Scotia Place | 36.85m | 11s | CSEC | HOK

Do you support the proposal for the new arena?

  • Yes

    Votes: 103 67.3%

  • No

    Votes: 40 26.1%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 10 6.5%
  • Total voters
    153
maestro said:
Ten years of negotiation and the Flames end up with everything they wanted. The city is paying the majority of construction to own a building with no resale value and the Flames have a 35 year, lucrative management contract. I'm not sold on the site. It's surrounded by convention space. It's not very lively.

Rogers arena looks great .... on the inside. The exterior cladding looks like shit. It's not pedestrian friendly. The carbuncle practice area ruins the trendy design.
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It looks good on the inside, much the same as all new gen arenas. The one thing I don't care for is the amount of gap between the lower and upper bowl. The other new gen arenas I've been to (Vancouver, Toronto and St Paul) have better flow between upper and lower bowl.. Rogers Arena upper bowl feels disconnected to me.
 
I hate how we constantly hate on Edmonton's stuff here when we get something proposed, but the reality is that they are nearly equal in population to us and are the closest major city geographically to us by a significant margin. Rogers Arena was a great plan, and it hasn't gone well, nor has the new plaza between it and the Ice towers. I did know they got a raw deal, but I didn't realize how shitty their deal was. I don't think we got a very good deal either, but thank gods it's finally penned. I understand the concern that there is sort of a wasteland surrounding this site. However, plans have been in motion for a long time to transform Stampede Park into a more pedestrian friendly environment. As far as this proposal goes, it's about as good a location as we could hope for considering the city's plan to turn EVP into the Entertainment District. There are 5 virtually empty city-blocks to the north within a 2 to 5 minute walking distance primed for development, a massive expansion of our largest convention venue, the new Opera building, the Stampede Youth Campus, a popular casino, the incipient punch-through of 17 Avenue into Stampede Park, among other infrastructure upgrades set to begin throughout the area soon. I have no question that this will be a success, as long as we get a human scaled (non starship), with street facing retail and a large adjacent plaza.

Considering the amount of residential construction underway and set to begin, despite the economic woes, I'm not really worried about developers expressing interest pretty much immediately after the design is finalized. Lamb Developments was foolish to sell the Orchard site.
 
maestro said:
It's better than Edmontons. It's not a fifth of the costs to taxpayers. It has taken 10 years and the office market is now in the toilet and residential is weaker than 5 to 10 years ago. The years of feuding wasn't worth a slightly better deal than Edmontons. Edmonton has an arena and good start to the "arena district"

How do you get to 1/5th of the costs? The Flames aren't paying property taxes. They aren't paying rent. They keep the majority of the revenues less a maximum of $3 million a year to the city. The city also gets 250,000 a year from the naming right that could be sold for as much as $10 million a year. That's probably less than the property taxes paid if the Flames owned the building.

That's all i have to say. It's a done deal. Moving on.
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The closed-door arena deal negotiations had no effect on Calgary's housing & office markets weakening lol.
I don't see it being 1/5th of the cost either, but it's definitely closer to 1/2, which is much better than 4/5th's. Like you said, Edmonton's got a good arena district going - are you thinking Calgary won't get the same? If a $290M arena investment creates a $2B arena district, is it not worth while? Victoria Park needs to be revitalized regardless - arena or not. We also need an arena. Not to appease billionaires, but simply because the Dome will only last us so much longer. Could it be upgraded? Yes, but upgrades can only do so much to fix something that is inherently flawed.
Either the city spends millions revitalizing VP themselves & fix the arena when shit hits the fan, or they spend millions to build a new arena now, keep the Flames around for 35+ more years, and hopefully spawn a multibillion dollar privately-funded arena district around it all. Not a hard choice.
 
maestro said:
That's all i have to say. It's a done deal. Moving on.
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I agree. No more debating who should have paid more, who is getting a better deal or whether the new event centre will be a economic driver or not. It's done!
Let's anticipate the next debate ... whether the event centre design meets expectations, and more importantly what is the plan for the area surrounding it.
 
Meikkhaell said:
The closed-door arena deal negotiations had no effect on Calgary's housing & office markets weakening lol.
I don't see it being 1/5th of the cost either, but it's definitely closer to 1/2, which is much better than 4/5th's. Like you said, Edmonton's got a good arena district going - are you thinking Calgary won't get the same? If a $290M arena investment creates a $2B arena district, is it not worth while? Victoria Park needs to be revitalized regardless - arena or not. We also need an arena. Not to appease billionaires, but simply because the Dome will only last us so much longer. Could it be upgraded? Yes, but upgrades can only do so much to fix something that is inherently flawed.
Either the city spends millions revitalizing VP themselves & fix the arena when shit hits the fan, or they spend millions to build a new arena now, keep the Flames around for 35+ more years, and hopefully spawn a multibillion dollar privately-funded arena district around it all. Not a hard choice.
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I was very opposed to this deal in light of the threat to the Greenline, but you and Chad make some valid points. Particularly with how dire things are DT I can understand why Council would go for a revitalization like this. I begrudgingly look forward to seeing the design.
 
A cropped screenshot of the project timeline from the CMLC Event Centre Engagement site:
Project Timeline.png
 
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Give that survey a go guys, you could win Flames tickets and jerseys (or don't, I want to win them ;))
Does that timeline indicate that we should be getting finalized renders by the end of the year?

I hope this survey isn't all they're doing for "public engagement." There's lots of specific things I'd like to see in the new arena, and a short multiple choice survey doesn't really cut it IMO. Here's my wish-list, some big, some small:
- High capacity! Tickets are expensive enough with 19,300 seats. Don't drive them up even higher with less supply.
- Rossetti Bowl design (as long as it "works." To some degree I worry about things like neck strain for people in the nosebleeds, staring down at the game for 3h. If it really is as good as they claim though, I would love to see the Rossetti bowl design.
- Improve the flow of things like washrooms and parking.
- Partnerships with local companies like Shaw or Westjet. Shaw specifically might be able to provide some pretty state-of-the-art technology to the facility. Immersive pregame shows, more audience interaction, integrated seat delivery, light shows, etc.
- Small one, but add LEDs into the stanchions that flash & light up when we score. NSH, VAN, PHI, etc already have them, and they look awesome.
- World-class architecture. Not a box, not a fortress, not a spaceship. Take inspiration from T-Mobile Arena, Sprint Centre, Staples Centre, or Chase Centre. I really like the interior of Little Caesars Arena too.
- Give us red (or at least black) seats dammit. Blue seats in the C of RED? Unacceptable.
- Permanent playoff plaza/gathering space. Not just some thrown-together grungy parking lot. Let local food trucks & other businesses set up a market nearby during playoffs or other events.
- Reignite the Red Mile in all its glory. Get those bars going, new restaurants, more local business, Flames art, statues, etc. This should be a place Calgary is known for year-round.
- More community engagement. Have an outdoor rink going in the winter.
- Local food and restaurants. Bring us things unique to Calgary. Not just popcorn, nachos and pizza. Offer some Stampede specialties. Local craft beer? Beer garden? Also, get a different pizza company. Pizza 73 is bleh.
 
Speaking of the Corral, i heard on the radio it’s getting demoed after Stampede. I also heard they are going to be building the 17th ave entrance soon
 
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