Design revealed for new Calgary event centre

Calgarians got a first look Monday at drawings for the new event centre slated to replace the aging Scotiabank Saddledome. 

The name of the new arena, Scotia Place, was inadvertently revealed just hours before the official announcement and groundbreaking at the building site in the community of Victoria Park.

In a release, the city says the building's design is influenced by the ancestral land of Indigenous peoples and of a shared purpose – to gather.

"A striking feature of the building is the central structure with a textured flame motif that emulates a home fire, which is further amplified when it is lit at night," the release said.

"The home fire, a place of warmth and energy that brings people together to share stories of the past and create stories for the future, rises from the white, glacial-like forms that define the lower parts of the building."

The look and feel of the project also takes inspiration from all four elements of nature — fire, ice, land and air.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, City of Calgary officials, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and members of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) — the group that owns the Calgary Flames, Calgary Hitmen, Calgary Roughnecks, and Calgary Wranglers — announced details Monday about the 18,000-seat arena that will replace the circa-1983 Scotiabank Saddledome, along with a new community rink.

The total $926.4 million-cost of the project, including public plazas, an attached parkade and a community rink is being paid for with more than $850 million from the municipal level, $30 million from the province for the community rink and $40 million upfront from the CSEC along with annual payments starting at $17 million year one, increasing by one per cent each year after that.

The province will cover the cost of demolishing the Saddledome, the second oldest arena in the NHL, once the new arena is open in 2027.

The project team consists of CAA Icon, HOK-Dialog, and CANA/Mortenson. The city's news release says the team worked with an Indigenous advisory group that included representatives from the Treaty 7 Nations, the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3, and the Urban Indigenous community throughout the design process.

Construction begins this week.

Not everyone loves the idea of so much taxpayer money going to a for-profit venture.

Former city councillor Jeromy Farkas has slammed the deal.

"I think at the end of the day, they're going to have to justify why this money has to go straight into the pockets of a privately owned sports team rather than to other needed priorities," Farkas told CBC News in April.

He said the City of Calgary is going to end up paying more than 90 per cent of the costs for the new arena.