Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation head talks Scotia Place perks, Saddledome legacy

Ian White speaks with Robert Hayes, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation president and CEO, about the Hope in the City fundraiser.

The Calgary Flames have only 41 regular season home games each season, but team management hopes restaurants at their new arena will become year-round destinations.

“These restaurants will be open to the public 365 days a year,” said Robert Hayes, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation president and CEO.

“During the decent weather, we’ll open them up so that you’ll have garages that allow you to walk in and out of them.”

Hayes plans to share more details about the arena—Scotia Place—when he speaks to the Salvation Army’s Hope in the City fundraiser on Nov. 26.

The arena—under construction north of Stampede Park—will also include an innovation that addresses a common complaint at games and concerts: long lineups for the washrooms.

“If we have a country music concert that’s maybe a little heavier from a female perspective, we can flex washrooms that way, and if we have a hockey game that tends to be more male-oriented, we can flex washrooms that way,” Hayes told CTV News.

Hayes admits the fondness many Calgarians have for the Saddledome, which will be destroyed after Scotia Place opens, and says it will somehow be recognized in the new arena.

“We haven’t figured out exactly what we’re going to bring over, but there will be a legacy honouring as we move things over to the new building,” he said.