Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
Cllr Davison musing about combining mid-and full sized arenas in one building
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...emains-unclear
Makes some sense. Would need to probably shuffle the location of the Stampede headquarters south of 14ave too. It would be a substantial building. |
Good. That's what I've been in favour of for a while.
We know the Flames will want an on-site practice rink as part of the new building like we've seen with most of the newer buildings in the League (among the post-lockout new arenas, only Pittsburgh and Vegas have their practice rinks off-site). Rather than just building a small rink with very little seating, like most of those other arenas, why not give the secondary rink some capacity and it can serve as a replacement for the Corral?
I think there are a lot of good reasons to build something that size in that area. As suggested, the Hitmen and/or Roughnecks could play some of their games in the smaller building, which would free up the bigger building for other events, or just to let the ice rest. Building the two arenas into one space would create some of those operational efficiencies that the Flames talked about with CalgaryNext. Also, because the Flames would be operating both arenas, they wouldn't be losing revenue when they put an event into the smaller arena. It also lets them sell naming rights to two different venues.
If you look at New Jersey, the plot of land where the Prudential Center sits is almost exactly the same size as the land in Victoria Park that is being discussed for the new arena. On that land, the Devils have not only their arena, they also have their practice rink.
Here's a photo of it. The practice rink is the smaller building in the foreground (it has virtually no seating inside and is just big enough for the rink itself). Adding in some seating around the smaller rink would likely only add about 30-40m to the size of the building.
With some clever design work, you probably could find a way to fit both the large and mid-sized arenas into that 2-block space.
There would also be the possibility of putting the mid-sized arena south of 14th Ave, where Parking Lot A currently is and having a tunnel connecting the two buildings under the road. Or, the better option would likely be to shift 14th Ave about 40m to the south. That would give them enough room to build the two arenas together, and the road would align better with the bridge across the river.
If you take the money budgeted in the Olympic bid plan for the mid-sized arena by Foothills and shift it to a downtown arena, you basically close the funding gap between the City and the Flames.