP supporters.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That's a fun take, this is OUR fault! LOL The Flames spent over a decade coming forward with unworkable plans and being incredibly hard to work with. So now it just costs what it costs? And again, I'm not so upset about the price(though it feels ridiculous) it's the taxpayer share of that cost with what appears to be very little benefit.

If I'm following most of the justification for this deal, it's been:
- This is a great day, so shut up/stop ruining my vibe
- There are unnamed worse things this could be spent on, and named things like... an even more expensive arena
- It will have economic benefits beyond anything else the money could be spent on but there will never be any direct evidence of this so stop asking
- The money was earmarked for this so it was actually impossible for them not to spend even more of it on this
- This was inevitable, and it's actually your fault that it's so expensive now
- You'll get over it
- Flames stay

As I said last night, at $1.2b I would think there'd be more justification than various mixes of "shut up" and shoulder shrugs. But I'll be happy if the people excited about this promise never to complain about property taxes or the cost of things like hospitals, transit lines, or accessible community projects ever again.

That's definitely going to happen, right?

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think the whole thing gets kyboshed anyway. There will just be too much controversy. Just by the comments on here with a sizable number of hardcore fans up in arms about it, imagine how people who don't even care hockey or events will feel about it.

Calgary puck has become very left leaning board recently.

It is also a board that is above average level of education (it seems)

So you have a lot of “hardcore” fans that take an opposite stance for a variety of reasons . Also a lot of the same people just keep repeating their same concern.

Most people in this city either don’t care or understand enough the finances, etc. Most I assume will think it’s cool we are getting a new stadium or just don’t care

There will be a few people using the “this could have hired more healthcare workers “ argument , but I don’t believe it will be very controversial in the general public in Calgary

Unless Notley decides to make this a contentious issue for the election and make it a big deal politically (which I don’t think she will or would be a good strategy ) no one will even be talking about the finances of this in a few days

I’m still waiting for a poll to see how the board feels .

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Jbo

Most of my friends were pumped when the news came out.

Our current arena is an actual joke with the crumbling roof.

It’s a joke because it’s crumbling?

I thought it was a joke because it looks like a giant maxi pad

[Yeah_Baby]

(I wouldn't call Calgarypuck left leaning myself. More centrist classic Red Tory territory. But it's Calgary so I'm probably splitting hairs. the Alberta NDP aren't even really left leaning in any way shape or form despite their roots.)

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

You may have just meant to bash NHL owners but your point is still good.

Cities are in the subsidy business. They do it all the time and the scale and proportions for private business aren't new here either.

What gets everyone in a bigger twist is they know who the company and owner are.

Examples?

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1651309180089925632

https://twitter.com/user/status/1651313448536649739

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

(I wouldn't call Calgarypuck left leaning myself. More centrist classic Red Tory territory. But it's Calgary so I'm probably splitting hairs. the Alberta NDP aren't even really left leaning in any way shape or form despite their roots.)

You trying to get called a socialism communist on CalgaryPuck? Because that's how you get called a communism socialist on CalgaryPuck.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

(I wouldn't call Calgarypuck left leaning myself. More centrist classic Red Tory territory. But it's Calgary so I'm probably splitting hairs. the Alberta NDP aren't even really left leaning in any way shape or form despite their roots.)

CalgaryPuck is left leaning compared to general Calgary population (or at least the vocal posters )

Where on the spectrum that “left” sits - sure it’s more central then historic “left” parties