New arena could cost NHL team double what they estimated, a whopping $1.8 billion dollars.

One National Hockey League team has just hit a major roadblock when it comes to the development project for their new arena, and at this time it's unclear how it will impact the organization.

According to a report in the Calgary Herald the plan for "CalgaryNEXT" the development project surrounding the new arena for the Calgary Flames, originally estimated to cost somewhere in the ballpark $890 million, has come in nowhere near that price after the City conducted Phase 1 of it's analysis. According to the Herald, the price the city estimates it will actually cost is more than double, and in reality would cost a whopping $1.8 billion dollars, and the taxpayers would be the ones stuck with the bill.

Thankfully for the City of Calgary, members of their council have been skeptical from the very start, and one particularly outspoken member, Councilor Druh Farrell, felt this analysis was much more on target with his estimates of the project.

“Certainly, the skepticism that I had has been bolstered by this report,” said Coun. Druh Farrell, who previously predicted CalgaryNEXT would cost around $1.6 billion. “They’ll have to come up with another strategy.”

“The principle of public dollars goes to public benefit, of course, is a really fundamental one, so they’ll have to look at sharpening their pencil,” Farrell said. “There are other mechanisms to pay for this; I hope they explore them.”

Farrell isn't the only one who expressed reservations either, and the Phase 1 analysis has basically brought a halt to, at the very least, this version of the proposal. Councilor Andre Chabot says taxpayers just aren't prepared to be hit this hard, and who can blame them.

“Honestly, I can’t see how we can make these numbers work and create a community revitalization levy that will actually accomplish our main objective,” said Chabot.
“I don’t think taxpayers are prepared to foot the bill on for-profit organizations and that becomes a challenge itself,” Chabot said.

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