Calgary City Council yesterday "approved a report by the mayor’s office that calls for a multi-phase analysis" of Calgary Sports & Entertainment’s concept for an $890M (all figures C) sports complex, dubbed CalgaryNEXT, in the West Village, according to Trevor Howell of the CALGARY HERALD. The group, which owns the Flames, CFL Stampeders, WHL Hitmen and NLL Roughnecks, "has proposed to build a new NHL arena, football stadium and public field house on contaminated land." The remaining $690M "would be financed" through a $250M ticket tax, another $200M from the city for the public field house and $240M from a community revitalization levy. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who earlier called the proposal a “half-baked” concept, said, “It would be helpful if they were to flesh out their thinking even further. The numbers are very vague in terms of the costs. We don’t really have a sense of good design" (CALGARY HERALD, 11/11). In Calgary, Michael Platt writes no one is saying Nenshi "has to love the idea -- but because so many Calgarians do," he "should at least try and appear open to the notion of a new home" for the Flames. Platt: "Whether he likes or loathes the Flames’ suggestion of the tax-supported CalgaryNEXT complex in the West Village, Nenshi needs to show that leadership" (CALGARY SUN, 11/11).
