Flames to announce plans to announce arena plans in the... future...

[The Fonz]

I wonder which ECHL prospect magicpixels is buddies with and gets all of his insider info from.

[topfiverecords]

It's already been stated officially by K.K. in many places the seating will be less than 19k.

I'd say it's a 10% chance of it being in the west end of downtown. 90% chance it's in the Beltline east of 4th St SE and between the tracks and 12th ave.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

It's already been stated officially by K.K. in many places the seating will be less than 19k.

Wrong.

22k. Ryan Donally told me.

[FlamingLonghorn]

Originally Posted by JayP

It seems to make perfect sense to me. Why should the city be funding an arena the Flames owners can afford to build themselves and will reap all the profits from? There is basically no financial incentive for the city to be involved.

Well if the team leaves it costs them jobs, tax money, etc...

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Wrong.

22k. Ryan Donally told me.

Are you sure? His brother's wife's friend's cousin from Omaha told me otherwise.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Are you sure? His brother's wife's friend's cousin from Omaha told me otherwise.

Guy scored 3 goals for us in Omaha 6 years ago.

I am sure.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by magicpixels

There is no way in hell they make it a smaller arena especially when the owners know they can easily sell 20,000 plus tickets a game.

Wouldn't be hard to implement a casino as we don't really have even one single first class casino in our city.

Keep in mind that a few thousand of those seats in the Saddledome are relatively low quality. The cost of maintenance in those area is hardly even worth it.

An arena with 18-19,000 quality seats is much more efficient and creates more demand.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Guy scored 3 goals for us in Omaha 6 years ago.

I am sure.

Ok, I trust your source then. I retract my previous comment, I guess my info is incorrect. Sorry guys. New stadium will be 22k.

[You Need a Thneed]

Every row of seats you add around the arena costs slightly more to build than the previous row. The most expensive seats in the arena to build are the ones in the back. meanwhile, those seats bring in the least amount of revenue. Also, it's always best for ticket prices (for the team), if the supply is slightly less than the demand. You don't want to have 21000 seats, when the demand is only 20000.

That's why there won't be 21000 seats in the new arena.

[The Fonz]

And instead of seats the luxury boxes will have horses. So while the building will look modern, you will watch the game and eat your nachos on a horse. This pays homage to the olden days.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Sorry, but this is plain awful. Looks like a tacky and cheap version of olden-times....without the charm or quality.

The last place anyone should be looking towards for architectural inspiration is North Dakota.

I know you hate anything that isn't modern looking, or so it seems, but having seen that rink in person it's actually gorgeous and by no means looks cheap.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by FlamingLonghorn

Well if the team leaves it costs them jobs, tax money, etc...

The team isn't going to risk leaving a profitable location to move to an unknown like Kansas City. If we were having this discussion in the late 90's it's a lot different. The threat of a team leaving is empty - the NHL would never allow it in first place and the Flames owners would be crazy to consider it.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Laner99

I've been to a few somewhat new arenas in the league (Dallas, LA, Philly) and one older one (MSG) and from what I have seen some must haves include:

Better concourses - I know a couple rinks I've been to have 2 levels of concourses. Making lots of room to move and less lines for the bathroom and beers. This is my biggest issue with the dome.

Larger lower bowl. Again lots of new rinks have massive lower bowls then a smaller 2nd level. The dome is the exact opposite, smaller lower bowl larger 2nd level. I know LA and MSG both have a great set up with nothing but a walkway and about a 7 foot wall separating the 1st and 2nd levels. Done very well. LA also did a great job with its suites being above the 2nd level. Great set up.

Parking - the dome is a ridiculous price and a mess to exit every game. There has to be a better way. And now they are digging up another large section of the lots making it even worse at the dome. Brutal.

Bigger lounge - duttons is about half the size it needs to be.

That's my hit list.

Not anymore, the renovation completely changed that. The 200 level is now an actual balcony above the lower bowl. I haven't seen a hockey game in the new configuration, but from other events the sightlines are great. The concourses are also much improved.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by JayP

The team isn't going to risk leaving a profitable location to move to an unknown like Kansas City. If we were having this discussion in the late 90's it's a lot different. The threat of a team leaving is empty - the NHL would never allow it in first place and the Flames owners would be crazy to consider it.

Well you obviously understand that times and circumstances change, so it's odd that you think the current situation couldn't possibly do the same.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

Best arena I've visited (mind you, haven't been to too many), has granite floors, leather and cherry wood for their seats, every inch of that place is made to be the best.

Sounds like a very nice show home.

Personal opinion of course, but I think sports arenas should be future-forward, and showcases of technology and materials. Maybe this arena arena has some nice cherry wood seats, but from the outside it looks like a historicist mall.

The sporting venues that you see going up in Europe and Asia look about 50 years ahead of us. Why can't we do that too? The Saddledome was future-foward.....this new arena should be too. They only come one around every 30 or so years, so should be treated as being potential icons for the city.

This city doesn't give second thought to preserving ACTUAL old buildings, and then spends so much effort on wrapping new things in this fake historical facade. You don't see Italians building everything to look like the Coliseum just because it's in their past. They build things and use materials that are appropriate for their day, which makes all the various older buildings stand out even more so.

[Table 5]

nm double post

[tripin_billie]

Originally Posted by Heavy Jack

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.

It's a great facility, but the area is completely dead when there isn't a hockey game going on. Even the movie theatre there is under-utilized. I just hope nobody thinks that creating an "arena district" will magically make the place a destination on none event nights.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by GGG

No way capcity will be 21k. Even a slight over supply of tickets kills your ability to charge premium prices and maintain your season ticket base because if you can get tickets to any game you don't need to have season tickets.

What you will see is the elimination of the press level type seating. So all 18 or 19k seats will have much better site lines. I would suspect you will get the newer standard of a lower bowl, a row of boxes, a club level, a row of boxes, a third level that is similar in site lines of the current green seats and the back of the whites.

It all depends on what the waiting list for suites and season tickets are.

If there is a 10,000 person waiting list for season tickets, why wouldn't you add a couple thousand more seats? And obviously there is a waiting list for 'suites'...as that is the point for the new arena. More suites.

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

It's a great facility, but the area is completely dead when there isn't a hockey game going on. Even the movie theatre there is under-utilized. I just hope nobody thinks that creating an "arena district" will magically make the place a destination on none event nights.

The new dome will 100% have an ‘arena district’.

Maybe not a hotel/casino like the insiders have posted but it will have additional restaurants and bars. And long term a hotel and casino (or whatever they decide on) makes total sense. East village will have loads of people living in it one day, they will sustain the arena district eventually.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Every row of seats you add around the arena costs slightly more to build than the previous row. The most expensive seats in the arena to build are the ones in the back. meanwhile, those seats bring in the least amount of revenue. Also, it's always best for ticket prices (for the team), if the supply is slightly less than the demand. You don't want to have 21000 seats, when the demand is only 20000.

That's why there won't be 21000 seats in the new arena.

The seats above the press boxes cost what? $35 a seat? If you have 18,000 'prime' seats, and 3,000 more 'press box seats'....you're adding approximately. $100,000 per game in ticket revenue, plus concession revenue.

Over 48 games, that is $5 million in additional revenue, and over a 30 year lifespan for the arena, it equals over $150 million in ticket revenue alone. I would imagine concession revenue is also quite a bit per game, as fans up there tend to be rowdy and drink a lot.

Still not worth it? Considering it gives middle/lower class people the ability to buy tickets, I would absolutely say it is worth it. Not everyone can afford to pay $100/game for a single ticket, and if they go with the AVERAGE family of 4, the cost of going to a game can be up to $400. If you buy Sportchek Zone tickets or upper level seating, the cost is around $200/game.

But it all depends on demand. If there is a 10,000 person waiting list for season tickets, and a waiting list for suites....plus good demand for game packs and single game tickets...it is worth it. But obviously if there isn't much demand for more than 19,289 tickets, there isn't much point in adding the additional 2,000 seats.