(Calgary) City of Calgary, Government of Alberta, Calgary Sport and Entertainment Corp. and Calgary Stampede have reached an agreement in principle for a new amphitheater and a makeover of the area where it will be built, east of downtown.
The total cost is expected to exceed $1.2 billion, including $330 million from the provincial government.
The arena itself is expected to cost around $800 million.
The total cost includes, among other things, parking, improvements to the public transport network, a plaza and a community skating rink.
The city council unanimously ratified the agreement on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s a [long-term] investment in a community gathering space,” Mayor Jyoti Gonde said at a press conference near the Saddledome, home of the Flames since 1983.
In the NHL, only Madison Square Garden in New York is an older building, having opened in 1968.
The Flames are not in the current playoffs.
They finished the regular season two points behind the last available spot in the West.
The announcement comes less than a week before the scheduled start of the provincial election, which will be held on May 29.
“After the election, the province’s contribution must be approved by Cabinet and Treasury Board before the end of the summer,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a press conference. .
Calgary Sport and Entertainment reignited talks last year after talks broke down the previous year.
