Flames need new facility in order to stay in Calgary, says King
Build it and they will stay.
The Calgary Flames need a new arena in order to remain in Alberta, team president Ken King told Sportsnet Fan 590 on Wednesday.
The Flames have skated at Scotiabank Saddledome since 1983, but desire a new home. In August 2015, the Flames unveiled CalgaryNEXT, a proposed $890-million development that includes new facilities for the Flames and the CFL's Stampeders.
However, the proposal does not have the support of Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who on Tuesday deemed the project "dead."
King believes the project "answers a myriad of questions," telling Fan 590, "Our ownership wants to leave a legacy here. They want to do something special, something valuable, and something important. They don't want to just build another building."
Earlier this month, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met with Nenshi for discussions he characterized as "cordial and open," although he wasn't as complimentary to the Saddledome, describing the arena as "historic, but an old, antiquated building."
The rival Edmonton Oilers moved into new digs this year after 35 seasons at the team's old arena. Construction costs of the Oilers' new home, Rogers Place, were largely publicly funded, approved after Oilers owner Daryl Katz floated the possibility of the team relocating to Seattle.
According to King, similar tactics will not be used in Calgary.
"There would be no threat to move. We would just move and it would be over," King said. "If people smarter than us, in more powerful positions than ours, don't feel that we're a critical piece of the social, economic, and cultural part of our city, than who are we to argue with that?"
King later clarified to Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald: "The truth of the matter is, we would just move. Which is not to be confused as a threat. We don't think it's fair to threaten. We think it's fair for people to decide whether or not if they want a facility … and whether or not they think it's appropriate. If they do, great. We'll participate. If they decide not to, well then we've obviously got to make some decisions about the future."
With the Detroit Red Wings moving into a new home next season, Calgary's arena will be the league's second-oldest, ahead of only Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, which underwent a $1-billion renovation in 2013.
The Flames have called Calgary home since 1980, when the franchise originally arrived in the city from Atlanta.