While I agree I still hope they keep the Dome around, it's part of Olympic history and helps identify Calgary as cliche as it may be. I sincerely hope they don't go the same sort of direction though with the new arena though, I'm hoping for something along the lines of the arena in Columbus or Dallas but especially Nationwide. Here's some cool facts about it:
Construction
The arena is of a brick design and serves as the center of an entertainment district located about one-half of a mile north of the
Ohio State Capitol. Seating capacity is approximately 18,500
[9] for
hockey, 17,171 for
arena football, 19,500 for
basketball, and up to 21,000 for concerts.
Facilities
Nationwide Arena houses a smaller ice rink called the
OhioHealth IceHaus (formerly named the CoreComm IceHaus and Dispatch Ice Haus). This facility serves as the practice rink for the
Blue Jackets and is also used for youth hockey games and open skating times for the public. This facility makes Nationwide Arena the first
NHL arena with an on-site practice facility and one of only two such facilities in NHL (the other being the
Prudential Center, home of the
New Jersey Devils).
Location
The area surrounding Nationwide Arena, appropriately called the
Arena District, houses bars, clubs and a movie theater. The
Columbus Clippers, a AAA baseball team in the International League, play in the newly constructed
Huntington Park nearby. Columbus uses the arena as a drawing point for the city with the other establishments feeding off of the foot traffic. The
Lifestyle Communities Pavilion concert venue, and
Arena Grand Theatre adjacent to the Nationwide Arena property, completes the entertainment complex.
I like a lot of the qualities that the BJ's arena takes into consideration. It's just too bad they don't like hockey down there but I think a similar plan would work in a Hockey city like Calgary.
