CALGARY—The city will officially be getting a replacement for the decades-old Saddledome after city council overwhelmingly approved an agreement Tuesday for a new arena in Calgary.

The vote comes just eight days after details of the deal were first revealed — a significant point of contention for many Calgarians, and a factor that at least some city councillors said made it impossible for them to support the agreement.

The deal, nonetheless, saw a strong majority of council get behind it in an 11-4 vote, with only councillors George Chahal, Evan Woolley, Druh Farrell, and Jeromy Farkas opposed.

The city announced last Monday evening that it had reached a tentative agreement with the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) and the Calgary Stampede to build a new home for the Calgary Flames.

In addition to the Flames, CSEC owns the CFL’s Stampeders, the Western Hockey League’s Hitmen, and the Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League.

Calgarians had just a week to share their thoughts on the deal, with the window for feedback closing Monday evening. More than 5,000 submissions came in over that period, according to Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and he said they revealed a stark divide between Calgarians for and against.

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Nenshi said he thinks the deal stacks up well compared to other recent deals in mid-sized Canadian markets. And despite a divided public, he’s convinced the deal offers benefits to the city that make it worth it.

“I’m extremely skeptical of the claim that building this sort of thing leads to massive economic development,” Nenshi said.

“I think the critical question we have to ask ourselves is ... Are the intangible benefits worth $45 million or $47 million in today’s money over a 35-year period? And I’m satisfied that they are,” Nenshi said.

After the vote, members of the committee tasked with looking at plans for a new arena slapped each other on the back and exchanged handshakes and hugs with representatives from CSEC and the Calgary Stampede.

Councillor Jeff Davison, who chairs that committee, said there’s still significant work ahead to work out the design of the new venue, which includes gathering public feedback about what Calgarians want to see. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) will be leading that process. Construction is planned to start in 2021, and is estimated to take three years.

CSEC vice-chairman Ken King said he was “thrilled” to see council support the project, and countered criticism that the deal amounts to a public subsidy for the Flames’ owners.

“We don’t like billionaires and millionaires to be subsidized either ... What we like is four men with a vision for the city, who are prepared in this day and age to put up $275 million to participate in a really important segment of our city.”

The deal sees CSEC and the city split the $550-million construction costs for a new venue down the middle. The city is still on the hook for an additional $15.4 million for land transaction costs and to demolish the Saddledome.

CSEC will also get the option to acquire the land where the Enoch Sales house previously stood, as well as the site of the Victoria Park bus barns.

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Woolley, who was a “no” on the deal Tuesday, said he couldn’t support it largely because of those land options, and he still doesn’t understand why they’re included.

He also took issue with how fast council moved from seeing the deal to voting on it.

“There is no reason to have rushed the deal. I find it to be a bullying tactic and an unnecessary ultimatum,” he said.

Another “no” vote, Chahal, said he thinks more due diligence on the deal is necessary, and he has several concerns that he doesn’t think have been addressed.

There are lots of ideas about what might be built on the land CSEC can now acquire, King said Tuesday. But nothing has been decided at this point.

“We need to evaluate that. Our greatest goal was not to acquire land or land bank. Our greatest goal was do what we could do to fulfil CMLC’s vision of developing the Rivers District,” King said.

Last week, Councillor Peter Demong voted in favour of a motion asking to delay the vote to approve the arena deal. But on Tuesday, while he said he was disappointed not to have a bit more time to look at the details, he ultimately came out as a yes vote.

“Do I believe it’s a fantastic deal? No. Do I believe it’s a fair deal? Yeah,” Demong said.

Other councillors who voted “yes” said they see the arena — which, in official council terms, is called an event centre — as an anchor for the city’s planned cultural and entertainment district in the Victoria Park neighbourhood, and they want to support the next step in that development.

“This deal secures private sector investment to pay for 50 per cent of an essential piece of Calgary’s infrastructure,” Councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart said, calling the new arena an “accelerator” for the planned Rivers District development. “It is the right deal for the right time.”

A few city councillors, including Woolley, said in recent days that they wanted more time for the public to ask questions about the deal, and they requested that the city manager ask CSEC for an extension. Interim city manager Glenda Cole said Monday that she made the request, but on Tuesday afternoon, she said no more time will be given.

All three partners involved in the deal jointly agreed to the tight timeline, she said.

This arena deal comes four years after CSEC proposed CalgaryNEXT, a sprawling $890-million facility in the west end of the downtown core near the Bow River that included an event centre for hockey games and concerts, a football stadium and an indoor field house.

The bid to build CalgaryNEXT collapsed soon after city bureaucrats estimated the cost would be closer to $1.8 billion, with citizens footing two-thirds of the bill.

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