Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames “Walk Away” From New Arena Deal
The Calgary Flames have apparently walked away from a $600 million deal with the city over $9.4 million in additional costs for a new arena.
The Calgary Flames have reportedly walked away from a deal with the city to build a new arena. According to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, the Flames have declared their intention to bail on a $600 million-plus deal because of a relatively small change in the total cost of the project, mostly centered around climate change cost issues.
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She writes in a series of six different tweets:
Today, I spoke with Murray Edwards, primary shareholder of Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corp (CSEC), about the future of the Event Centre project. He informed me of the Flames intention to pull the plug on the Event Centre deal.
She details the original agreement (one she supported) that was secured in 2019 was changed in 2021 to one she didn’t support because the city offered cost concessions and changes in who was in control of what. As costs continued to rise, when she was elected Mayor, she started trying to mitigate those additional costs. In her new pitch to the Flames and their ownership, $9.4 million worth of new costs were outstanding for the Flames to cover and CSEC is walking away because they don’t like the new arrangement.
She notes:
“On a project worth over $650M, to have one party walk away for 1.5% of the value of the deal is staggering. I wanted Calgarians to be the first to know. I am as disappointed as all of you that this is the way things are ending.”
Other reports have surfaced that this could be a negotiating ploy or an attempt by the Mayor to sway citizens of Calgary in her favor. Elliotte Friedman called in arm-twisting season, while Ryan Pike of Flames Nation pointed out via Twitter, “To be clear: the Flames have NOT terminated the arena deal agreement as of right now. They have declared to the city their INTENTION to terminate the deal.”
Meanwhile, the Flames contend that continued increases and escalating costs, plus the uncertainty over additional cost increases as time rolls along is a bigger concern than just $9.4 million worth of a $600 million project.
It appears the Flames will be sticking with the Scotiabank Saddledome if the two sides don’t go back to the negotiating table and try to iron out this agreement.
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