New Downtown Calgary Arena

[shogged]

Smooth play by ken king for sure.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

To summarize:
-hockey and/or football arena plans will be revealed this year
-the owners are suggesting that we might have a shot at another olympic bid if a stadium is funded
-no new details on location or design

I find that highly amusing, considering how bad the owners don't want NHL players in the Olympics. "Buy us an NHL stadium, and you can use it for the Olympics we won't let our players play in!"

[Spring2008]

This would have to be west village. Only area with room for new arena, stadium, other venues, and an Olympic Village. I think Unibrain also mentioned there's some big plans in the work for this area recently. Would keep things interesting construction wise in this part of town for awhile anyways.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I find that highly amusing, considering how bad the owners don't want NHL players in the Olympics. "Buy us an NHL stadium, and you can use it for the Olympics we won't let our players play in!"

They don't?

[Tills13]

My Dad is traveling with one of the owners next week I'll let you guys know what he tells me.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I find that highly amusing, considering how bad the owners don't want NHL players in the Olympics. "Buy us an NHL stadium, and you can use it for the Olympics we won't let our players play in!"

If it includes an actual stadium, and if the high-speed rail comes into play, it could be an Alberta bid for a summer Olympics. Would still be a major stretch, but I think the world could be ready for a less than over the top Olympics, perhaps making it possible for the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. McMahon would be a soccer venue with a renovation, and Edmonton has some useful facilities. Wonder if the Olympic Oval could be utilized for some things?

Would be easiest to bid for winter, but Vancouver just had it. We wouldn't be in the running for twenty years I'd think.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

This would have to be west village. Only area with room for new arena, stadium, other venues, and an Olympic Village. I think Unibrain also mentioned there's some big plans in the work for this area recently. Would keep things interesting construction wise in this part of town for awhile anyways.

Do you think a west village arena would necessitate an upgrade to the outdated interchange of Bow Tr. and Crowchild? I'm still skeptical the city will chip in just cause they do a song and dance about an Olympic bid. I'd actually be pissed if this got funding before the lrt green line.

[bigcanuck]

Druh Farrell is looking for a little input on Twitter:

"Question: Do you support spending public dollars for a new stadium and arena in#yyc?"

[Tills13]

Originally Posted by suburbia

If it includes an actual stadium, and if the high-speed rail comes into play, it could be an Alberta bid for a summer Olympics. Would still be a major stretch, but I think the world could be ready for a less than over the top Olympics, perhaps making it possible for the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. McMahon would be a soccer venue with a renovation, and Edmonton has some useful facilities. Wonder if the Olympic Oval could be utilized for some things?

Would be easiest to bid for winter, but Vancouver just had it. We wouldn't be in the running for twenty years I'd think.

Keep in mind Vancouver was considered wildly successful by, well most people. I think Canada could easily get another Olympics after Vancouver.

[Tills13]

Originally Posted by bigcanuck

Druh Farrell is looking for a little input on Twitter:

"Question: Do you support spending public dollars for a new stadium and arena in#yyc?"

there are a number of pretty sad responses to that tweet, at the moment.

[Wooster]

I'll just note that 3 of the 6 owners of the flames\stamps are in the top 100 wealthiest Canadians and are billionaires.

Murray Edwards and Clay Riddell alone are worth a combined $5.75 billion.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by Tills13

there are a number of pretty sad responses to that tweet, at the moment.

The responses look pretty reasonable to me: "Gov't has no business in professional sport", "no. Let's keep fixing transit and improving infrastructure", "Hell no. Massive sports junkie, but not in support of subsidizing wealthy. All econ studies show that they don't help public $$$", "nope. City infrastructure (transit, etc) which all citizens benefit from should be priority, city has no business in pro sport." I can't find fault with any of those responses.

[count0]

I think a new arena would be a valuable amenity to the city, but there is a fine line between providing funding for this vs corporate welfare. I see no reason why this project couldn't go ahead without the government pitching in, and if the government did pitch in I think the government should get some equity in the project (ie a share of the profits generated by the new arena). If the owners are looking for a handout without giving up something in return, then I'd say absolutely not.

[Tropics]

Indeed, those responses are exactly what they should be.

Spending "ANY" public money on the actual arena would be flat out robbery of the tax payers because I can assure you that in no way would the majority of tax payers vote to spend that money if they were given the choice.

BUT, what the city SHOULD pay for whether the arena goes into West Village "or not" is fixing the Bow Trail/Crowchild interchange. That is definitely something the city IS responsible for and that is an area of our transportation infrastructure that needs serious re-design "before" development in West Village begins to handcuff re-design options. Instead of giving the Flames any money, spend that money on fixing that instead. The sooner the better.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by shogged

Smooth play by ken king for sure.

No kidding. There's a huge gap between bidding on and actual hosting the Olympics.

[H.E.Pennypacker]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Do you think a west village arena would necessitate an upgrade to the outdated interchange of Bow Tr. and Crowchild? I'm still skeptical the city will chip in just cause they do a song and dance about an Olympic bid. I'd actually be pissed if this got funding before the lrt green line.

Me too .. Although if it meant a major upgrade to fix Bow Tr and Crowchild, it wouldn't be as terrible

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Tropics

Indeed, those responses are exactly what they should be.

Spending "ANY" public money on the actual arena would be flat out robbery of the tax payers because I can assure you that in no way would the majority of tax payers vote to spend that money if they were given the choice.

BUT, what the city SHOULD pay for whether the arena goes into West Village "or not" is fixing the Bow Trail/Crowchild interchange. That is definitely something the city IS responsible for and that is an area of our transportation infrastructure that needs serious re-design "before" development in West Village begins to handcuff re-design options. Instead of giving the Flames any money, spend that money on fixing that instead. The sooner the better.

Agreed.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Wooster

I'll just note that 3 of the 6 owners of the flames\stamps are in the top 100 wealthiest Canadians and are billionaires.

Murray Edwards and Clay Riddell alone are worth a combined $5.75 billion.

Definition of corporate welfare, and I love the Flames. I'm sorry, but even a kick ass new complex would only be a drop in the bucket to these guys. As much as Edmonton's getting an awesome new arena, the precedent set by Daryl Katz leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[artvandelay]

The hockey arena should be privately financed. Having said that I wouldn't mind public dollars going towards the stadium component and infrastructure upgrades.

[Socguy]

Katz may have set the trend for Alberta but he's just following a trend that's been ongoing for a while in North American. Times are changing and the reality is that most new sports facilities will either be built with some level of public financing or not at all.

As for the idea that these facilities are never worth the investment, I'm on the fence. This to me can go either way with everything riding on how it's done. Edmonton has great plans for their new arena and how to integrate and leverage it within it's new location. With the way they're proceeding I believe that it will bring about massive positive change for that city and it's downtown. If I lived in Edmonton I would be 100% for spending public money on the thing because I think the benefits will be there.

As for Calgary, I would be against spending public money on a new arena because, unless someone can show me otherwise, I don't see the same benefit available to Calgary.