Report: Flames ownership to pull out of arena deal over 1.5% disagreement

© Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

The Flames’ ownership group reportedly will be pulling out of a massive arena deal with the city of Calgary.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek posted a six-tweet thread on Twitter detailing what led the two parties to their current place.

The news is nothing short of a bombshell and has been confirmed by FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike.

2/6 The deal struck in summer of 2019 envisioned a $550 m deal w/costs split equally between CSEC & the City. In addition, the City provided land, 90% demolition of the ‘Dome, excess flood/site remediation, & levies. Total City contribution: $275m + $22.4m = $297.4 plus land.

— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) December 22, 2021

4/6 I did not support that deal.

Since I was elected Mayor, Administration & my office have been working with CSEC to mitigate any additional costs. Two costs were identified: climate mitigation of around $4m and road/sidewalk right of way issues of $12.1m.

— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) December 22, 2021

6/6 I wanted Calgarians to be the first to know. I am as disappointed as all of you that this is the way things are ending.

— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) December 22, 2021

The city of Calgary hasn’t been flush with cash and has run into budget issues of late. The city has struggled to find funding for other major infrastructure needs, so it’s not a major surprise that this is a roadblock for the city.

As Pike noted, the city is just unable to continue throwing additional money at the arena.

“It’s unclear from the mayor’s tweets, but the identified costs amounted to $16.1 million,” Pike wrote. “A 50-50 split of those costs would’ve seen each pay just a smidge over $8 million. The city was proposing to pay about 40%, after putting up hundreds of millions (just shy of half) of the costs for the arena itself.

“The arena deal is not dead. Not yet. But it’s definitely on life support.”

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