Calgary Flames Monday Roundtable: New Arena Edition

5 of 6

Apr 17, 2017; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; General view of the fans during the third period between the Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks in game three of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /

Question 4: How much money do you think should be used from public money on a new arena and how much should the owners pay? (Keep in mind that out of the Calgary Flames six owners, two of them have networths over $2 billion, one has a $6 billion company, and three are among the 100 richest Canadian’s list).

Jonathan Boulanger

This area is really out of my expertise I’m sorry I can’t really give a definitive answer.

Alex Hoegler

New arenas these days easily cost over $1 billion. But if the owners really want a new arena, then they should fork out the money. We know that’s not going to happen. I think no more than $300 million of public money should be used. But I’m sure at least double of that will be needed to get a new arena project started.

Dan Raicevich

A 50/50 split is always fair. The ownership group is not like Stan Koenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, who can just casually drop $2 Billion on a stadium plan. By doing a 50/50 split, the city of Calgary can charge rent to the Flames to play in the arena. The ticket revenues they make can help pay off the building with a Ticket Tax/User Fee. The public funding of a CRL, a Controlled Revitalization Levy, is a reasonable model to fund the arena. It is commonly seen in newer arenas that are built across North America. It was a funding plan used in the new Oilers arena. A ticket tax is commonly used in the funding of a new arena.

50/50 split seems to be fair, even a 60/40 split would be ideal (60 percent paid by CSEC). This is common practices across the board in funding for new arenas.

Ramina Shlah

I definitely agree with Alex here. I’d like to see more than two-thirds of the money being owners money and less than one-third being public. But that’s ideally. Realistically, I don’t think that would happen. If a compromise were to happen, it would most likely be that the public is paying at least 50% of it. Which isn’t right, but that’s business in this day and age I guess.

Home/Editorials