Council shuts down its event centre panel

A year after city council agreed to a $550-million deal for a new arena in Calgary, council’s event centre assessment committee is no more.

Committee chair Coun. Jeff Davison led the final meeting Friday as the Calgary Municipal Land Corp. presented the results of a public consultation they ran this year on what Calgarians want from the planned Saddledome replacement in East Victoria Park.

The city, Calgary Stampede and Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. signed the final agreements for the arena deal late last year. A steering committee will guide the project moving forward, with representatives from the city, CSEC and CMLC.

But Davison said at this point, council will be largely hands off, and the assessment committee can be disbanded.

“This is no longer talking about evaluating. This is about ‘We’re doing.’ And (CMLC) is the expertise in that going forward.”

The terms of the arena deal see the city and CSEC equally split the $550-million capital cost of the new arena. But the city must also take on the additional cost of demolishing the Saddledome.

CMLC announced last month that two design firms would partner to create Calgary’s new arena, or event centre, as the city officially calls it. It will still be months before a concept is revealed.

CMLC president and CEO Kate Thompson said the team will take Calgarians’ feedback into account as they craft plans for the venue. Slightly more than 14,500 people responded to the CMLC survey.

The CMLC report notes high ticket prices for events at the Saddledome are a barrier, with three-quarters of the survey respondents saying that’s prevented them from going. The city is aiming to include a greater variety of events in the new event centre and surrounding area, which they want to shape into a “cultural and entertainment district.”

Thompson said they envision the new arena as “not just an icon on the skyline, but also a building that connects to the district.”