Top Flames stories of 2024: Scotia Place went from conceptual to a looming reality in 2024

Welcome to our countdown of the top Calgary Flames news stories of 2024, where we will be counting down our most-read stories of the year in the days leading up to 2025.

When 2024 began, the announcement of the new arena deal was still pretty fresh. Heck, colleagues from outside of Calgary were still fairly skeptical anything would end up getting built.

Calgary’s arena saga has been long enough, and complex enough, that the skepticism was understandable. The new arena deal was announced in April 2023 and the contracts were finalized by October 2023. But as 2023 turned into 2024, we hadn’t seen any building plans and the site for the arena remained a pair of untouched parking lots.

But a lot of things happened in 2024 on that front and our arena updates were among the most-read pieces on the site over the past year.

In mid-July, following the Stampede, we provided an update in advance of a very eventful week for the arena:

Based on what we’re reading and hearing, here’s what we’re expecting from here on out:

-If the sod-turning/ground-breaking event isn’t next week, it’ll be soon. (If not this week, we imagine it happens in early September.)
-Assuming no hiccups with the design review, we would expect construction to begin on the excavation and shoring on the site in August or September, and on the main building itself sometime in early 2025. If they can get the excavation and shoring done before the ground freezes, that could save several weeks on the building’s timeline. Generally speaking, arena construction takes about two and a half years to complete.
-Again, assuming no big hiccups, the building should be ready in advance of the 2027-28 NHL season.

As it turns out, the following Monday was the sod-turning/ground-breaking event. We also saw an unveiling of the design of the building and the new name, Scotia Place.

All of the permitting for the new arena – for road closures and relocation, excavation and shoring on the site, and for the building’s design – was approved throughout the second half of 2024. Prep work began on the site throughout August and excavation of the arena site – the “big dig,” as it’s been nicknamed – began after Labour Day. (As we write this, dump trucks full of excavated soil are being hauled away from the construction site.)

When 2024 began, the idea that the Flames would have a new home in the near future felt very conceptual for fans and media alike. But as 2024 closes, there’s an actual, physical hole where they’re going to build the new arena that we drive past every time we go to the Saddledome.

This thing is really happening. And it’s going to feel realer and realer until the doors open before the 2027-28 NHL season.

You can read the full story by clicking here, and be sure to tune in each day until Dec. 31 for the rest of our countdown!