Flames say they're done pursuing new Calgary arena deal, even though they have nowhere to go

The pressure is ramping up as the Flames look to upgrade from the Saddledome.

The owners of the Calgary Flames will no longer pursue a new arena deal with the city, team president Ken King told reporters on Tuesday. Both sides had been negotiating on a potential replacement for the Scotiabank Saddledome, but King says “the mayor has no genuine interest in helping build a building,” per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis.

The Flames have been looking for an upgrade from the Saddledome, which has been the home of the team since it arrived from Atlanta in 1983. The arena is considered out of date compared to many modern facilities at this point.

This move appears to be designed to put additional pressure on the city to make concessions as part of an arena deal. The Flames haven’t seriously considered relocation at this point, and King said Tuesday that, “we’re not shopping, we're not looking around.”

The team doesn’t have a ton of leverage if it’s not willing to move, so this stance from King mainly turns the heat on city officials who thus far have refused to acquiesce to the Flames’ requests for public funding.

According to Sportsnet, the Flames’ initial stadium proposal was a $890 million hockey/football facility called CalgaryNEXT, but the team only would’ve footed $200 million of the bill. The rest would’ve been paid by “a $250 million user fee (ticket tax), a $240 million Community Revitalization Fund levy and $200 million from the city, which was essentially what it has earmarked for a field house.”

However, the city rejected this proposal, in part because of a projection by the mayor’s office that said the project would cost closer to $1.8 billion due “to the site’s contaminated land.”

Now the Flames will be hoping that the city agrees to more of their requests with this public move. Otherwise, they don’t exactly have a ton of leverage to go elsewhere given that the NHL already exists in just about every other major market in North America.

So while the Flames may be talking up their stance against the city here, it still remains likely that both sides come to an agreement in the end, one way or another. Calgary wants the Flames around, and the team doesn’t really have anywhere else to go that’s screaming for a big-time hockey franchise. The pressure may be ramping up, but any talk of the Seattle Flames is premature at this point.