2026 Olympics- Calgary votes no- 56%

[Bunk]

At the risk of being accused of nostalgia overload:

[troutman]

I don't quite understand the need of a Field House for winter sports. The proposal is the field house would be used for Figure Skating and Short-Track.

Why wouldn't figure skating be held in the Dome or new NHL arena? Why would they put the marquee event of the Games in a 5,000 seat arena?

Couldn't Short-Track be held in the Corral? The Oval? Max Bell?

I think Calgary needs a Field House, but not for winter sports.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by troutman

I don't quite understand the need of a Field House for winter sports. The proposal is the field house would be used for Figure Skating and Short-Track.

Why wouldn't figure skating be held in the Dome or new NHL arena? Why would they put the marquee event of the Games in a 5,000 seat arena?

Couldn't Short-Track be held in the Corral? The Oval? Max Bell?

I think Calgary needs a Field House, but not for winter sports.

It would be a summer sport venue that would be converted just for the two-week winter games.

and yes having figure skating in there would be dumb.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The dramatics and misinformation has been plentiful on both sides (funny how it will both “paralyze” and “save” Calgary, people need to get a grip). The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Given that there’s more to life than money, I’m going with my heart and voting yes.

I won’t be too disappointed if it’s a no, and with the way council is voting even a yes vote isn’t a guarantee, but if yes wins we’ll have something memorable to look forward to. That’s enough for me.

Originally Posted by JBR

There is over $500m in the bid allocated to the field house and maintenance of existing venues. The Bid also contains endowment funds to keep the Olympic venues sustainable for another 30+ years ($180m value). You're saying this can be done for less than the City's 2026 contribution? I can't see how you came to this.

Originally Posted by Muta

Uh, no. Building a new field house and maintaining a plethora of other sports facilities will cost more than $300M. A field house may cost $300M alone.

Your taxes are going to a field house eventually, Olympics or not. Why not get an additional return investment out of it in the process?

Fair to say that I'm going with my HEAD and voting Yes.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Fair to say that I'm going with my HEAD and voting Yes.

Those guys are both wrong so you're still going with heart.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

It would be a summer sport venue that would be converted just for the two-week winter games.

and yes having figure skating in there would be dumb.

I'm on the understanding that the permanent seating of the Fieldhouse is to be 10k+ then add temporary seating and the ice plant to compliment the rink that can be installed when needed.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Purely anecdotal fun!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1062430238259458048

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Those guys are both wrong so you're still going with heart.

Not just based on what they posted, I am an accountant and understand business costs/revenues/investments.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Those guys are both wrong so you're still going with heart.

Your numbers are wrong, so I guess you’re going with your heart too.

Heart voting for everyone!

[Senator Clay Davis]

The numbers are in the eye of the beholder, so everyone is wrong (or right!).

[getbak]

Originally Posted by troutman

What events are the 5,000 seat arena for? What's wrong with the Corral (7,000 seats)? Max Bell (3,000)?

Do you mean for the Olympics or afterwards?


For the Olympics, the 5000 seat venue would be used as the small hockey venue. This is required because between the men's and women's tournament, there are over 50 games played over the two weeks of the Games. In PyeongChang there were 52 total hockey games. For Beijing, the Women's tournament is expanding from 8 to 10 teams, which will mean even more games being played.

The small hockey venue will also host the sledge hockey tournament for the Paralympics.


Max Bell has a seated capacity of just over 2000. It is way too small. They'd be better off installing an ice plant and temporary seats at the Ag Events Centre at the Stampede and using it rather than the Max Bell.

The Corral may not even still be standing in February 2026. If it is still standing, it would still require extensive renovations to make it acceptable for Olympic use. The boards and benches don't meet IIHF specifications. The boards are too tall and too rigid and the radius of the corners isn't large enough. The benches at the Corral are too shallow and too narrow.


Either venue would also require accessibility improvements, and because it would be hosting sledge hockey, the accessibility improvements would have to be for both spectators and athletes. Either building would also likely require significant lighting and electrical upgrades for HD and 4K broadcasts of the games.


In the case of the Corral, all of that money would be spent to upgrade a facility that would still be scheduled for demolition.



It has been debated numerous times in this thread and others, but the 5000 seat venue at Foothills is the thing in the bid plan that is least-likely to ever be built. If we host the Games, that money will most-likely to reallocated to incorporate the small hockey venue into the new Flames arena. That could either be a temporary expansion of the expected practice rink that will be part of the new building, or a permanent replacement for the Corral, either attached to or immediately adjacent to the new NHL arena.

[undercoverbrother]

Winsport main arena sits 3900 or so and is lovely.

[You Need a Thneed]

I was leaning NO up to even yesterday evening, but thinking about it more, and reading some of the good information out there, I think we have to keep exploring this even though not every detail is out there yet.

Even with no Olympics, the city is going to spend a lot of money on the same projects (field house, venue lifecycle upgrades).

There’s a healthy contingency, which is good to see. Operations generally pays for itself anyway, so the contingency is really only needed for infrastructure. Federal dollars (from the sporting event bucket allotment) will go to a different place in Canada if we don’t get the Olympics here.

Tomorrow’s budget is going to be difficult, but that’s really a completely separate question.

And again, this is not a vote of whether we will have the Olympics or not. If we vote YES today, that doesn’t guarantee us the Olympics. Voting NO today almost certainly guarantees that we will not host. There are certainly other outs still remaining (if the deal isn’t good) and a IOC vote as well.

In spite of still having questions - I.e. how is this overrun insurance even a thing - I voted YES, not because I want the Olympics at any cost, but because this ACTUALLY could be a good investment for the city, either if it remains fairly cheap as proposed, or even if a modest amount of more infrastructure is added.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Not just based on what they posted, I am an accountant and understand business costs/revenues/investments.

I'm sure you're a competent accountant in all other aspects of life but if you think this deal makes any kind of investment sense you're just wrong.

Vote with heart on this being a magical experience for your kids or because Cool Runnings is your favourite movie or whatever but this is a bad deal for the City

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by troutman

I don't quite understand the need of a Field House for winter sports. The proposal is the field house would be used for Figure Skating and Short-Track.

Why wouldn't figure skating be held in the Dome or new NHL arena? Why would they put the marquee event of the Games in a 5,000 seat arena?

Couldn't Short-Track be held in the Corral? The Oval? Max Bell?

I think Calgary needs a Field House, but not for winter sports.

For the Winter Olympics these days, I think you need at least three spectator arenas - One gets used for figure skating & short Track - and is fully booked with events.

Hockey likely requires at least two, there are enough games going on between men’s and women’s to keep two arenas in full use.

Then you need practice space for all the hockey teams, figure skaters, etc.

Also, that doesn’t account for curling, which requires its own venue.

Moving the money allotted for the 5000 seat arena to the new event centre probably means that there are a lot more figure skating tickets to be sold, as I imagine that figure skating/short track would then go in the Saddledome, as opposed to a much smaller venue.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

You've run through the math? The Calgary Herald literally said yesterday the field house cost estimate is $300 million. City Hall even released numbers last year that it would cost $272 on its own, and that was before BidCo put the numbers together. Even the Flames - early in 2017 - said it would cost about $260 million. That's no small difference from what you've projected.

There is no immediate guarantee from provincial or federal coffers for future dollars commitment to the same venues or infrastructure. You can't just use "will find money" as a defense. There is no hard commitment other than this (as far as I know).

At the time of Calgary Next the city quoted 202 million in 2014 dollars.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...osts-1.3918929

The flames said 260 million when they were trying to sell an arena to the city that included a field house so that has to be the absolute cap.. Do you have a source for your 272?

The Olympic estimate includes costs of converting from an ice facility to a non ice facility after the games. The Exploration committee pegged this cost at 40 million (CBEC report)

And even using 272+ 20+80 + 10 I still have 10 million to kick into something else before I hit 390. When you run the numbers how much value do you get from the province and cities 1.1 billion contribution.

[oldschoolcalgary]

not trying to provoke people, but couldn't calgary just apply for the 2030 olympics?

I see a lot of talk of 'once in a lifetime opportunity', but this occurs every four years... I voted no, not because i am against the Olympics, but i think that the costs haven't been clearly figured out and there's a high chance, IMO, that the costs people are basing their votes on are incorrect.

[troutman]

More on the future of the Corral:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...sion-1.3497989

The venue is no longer up to code and renovating it would be uneconomical, said Stampede spokesman Kurt Kadatz.

"It's really at this point no longer an efficient arena or event space, the ice-making equipment is at the end of its lifespan and is expensive to replace," he said.

"It's a massive chunk of concrete, and cinder block, and there are no real architectural features that I would call historic," he said.

"Certainly, the uses and the nostalgia of what was in the building is important to the Stampede and obviously important to our community."

Kadatz says the Stampede would look at ways to preserve the memorabilia in the old building, such as the many photos of past performers that line the walls.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by GGG

At the time of Calgary Next the city quoted 202 million in 2014 dollars.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...osts-1.3918929

The flames said 260 million when they were trying to sell an arena to the city that included a field house so that has to be the absolute cap.. Do you have a source for your 272?

Calgary Herald:https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...g-for-olympics
City of Calgary:https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...lympic-figures
Calgary Flames: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...osts-1.3918929

Just so you are aware, CalgaryNext is basically dead.

Can you explain the other numbers you are listing?

[Weitz]

I think I've settled on voting no because I have a strong feeling that what we have now as the "financial plan" will be significantly different than what we will end up with if we win the Olympics. And it won't be on the cheaper side.