New Calgary arena in tense limbo after civic election

Mayor, councillors all return after Monday night’s vote

CALGARY — The friction between the Calgary Flames and city council over a new arena shows no sign of abating with the re-election of Mayor Naheed Nenshi earlier this week.

A new building for the NHL club became civic election fodder when Calgary Sports and Entertainment pulled out of “spectacularly unproductive” negotiations within days of Nenshi kicking off his campaign for a third term.

“As I’ve said for many, many weeks, the city has never left the table,” Nenshi said after his victory speech Monday night. “When they’re ready to come back to the table and have a discussion understanding this mandate from Calgarians, we are ready and willing to have that discussion with them.”

Flames president Ken King would not comment Tuesday on the outcome of the election.

An immediate renewal of arena talks seems unlikely, given the personal tone the issue took on.

Nenshi has one vote on council — though his voice carries considerable influence as mayor. And it was his voice countering King’s in the public back and forth over who should pay how much for the arena.

So the mayor has become the lightning rod for fears the team will leave Calgary.

A month of subtle and not-so-subtle posturing on both sides culminated Monday with Flames media and communications director Sean Kelso stating in a tweet — later deleted — that Nenshi as mayor was “worse than Donald Trump being president” alongside hashtags “arrogant” and “bracefordisaster.”

Flames vice-president of marketing Gordon Norrie urged people on his Twitter account Monday to vote for Nenshi’s main rival Bill Smith.

The arena controversy was not enough to shake up city hall, and it remains to be seen where the two sides will find common ground to re-start talks. All 10 incumbents running for council won their seats again with four newcomers coming from wards without an incumbent.

CSEC also owns the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders, Western Hockey League’s Hitmen and National Lacrosse League’s Roughnecks in addition to the NHL’s Flames.

The group said it would make the 34-year-old Saddledome work “for as long as we believe it is feasible.” CSEC offered to put $275 million into a $500million building and said the city should raise the remaining $225 million through a community revitalization levy.

The city proposed a three-way split on the cost of a $555-million arena, with the city and the Flames each paying $185 million and the remaining third raised from a surcharge on tickets.

The Victoria Park proposal to build an arena just north of the Saddledome came after the $890-million CalgaryNext project pitched by the Flames two years ago.

That concept included a hockey arena, football stadium and field house on the west side of downtown.

Nenshi and council showed more enthusiasm for putting an arena in Victoria Park, which is east of downtown and undergoing a revitalization.