THE IOC WANTS THE SADDLEDOME, BUT DOES CALGARY WANT THE IOC?
Finally, the old Scotiabank Saddledome gets some respect. It’s good enough for the 2026 Olympics, according to the International Olympic Committee.
Of course, it’s not good enough for the Flames and the NHL. Last fall, Calgary had a whole mayoral election about that.
The IOC’s surprising approval deflates the Flames’ hope that a successful Olympic bid would make a new rink essential.
That’s how the original Saddledome deal was put together. It was meant to attract an NHL team and then the 1988 Winter Games. Both plans worked, thanks to several old greats — Doc Seaman, Harley Hotchkiss and Peter Lougheed.
But now, we could actually have the Olympics without a new arena. The thought is almost comically ironic, especially if you’re still annoyed by the Flames’ intervention in the mayoral election.
And, yet, the best thing for Calgary might actually be the reverse — a new rink without the Games.
I’ve seen enough of the IOC over the years to deeply mistrust this happy new pitch to cities (use what you have, don’t overbuild, we’ll give you cash and, by the way, we just paid our own hotel bill!)
Only a couple of Games ago, the IOC was still insisting on lavish adoration of itself, along with massive seating for obscure icerelated events.
The grandees always wanted a signpost venue such that when the host city is an ancient ruin, archeologists will say, the IOC was here.
Montreal’s Big O was a relic before it was even finished. I was there for that whole fiasco in the summer of 1976; it was a smashand-grab job by the IOC and many crooked local collaborators. Calgary in 1988 was corruptionfree because the people in charge just wouldn’t have it.
Calgary will need much more than words before fully trusting this outfit. One honest Olympic cycle, driven more by desperation than contrition, just doesn’t cut it.
While this is playing out (or, hopefully, petering out) the city and the Flames shouldn’t give up on pursuing an agreement for a sports-and-entertainment complex in Victoria Park.
Not much seems to be happening. There are no reports of meetings. The bitterness from that election will be long lasting.
But the city is still working on a master plan for the Rivers District, embracing much of Victoria Park.
It’s the very plan Mayor Naheed Nenshi was talking about when he said an arena was likely, thereby prompting Calgary Sports and Entertainment to walk out, because from their perspective there was no progress.
But the plan kept moving along. It will go out for public review in early April and be finalized by the fall.
Susan Veres, senior vice-president of Calgary Municipal Land Corp., says the plan will likely include provision for a facility on the same site that was up for negotiation, south of 12th Avenue S.E.
If the Flames and the city get a deal, she says, the arena could just “slide in” to the overall development plan.
The plan itself is certain to make the whole area more attractive and valuable to developers.
CMLC has ably handled the East Village through some very hard times. This outfit has the expertise to oversee, or manage, building of the whole Rivers area.
Behind all this there’s a hint, never officially acknowledged, that CMLC could strike a deal with private companies to build the rink, or even do it for the city. The facility could then be leased to the Flames.
Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell, stressing that she still needs much more information, feels the thought has some appeal. “There’s an awful lot of profit in these arenas,” she says.
The Flames might quickly find a way to get in on such a plan. And the IOC would wish it could.