The Calgary Flames’ hopes of moving to a new home have been boosted after the Canadian city’s council gave the go-ahead for work to continue on a new arena option for the NHL ice hockey team.
The Victoria Park concept features a 7.2-acre site on the north side of the team’s Scotiabank Saddledome current home arena. Estimated costs of the project have not yet been released.
The new option comes after an earlier plan was shelved due to concerns over costs. The CalgaryNext Project, put forward by the Flames in 2015, included a new arena, as well as an American football stadium and public fieldhouse, at a cost of an estimated C$890m (€603.6m/US$656.8m/£512.7m).
However, the Calgary council said that the project would cost more than double this amount, with its own estimates placing the overall cost at C$1.8bn, although the team disagreed and the eventual price was set at C$1.3bn.
The new Victoria Park proposal does not include an American football stadium or fieldhouse and, as a result, is expected to be much cheaper than CalgaryNext.
Ken King, president and chief executive of the Flames, is hopeful that the new project will get the final go-ahead and the team can look forward to moving into a new home.
“We’re enthusiastic to the extent that I think we’re getting closer to being able to make some decisions ourselves,” King said, according to Global News.
“Our agreement was, on an expedited basis, we would look at Victoria Park as long as we could keep CalgaryNext on the backburner.
“If we can make a deal on Victoria Park we will. If we can’t, then we’ll revisit whatever options are available to us.”
