Update on new Calgary event centre expected
UPDATE: Calgary arena deal signed, construction set to start this year. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Calgarians may feel a sense of déjà-vu as the event centre committee prepares for another meeting on Thursday morning.
It's been eight years since the Calgary Flames ownership first announced plans for a new arena for the team to call home.
That plan, dubbed CalgaryNEXT, promised an arena, multi-sport fieldhouse and other facilities to host major events and entertainment acts, but it never came to fruition.
Roughly two years later, then-mayor Naheed Nenshi proposed a 'plan B' partnership with Flames ownership, with a portion of the project's pricetag to be covered by the city and the rest covered by the team on top of user surcharges.
However, the team shot down the idea, claiming ownership would end up footing too much of the bill.
Fast forward to the summer of 2019, and it seemed like Calgarians would finally see the mega-project come to fruition.
Calgary city council approved a new $550-million plan to construct a state-of-the-art arena with capacity for around 19,000 people.
Construction on the project could have begun a little over two years later, but cost overruns and disagreements over funding slowed the process to the point where the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) pulled out of the deal in late 2021.
In April 2023, the city once again partnered not only with CSEC but also with the Alberta government and the Calgary Stampede to breathe new life into the project.
The agreements, in principle, with the province, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) and the Calgary Stampede pave the way for creating the Culture + Entertainment District in downtown Calgary, in the Rivers District, including a new and publicly-owned event centre.
The deal is valued at $1.2 billion.
The city is contributing 44 per cent, or $537.3 million, and 56 per cent is being contributed by both the province ($330 million) and CSEC ($356 million).
The province has since earmarked $39 million for things such as land acquisition, site preparation and roads near the future arena.
A new $800-million arena for the Flames to call home is part of the deal, and it comes with a 35-year lease that includes a commitment from the owners of the Calgary Flames to stay in the city, according to city officials.
The exact details of the plan have not yet been finalized, but Calgarians could soon get a more complete look at the deal's structure following Thursday's event centre committee meeting.
Premier Danielle Smith will join Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek at a 1:15 p.m. news conference updating the public on the new event centre.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
ANALYSIS Will Donald Trump go to prison? What the precedent says
Now that the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial has made the historic decision to convict him, the judge overseeing the case will soon face a monumental choice: whether to sentence the 2024 Republican presidential candidate to time behind bars.
A pair enjoyed pricey meals and bolted when it was time to pay. Their dine and dash ended in jail
A Welsh couple who dined out on pricey meals and bolted when the bill came is now paying the price, behind bars.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
Montreal tech billionaire charged with several sex offences
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Can Trump come to Canada now that he's a convicted felon?
A Canadian immigration lawyer says now that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, he is technically barred from crossing the border into Canada.
Liberal government's own polling said Canadians worried about drug decriminalization
Months before British Columbia sought to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot project, the federal government's own polling suggested to officials that a majority of Canadians believed the policy would lead to an increase in overdoses.
Loblaw testing out small-format No Frills grocery stores
Loblaw is testing smaller-format discount stores across the country this year as shoppers increasingly look for ways to save on their grocery bill.
Doomsday plot: Jury convicts Idaho man of killing wife and girlfriend's 2 children
An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend's two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.
'Why didn't they stop?' Mom asks of driver in hit-and-run crash that killed son
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run in Edmonton is begging the driver to come forward.