’ Dome sweet home? Only time will tell

CalgaryNEXT stadium proposal leaves Saddledome’s fate uncertain

While many questions remain regarding the feasibility of CalgaryNEXT, a proposal for a stadium complex unveiled Tuesday that would one day serve as the home of the Calgary Flames, the future of the team’s current home at the Scotiabank Saddledome remains unknown.

Ken King, CEO of Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp., told reporters Tuesday he’d like to see a floor without surrounding walls inserted in the middle of the Saddledome to convert it into an exhibition and trade space, something “that’s desperately and sorely needed in our city.”

“When combined with the BMO Centre and when combined with everything else that’s going on in this area, it doesn’t constitute a convention centre by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives us much more … benefit,” said King. “Now, is that the highest and best use, is that the best idea? I don’t know the answer to that question.”

Heather Lundy, a spokeswoman for Meetings and Conventions Calgary, raised concerns about King’s idea on Wednesday.

“Typically, convention facilities in any city are located downtown. The delegates themselves need the amenities like the restaurants, the hotels, the shopping, the entertainment,” she said. “You can safely say that that’s missing from that area.”

Lundy agreed there are a lack of convention and meeting spaces in the city, but the Saddledome’s future depends on “how it would be retrofitted.”

Lundy said she hadn’t heard of King’s idea for the Saddledome until his presentation.

“Obviously, we were surprised. Nobody collaborated with us on the idea,” she said.

But the City of Calgary hasn’t considered the Saddledome’s future beyond its current arrangement with the Flames. The lease of the city- owned building was renewed last year until 2033.

“When the city receives any formal notification of termination on this lease, we’ll consider the future use of the building,” said Jillian Henderson with the corporate properties and buildings department.

CalgaryNEXT’s success would mean a departure from the Stampede grounds, but King has assured that the Flames “care deeply about the Calgary Stampede” and would work with it to find a solution. But the city has yet to start that discussion, according to Calgary Stampede spokesman Kurt Kadatz.

In October, plans will be unveiled to repurpose Rexall Place in Edmonton, which is losing the Oilers to their future home at Rogers Place in September 2016.

Northlands, the group that owns and operates Rexall Place, set up a committee to determine what to do with the aging arena. In May, it was decided to convert the building into a downsized agricultural or trade, conference and convention centre.

Plan B is to demolish Rexall.

When the city receives any formal notification of termination on this lease, we’ll consider the future use of the building.