CALGARY — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman got an up-close look at the construction of Calgary\u2019s new $1.2 billion event center.<\/p>\n
After touring the site with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and Calgary Flames ownership on Tuesday, Bettman came away impressed with what will be the team\u2019s new arena, known as Scotia Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building, by the way, is a lot further along than it looks, because you see the steel coming out of the ground, it doesn\u2019t go all the way around,\u201d the Commissioner said during a media availability at the nearby Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames\u2019 current home. \u201cThere\u2019s interior work already going on below the ground that you don\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, when I drove up today, I was surprised when I saw it from a distance. \u2018Oh, that\u2019s all that was done.\u2019 And then I was surprised when I got into the construction site. I thought, \u2018Wow, there\u2019s a lot of work going on here, and it\u2019s much further along than it looks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Bettman was also impressed with how much homework was done in terms of studying other new NHL arenas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve taken that into account and they\u2019ve been able to look at best practices in terms of the layout,\u201d the Commissioner said. \u201cThe new arena\u2019s twice as large in square footage (as the Saddledome). It has more bathrooms. It has more amenities. It\u2019s just going to be incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis building has been well thought-out and as a result, it\u2019s going to work very well for its intended purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slated to open in the fall of 2027, Scotia Place is in the running to be one of the host arenas for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although a decision hasn\u2019t been made regarding host cities, the Commissioner confirmed that Calgary and Edmonton have made a joint bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m aware of the bid,\u201d he said. \u201cBids are being evaluated. Nothing has been finalized, but it was a good bid. I\u2019m not prepared to tell you today that it was or was not the winning bid, but certainly it\u2019s a bid that people could be very proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings still need to be finalized, which is why there has yet to be an announcement, but at some point in the not-too-distant future — a couple weeks or so — we should be in a position to finalize and announce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Scotia Place host World Cup games in 2028, Commissioner Bettman said Calgary would undoubtedly do a great job as a host city.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillions of tourists come through here a year,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a place that knows hospitality. This is a place that has a rabid fan base and would attract fans from other places. Look at the Stampede every year. The first time I came to Calgary was in \u201988 for the Winter Olympics. I get Calgary and I get what a terrific city it is and a great place to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman got an up-close look at the construction of Calgary\u2019s new $1.2 billion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-513545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}