Ken King, the president & CEO of the Calgary Flames, has expressed his skepticism of City Council’s willingness to reopen discussions on a new event centre for Calgary that would house the NHL franchise.

In a letter to Councillor Jeff Davison dated June 4, 2018, King responded to Davison’s request for a meeting involving members of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) and the recently formed Event Centre Assessment Committee (ECAC) that includes city councillors, the CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation and the City Manager of the City of Calgary.

Dear Mr. Davison:

Thank you for your letter of May 31, 2018.

While we would never decline your formal request for a meeting, we do have some concerns based on past practice.

As a result, we would like to have a preliminary discussion to determine what may have changed in the City’s view to warrant our re-engaging.

Moreover, if we are to proceed, a simple and pre-emptive imperative is media silence. Public and/or media involvement must only be rendered in the event of an agreement.

In view of the foregoing, please advise how you would like to proceed.

Sincerely,

Ken M. King

President & CEO

On May 28, 2018, Calgary City Council established the ECAC in an effort to renew funding negotiations with the Calgary Flames after the hockey club walked away from the discussions in the fall of 2017. The team had referred to the negotiations as 'spectacularly unproductive'.

With files from CTV's Jordan Kanygin