CALGARY—Some city councillors say it’s worth considering including a new NHL-sized arena in the plan for the 2026 Olympics if Calgarians vote in favour of moving ahead with a bid.

When the Calgary Olympic Bid Corporation unveiled its draft hosting plan for the 2026 Winter Games on Tuesday, a replacement for the 35-year-old Saddledome was notably absent. Instead, BidCo floated the idea of building a new 5,000-seat mid-sized arena, as well as a field house.

The Saddledome is among eight Calgary venues slated for an update in the plan, with accessibility upgrades, ice plant recommissioning and structural capital maintenance listed among the needed upgrades.

The Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. (CSEC) — which owns the Calgary Flames, the CFL’s Stampeders, the Western Hockey League’s Hitmen and the Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League — was in talks with the city about building a new arena leading up to the 2017 municipal election. Negotiations broke down shortly after, but the city’s event centre assessment committee is moving toward restarting them.

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Ward 6 Councillor Jeff Davison chairs the committee, which is examining plans for a new arena in Calgary.

He said if Calgarians vote to continue the Olympic bid in the city’s Nov. 13 plebiscite, it’s worth exploring whether there are ways to save money by combining plans for arena construction.

“We’re looking at the idea of taking a full-sized arena and coupling it with a mid-sized arena and create that true event centre concept,” he said.

Davison noted that he doesn’t want to see a new arena directly tied to an Olympic bid at this point, but he thinks it’s worth starting to talk about future possibilities.

“We’ve always said from the event centre side, a new event centre has to have legs to stand on its own,” he said.

“If there is a yes vote as a result of the plebiscite, we need to prepare ourselves to look at, ‘Are we building the best thing possible for the best use of funds?’”

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Ward 12 Councillor Shane Keating, who also sits on the assessment committee, also asked the BidCo at Tuesday’s council meeting whether combining the ideas could be possible.

BidCo CEO Mary Moran said at the time that the International Olympic Committee deemed the Saddledome adequate for Olympic events, but she can’t comment on whether the arena meets the Flames’ needs.

But while Moran said BidCo’s approach focuses on “refreshing” legacy infrastructure, she didn’t dismiss the idea that an NHL-calibre arena could be a part of future Olympic plans.

“Often, when cities are preparing a bid, they will identify opportunities. Once they are successful, those opportunities change,” she said. “The door is never shut. This is a work in progress.”

University of Alberta sport management professor Dan Mason said keeping the possibility of a new arena separate from Olympic talks won’t work in the long run.

“You can’t have a credible Olympic bid for Calgary — at least the city can’t — without considering the long-term future of the Flames in whatever arenas are built or refurbished,” he said. “They have to be part of that conversation.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for CSEC said they are not involved with the Olympic bid.

“We have no comment on what happens with the bid or any details involved. This is a city matter in which we will leave to the city.”

Mason, who consulted with Edmonton when they were considering plans for Rogers Place, said big infrastructure decisions like arenas can’t be made without discussion between the different parties involved.

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“If the Flames were not interested at all in playing in a refurbished Saddledome, it wouldn’t make any sense to refurbish it for the Olympics,” he said.

He points to Columbus, Ohio, where two arenas downtown and at Ohio State University often end up competing for events.

“The downtown arena district (in Columbus) is considered a success because it’s got all sorts of development ... but the arena itself is not very financially successful,” he said.

“We don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors (in Calgary). But you would think there has to be some sort of consultation whereby these decisions get made together, because if you don’t, it can really cause problems.”

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