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

[Reggie Dunlop]

The Flames will use the NHL ice for practices. How many times did they use the Corral (when it was standing)? Once, twice a year? If that.

More likely the Wranglers and Hitmen would use it. The Wranglers will likely move their base of operations out of Winsport.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

People are so weird when it comes to this stuff. A few years ago we found out that the federal government couldn't account for 20,000 projects and double digit billions of taxpayer money that just went up in smoke and it's barely a blip on the radar for the average Canadian. The province and the city kick in a hundreds of millions for a project that Calgarians will absolutely be able to see and use whether it be for sports, music, stampede, etc and people get all angry like that money came right out of their personal bank accounts. People need to realize that even if they don't plan on using the facilities, at least there's tangible evidence of taxpayer money spent as there's a good chance if used for something else we will never see any evidence of it being spent.

Hard to be mad about something we don't have any details on.

Hockey fans know the business of hockey, and know team owners make unbelievable returns on their investments. They don't need handouts.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Like this has got to be the biggest price tag on a new arena for any NHL city, no? (All 'infrastructure' included)

The Islanders and Kraken arenas both exceeded $1 billion USD after infrastructure improvement costs, which is more than this after the exchange rate.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

The Flames will use the NHL ice for practices. How many times did they use the Corral (when it was standing)? Once, twice a year? If that.

More likely the Wranglers and Hitmen would use it. The Wranglers will likely move their base of operations out of Winsport.

I feel like the Flames and opposing teams that come into town use Winsport more than occasionally for practice. Now they will likely just use the “community” arena. But if there is not something else going on in the NHL rink (like transferring it back from a concert venue to an ice surface) I would agree the NHL rink will likely be used for practice. So not much would change for the Flames usage except on the margins.

Suspect the community rink is off limits during training camp for the Flames/Wranglers/Hitmen so that would basically eliminate public use in September and early October.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

I feel like the Flames and opposing teams that come into town use Winsport more than occasionally for practice. Now they will likely just use the “community” arena. But if there is not something else going on in the NHL rink (like transferring it back from a concert venue to an ice surface) I would agree the NHL rink will likely be used for practice. So not much would change for the Flames usage except on the margins.

Suspect the community rink is off limits during training camp for the Flames/Wranglers/Hitmen so that would basically eliminate public use in September and early October.

Any use shifting from Winsport to the "community/practice" rink would open up equal time at Winsport.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Any use shifting from Winsport to the "community/practice" rink would open up equal time at Winsport.

Sure, I suppose the question is what is the value of that when you could have built a twin arena somewhere where folks could use it all the time for the same price tag and just let the Flames entities continue to use the NHL rink and Winsport for practices. Seems to me a twin arena that is available all time for the same price would have better usage than a NHL practice facility that has multiple blackout periods.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

‘You get to share the ice with the Glendale Hawks Div 3 Pee Wee team. If any of their pucks come over from their horseshoe drill please send them back.’

"You boys will just have to share the ice. These girls want to do their figure skating on that end."

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'm curious how public the "public realm" will be(and the amenities available), just like the "community" rink. How much value do Calgarians get for those "public" features, related to the cost?

Exactly. "Community" rink is just nice branding for "CSEC practice facility"

[Reggie Dunlop]

Was the Corral ever used much in its later years?

[Knut]

The Keystone XL Energy Arena has a nice ring to it.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Nufy

Change arena to "Multi-purpose Arts and Culture Centre" with state of the art acoustics and lighting that will bring world class entertainment to the city...

Make a difference now ?

The Calgary Central Library, which is in fact, a "Multi-purpose Arts and Culture Centre" cost $245M total. That includes working the red line tunnel into it.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Any use shifting from Winsport to the "community/practice" rink would open up equal time at Winsport.

I’d imagine the practice times the Wranglers/Hitmen/even Flames are using aren't the high demand times for Winsport. The 5pm-11pm block is where the ice time shortages are.

[getbak]

These "Community Arenas" are just part of the shell game used in these deals.

They're only available to the public if nothing else is going on in the building. The location isn't the easiest to get to, and unless they're giving the users free parking, how many people will want to pay Stampede Park prices for parking just to skate on the Flames' practice rink?


I've been saying for years, they should build a 6-8,000 seat arena to replace the Corral that the Flames can use for practice. With the Wranglers and Hitmen, the smaller building could also be used for a good chunk of their games too. It would also be a good spot for the secondary hockey venue when/if we ever host the Olympics again.

The Sharks did something like that this year, moving their AHL team into a smaller capacity rink at their practice facility.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Edwards would probably have to sell, to Fertitta. So much for his Pro Sports team ownership hobby.

The team moving to a city without any pro-sports teams would definitely limit the number of potential suitors. But there would be suitors out there.

Just north of the border there is Quebec City and Hamilton. Mississauga has had interest in a team and building an arena to get one. Each come with built in territorial issues which makes them a harder sell.

Fertitta, would then be competing to be the 5th/6th best sports draw in town, not just fans but commercial suites/sponsors too.

Irrelevant point. Pecking order is irrelevant if there is a buyer interested in the team and the league has interest in moving the team because Calgary no longer has facilities that measure up to the league's standards or requirements to generate revenue.

Funny, you said plenty of teams.

Plenty of potential sites, especially with the change in attitude toward playing in Canada and the preference to playing in warmer or more eastern climes.

Houston, Charlotte, Jacksonville, San Antonio, San Diego, Austin, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, and Portland. A lot of these cities have a history with hockey and a built in fan base. A free building and earning revenues in USD is pretty attractive in a league where the majority of your expenses are also paid in USD.

I wouldn't say any of these are front burner locations, but if things continue to work against access to a new facility and greater revenue opportunities, then the team is going to be incentivized to explore the potential in each and every location.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Was the Corral ever used much in its later years?

We had some corral ice for the kids hockey team. It sucked ass, very expensive ice to procure, dump facilities/locker rooms and everyone had to pay ~$15 to park to drop the kid off at practice. That didn't last long.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...ort+Jan+25.pdf

The Rivers District Master Plan was published in 2019. Within, the city earmarked $547M in capital expenditure for an events center. They've agreed to put up $537 now. They would have always counted on the Flames as an anchor tenant and that obviously came to fruition. But, they received a bonus $300M from the province (which, out of a $68.3B planned spend is pretty inconsequential). If you're going to be mad, be mad in 2019.

Between this and BMO and all of the facilities which will go up because of these two centers, Victoria Park is going to be an amazing part of our city. I personally hope this phase is truly over and meaningful progress begins on the project.

[redmile04]

Originally Posted by fotze2

We had some corral ice for the kids hockey team. It sucked ass, very expensive ice to procure, dump facilities/locker rooms and everyone had to pay ~$15 to park to drop the kid off at practice. That didn't last long.

That is what i was thinking in regards to the community arena piece, who wants to go downtown and pay for parking when there are more convenient facilities with no parking cost...

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Hard to be mad about something we don't have any details on.

Hockey fans know the business of hockey, and know team owners make unbelievable returns on their investments. They don't need handouts.

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.

[lazypucker]

I probably missed it somewhere, but when will the new event center break ground and when it will open?

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

I probably missed it somewhere, but when will the new event center break ground and when it will open?

Nobody knows...