CALGARY — City councillors are hatching plans to form a new negotiating team in a bid to jump-start stalled arena talks with the owners of the Calgary Flames, StarMetro has learned.
At least 10 councillors are directly involved in or aware of recent meetings in which elected officials have discussed drafting a notice of motion calling on council to strike a new committee — one that may exclude past brokers from both parties.
“Initially, it should be new blood that’s on it to give it a different perspective than we’re getting now,” said Coun. Ray Jones.
“The longer we leave it, the more it just kind of goes away,” he explained. “Everybody right now is gung ho to get going on it, and I think we should take advantage of that.”
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Talks between the city and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (CSEC) collapsed last September when Flames president and CEO Ken King announced the owners were abandoning their pursuit of a new facility shortly before the municipal election campaign started.
In addition to Jones, councillors Ward Sutherland, George Chahal, Sean Chu, Shane Keating, Peter Demong, Diane Colley-Urquhart, Joe Magliocca, Evan Woolley and Jeff Davison are directly involved in or aware of discussions to restart talks and form a new committee.
“We’ve got to get a few oars in the water here and moving in the same direction before we really can make any headway with it,” said Davison, who is leading the charge.
“Overall, you’re just seeing a different makeup on council,” he said. “There’s a lot of us that are new, and sometimes some of the ideas that failed in the past get rejuvenated.”
CSEC owns the CFL’s Stampeders, the Western Hockey League’s Hitmen, the National Lacrosse League’s Roughnecks as well as the NHL’s Flames.
In 2015, CSEC unveiled an ambitious plan to build an $890-million facility, known as CalgaryNEXT, on the banks of the Bow River at the west end of downtown Calgary. A study by city administration concluded the Flames’ plan, which included an arena, football stadium and field house, would cost $1.8 billion.
As support waned for CalgaryNEXT, a second location was proposed for the arena: a two-block site owned by the Calgary Stampede between Olympic Way and 5th St. and south of 12th Ave. S.E. in Victoria Park.
The city last pitched a three-way split on the cost of an arena, with the city and the Flames each paying one-third and the remainder raised from a ticket surcharge. Team owners countered with an offer in which they would pony up $275 million for a new building with an additional $225 million generated through a community revitalization levy.
During negotiations, CSEC reportedly asked for a veto on future development in the area, a cut of parking revenue, property tax and rent exemption as well as free transit and policing on event nights.
While the arena was hotly debated during the campaign, talks of restarting negotiations soon faded in the weeks and months following Naheed Nenshi’s third mayoral victory.
Six months later, councillors are itching to return to the table but have been reluctant to reveal their recent meetings to restart talks.
“Stay tuned,” Coun. Sutherland hinted last week when asked by reporters for an update on the arena.
In an interview, Coun. Chu downplayed the significance of discussions to strike a new committee. “At this time, it’s just chat,” Chu said.
Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University, said councillors might be wary of voter backlash given many Calgarians supported Nenshi’s position.
“I suppose it does make sense to try to get new people to the negotiating table so that any animosities that may be lingering from the breakdown of negotiations in the past would not be part of this,” Williams said.
“That said, there may be those who say, ‘Look, the mayor took a very hard line saying that he wants to stand up for taxpayers,’ and some of those taxpayers like the idea of a tough negotiator and want the mayor involved in the process.”
Efforts to rejuvenate negotiations with the Flames could be seen as yet another move to curtail Nenshi’s control of high-profile projects, such as the city’s gaffe-prone bid to host the 2026 Olympic Games.
During the April 16 debate on whether to proceed with a bid, Keating delivered a stinging rebuke of Nenshi’s handling of the file.
“I’ll never be as intelligent as you are, but I’ve been smarter than you many times,” Keating told the mayor.
On Monday, council will appoint five members, including the mayor, to an Olympic oversight committee.
Separately, council agreed last week to appoint two members to the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation board. Nenshi has been the sole council representative on the board for the past seven years.
“There is a bunch of big, important work that we’re doing that he (Nenshi) has undertaken and that he has prioritized himself,” Councillor Woolley told reporters, referring to a number of high-profile projects, including Victoria Park redevelopment and the Green Line LRT. .
“He can’t do it alone,” Woolley said. “There is a lot of competence around the council table that I think would be willing to support him.”
