Calgary City Council Says Yes to C$550 Million Flames Arena

(Bloomberg) -- The owners of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames struck a deal with the city to build a new C$550 million ($418 million) event center for the team to play in, replacing the more than 30-year-old Saddledome.

The city will own 100% of the building and fund half of the construction cost under the deal approved by a 11-4 vote of the city council on Tuesday. The team owners, the Calgary Sports & Entertainment Complex, will bear all of the operating, maintenance and repair costs for the life of the 35-year agreement.

The facility will replace the Scotiabank Saddledome, which opened in 1983 and was one of the main venues during the 1988 Winter Olympics. The facility, which has a swooping saddle shape that evokes Calgary’s western heritage, also has hosted visits from Queen Elizabeth II and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Flames ownership group includes Murray Edwards, the billionaire chairman and largest individual shareholder of oil and gas producer Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada

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