The Calgary Flames and the City of Calgary haven’t sat down to talk turkey about a new arena since late July. Following a September war of words between the Flames and mayor Naheed Nenshi – amidst a civic election campaign – things have gotten progressively worse for the Flames in terms of their negotiating leverage.
Since the regular season began in early October, Nenshi was re-elected following a campaign that often involved substantial discussions of a new Calgary arena, and two new arena deals have been struck involving current NHL franchises and potential expansion clubs. Both arena deals involved very minimal involvement of public money.