Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRealPepman
Would it be nice if city turns Saddledome into a multi-level indoor parkade with separate retail/communuty spaces at the current lower level/ticket office/Chrysler Club?
Keys: Demolish the interior, modify the exterior a la Key Arena and Oracle Arena + make sure city's skyline still looks fantastic and unique
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The Key Arena redevelopment is currently anticipated to cost almost $1 billion. Maintaining the exterior of a building but modifying the interior is absurdly expensive. See: any historical building redevelopment project.
Personally, I don’t think there’s any benefit to the City other than the continued presence of the Flames in this arena. However, I do think there IS value in the presence of the Flames, not economically, but socially and culturally. That presence might be worth $275 million to enough Calgarians to make this a good deal for the city.
To me, any other arguments about value to Calgary in this project ring totally hollow. So debate the social and cultural value of the Flames (likely to be high on a forum dedicated to them), but leave any arguments about economic benefit at the door. There is more than enough evidence from around North America that sports arenas do not bring the benefits their boosters claim.
Ultimately, I hope this deal does go through and the arena is built - and is one of them cool “inverse bowl” stadiums (would it be the first?).