[News] Updated cost for Calgary to host the 2026 Olympic to be $5.23 billion.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Muta

Cities smaller than us have gotten more done in less time.

Such as? The new stadiums in Winnipeg and Regina took ages to get built.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by RM14

Here was the image from the McMahon stadium study earlier in the year.

- new endzone patio in front of the red & white club.
- new upper/middle concourse
- more washrooms / amentities

So spending all that money on 27k temporary seats and the legacy of the money spent is a couple of concourses and 700 end zone seats for this (built in 1960) concrete dinosaur? Nenshi was right. Math is hard.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

For reference purposes, Vancouver was $6.4 Billion and Pyeongchang was $12.9B.

Which makes me totally baffled as to why they'd do this on a ~5 billion dollar basis. $6.4 billion in 2010 dollars is about 7.5 today. Say you did a $7b bid - that's still a pretty low total relatively speaking, and you'd end up with all the "stuff" that people want out of it in terms of infrastructures and arenas. Seems like the appropriate middle ground.

[Incogneto]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Which makes me totally baffled as to why they'd do this on a ~5 billion dollar basis. $6.4 billion in 2010 dollars is about 7.5 today. Say you did a $7b bid - that's still a pretty low total relatively speaking, and you'd end up with all the "stuff" that people want out of it in terms of infrastructures and arenas. Seems like the appropriate middle ground.

lots of the "stuff" is already built, and just needs a facelift. Not the case with Van And Korea.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The point is that with an investment of about the same total dollars that Vancouver did, you'd end up getting more out of it than Vancouver did. And what Vancouver got out of it was generally seen as making the whole enterprise worthwhile. So why not do it that way?

No one wants to spend 5.3B to get basically nothing out of the process but the games themselves, but they might be willing to do 7.3 if they get most of what they want.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

At some point as a city we need to decide of those things matter to us or not.

We had a municipal election less then a year ago and that was a pretty prominent issue. YMMV but I thought the result was a pretty clear indicator of about how much we all collectively consider it to matter.

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

To host an olympics and spend all that money and not get that stuff would be idiotic.

That's what a bid of that size will generate. If you want more go tell your ward counselor that you want a $10,000,000,000.00 bid. Of course you'll have to compete with a bunch of people saying that's a waste of money. Alternatively you could go get the private sector to agree to subsequently rent the facilities they'll use for their private business operations at a rate that allows the city to reclaim it's capital cost.

[puckedoff]

I'm don't feel like 'showcasing' to the world what our city looked like 40 years ago, not sure that will have the positive impact on tourism that our councillors desire.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

The point is that with an investment of about the same total dollars that Vancouver did, you'd end up getting more out of it than Vancouver did. And what Vancouver got out of it was generally seen as making the whole enterprise worthwhile. So why not do it that way?

No one wants to spend 5.3B to get basically nothing out of the process but the games themselves, but they might be willing to do 7.3 if they get most of what they want.

This of course is the major problem with hosting the Olympics, the only way to make it truly worthwhile is to spend more and more. Bare bones and basically no one wants it.

[JBR]

I remain a yes. There was never any chance that a new arena or stadium would be included in the deal. BIDCO said this from the beginning. Not sure why some people seem shocked over this. The arena will get done, separately from the bid.

A successful bid includes a few billion dollars from the feds and province to help improve our infrastructure, affordable housing (legacy), existing facilities and get a field house and community arena, +++. Seems reasonable to me.

Regarding McMahon, check out BIDCO's venue February 2017 brief on the renovation proposals for the stadium. It's a lot more than paint and polish (RM14's post above shows one of the concepts) and very impressive.

One of many images in the report, which addresses concessions, concourse space, public areas, washrooms, retail, entrance/exit, etc.

[getbak]

Keating brings up the new arena and it is confirmed that this is a plan that meets the IOC's needs now, but if a new building is built in the meantime, the hosting plan can be revised.

Basically, it makes more sense to build the new arena and use it and the Saddledome for Olympic hosting rather than building the "mid-sized" arena in the plan.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Which makes me totally baffled as to why they'd do this on a ~5 billion dollar basis. $6.4 billion in 2010 dollars is about 7.5 today. Say you did a $7b bid - that's still a pretty low total relatively speaking, and you'd end up with all the "stuff" that people want out of it in terms of infrastructures and arenas. Seems like the appropriate middle ground.

I used US Dollars.

Adjusted for inflation and at the current exchange rate for US bucks, Vancouver spent $9.62 billion.

A simple Flames arena can be built for about $400 million. Mosaic Stadium cost about $278 million. Calgary could probably have new pro sports stadiums with this bid for $6B CDN, possibly less given that CSEC would kick in as well, and efficiencies could be found doing combined Field House/sporting venue facilities. Also, spending on the Saddledome and MacMahon could also be removed/accounted for pending new facilities.

With the IOC kicking in 2.23, Assume the Flames kick in 200 mil, and public spending kicks in 3B, the City would be spending in the neighborhood of $750 million to get new facilities for the Stamps and Flames, a new field house, a new mid-sized arena, a dearth of upgrades to existing buildings, and likely a spike in immediate and long-term tourist dollar spending.

For reference, the new City of Calgary Central Library will cost $245 million.

Assuming new Flames and Stamps facilities are worked in, it doesn't seem like that bad of a deal, at least in my books.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I used US Dollars.

Adjusted for inflation and at the current exchange rate for US bucks, Vancouver spent $9.62 billion.

A simple Flames arena can be built for about $400 million. Mosaic Stadium cost about $278 million. Calgary could probably have new pro sports stadiums with this bid for $6B CDN, possibly less given that CSEC would kick in as well, and efficiencies could be found doing combined Field House/sporting venue facilities. Also, spending on the Saddledome and MacMahon could also be removed/accounted for pending new facilities.

With the IOC kicking in 2.23, Assume the Flames kick in 200 mil, and public spending kicks in 3B, the City would be spending in the neighborhood of $750 million to get new facilities for the Stamps and Flames, a new field house, a new mid-sized arena, a dearth of upgrades to existing buildings, and likely a spike in immediate and long-term tourist dollar spending.

For reference, the new City of Calgary Central Library will cost $245 million.

Assuming new Flames and Stamps facilities are worked in, it doesn't seem like that bad of a deal, at least in my books.

But in this scenario how do we know who won between Nenshi and King? Isn't that all that really matters in this !

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

But in this scenario how do we know who won between Nenshi and King? Isn't that all that really matters in this !

Another plus is that if the Province kicked in $750 million through taxpayer money, then theoretically Oilers fans would be paying to upgrade the facilities of pro sports teams in Calgary that routinely kick their ass.

[Incogneto]

Reading between the lines, this all makes sense: SureLoss is right, Saddledome Upgrades + 5000 seat arena = investment into new 'Event Center'. I am guessing this will be $200M-$300M. The Flames will be ok putting in the rest at this point (with some discussion).

Plus, the Curling Venue TBA = Will be held at the Corral, but they cannot say that right now.

It all makes sense when you look at it deeper than just the ink on the paper.

[Tyler]

Kinda crazy that Canada could potentially be hosting the Olympics and World Cup in the same year and we don't get one new stadium out of either

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Kinda crazy that Canada could potentially be hosting the Olympics and World Cup in the same year and we don't get one new stadium out of either

Not the worst situation when you look at what happened with Brazil.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

This Professional Sports Ownership Group has

- An aging stadium that is the worst in the league
- And aging arena that is arguably the worst in the league

At some point the owners of the Flames/Stamps need to decide of those things matter to them or not. To depend on a city to host an olympics and spend all that money to get that stuff would be idiotic.

Fixed that for you.

[GirlySports]

in comparison Pyeongchang spent $13 billion on the more recent games and didn't even make half of that back.

[shogged]

Definitely not a flashy bid

[You Need a Thneed]

Like has been said. There was a zero chance of an arena being part of this proposal - AT THIS POINT. That does not mean that a new arena wouldn’t become part of the overall package in the end.

Like others have said, after winning a bid, you combine the funds for a smaller rink, with the Saddledome reno/upgrade funds - and use that as a basis to get an arena deal done.

If the stadium renovations use the above sketches as a guideline, that is fully acceptable as well.