Officially official: Calgary Flames new arena will be built

The Calgary Flames will have a new home building to play out of in the coming years.

It was expected that a new building would be constructed for the Flames in the near future, but a final agreement had yet to be signed. That changed on Thursday afternoon, as several representatives from the Flames brass and officials from both the city of Calgary and the Government of Alberta confirmed that a deal has been signed, and construction will begin in 2024.

“CSEC is proud to partner in this community effort to build Calgary’s Event Centre and Culture + Entertainment District,” said Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation president and CEO John Bean. “We are happy to have the legal agreements finalized and look forward to the design and construction stage.”

As promised by the UCP months ago, they will donate $330 million towards this project, which is expected to cost $1.22 billion. If costs go above what is expected, the city of Calgary will make up the difference. While no one wanted to make any promises, all parties hope the arena would be ready for the 2026-27 season. As part of the agreement, Murray Edwards and Flames ownership have made a 35-year commitment to keep the team in Calgary.

Despite this deal being in the works for some time, Flames fans were patient on becoming overly excited, as they went through a very similar situation a few years prior. It was believed a new deal had been agreed upon at the time, only for it to be terminated shortly before construction was set to get underway.

Getting a new arena is much overdue for the Flames, who have played out of the Saddledome since 1983. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been vocal in recent years that the Saddledome is extremely outdated, comments which Flames own defenceman MacKenzie Weegar echoed at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

Unfortunately for Calgarians, it has also been confirmed that the Saddledome will be torn down once the new building is ready to go. Despite it being outdated, it is a major symbol in Calgary. The building is designed in the shape of a cowboy hat, which pays homage to the 10-day stampede the city hosts every summer.

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