Calgary city council to discuss arena proposal behind closed doors

Calgary’s city council is to discuss a proposed deal for a new event centre that would be home to the NHL’s Calgary Flames.

Details have not been revealed, but council members say they will be talking about the proposal at their next meeting on Monday.

The event centre would replace the 35-year old Saddledome.

Previous attempts to reach a deal to replace the Saddledome have failed.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he looks forward to continuing conversations with the Calgary Flames and the Calgary Municipal Land Corp.

He wouldn’t elaborate on the proposal, including how much of the $550-million to $600-million cost the city would cover.

“I know a lot of folks have been working very hard to see if there is something there that meets the criteria we talked about,” Nenshi said Friday.

“Should any deal happen, it has to meet all these principles, the first of which is any public money must have public benefit. But then council would have an open public debate about that before approving or rejecting such a deal.”

If timelines were to work out, it could all happen before council breaks for summer on Aug. 1, he said.

(CTV Calgary, The Canadian Press)