Wikipedia
CalgaryNEXT is a proposed private-public $890 million multi-purpose 365-day-a-year sports complex to be built in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. According to the privately owned Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), who unveiled their megaproject in August 2015 during a period when slumping oil prices and layoffs in the energy sector were leading Alberta into a recession, CalgaryNEXT would provide an much needed economic stimulus. CSEC owners - Allan Markin, Alvin Libin, Jeffrey McCaig, Byron Seaman as well as billionaires Murray Edwards and Clay Riddell, include some of Calgary’s wealthiest oilmen.
The proposal includes two buildings: a 19,000–20,000 seat events centre that would serve as the home arena of two hockey clubs, the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames, and the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, as well as the Calgary Roughnecks lacrosse team; and a 30,000-seat football stadium and fieldhouse that would be the home of the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders and serve as a public training and activity space. The complex, to be located in the West Village along the Bow River for the "hub of pro and amateur sporting activity."
CSEC had proposed to pay $200 million of the cost directly, have the city pay $200 million to fund the field house, and the remainder funded by a ticket surcharge on events at the new facilities, and a community revitalization levy. Environmental remediation required to clean up creosote contamination on the site, would provide an additional cost to the project. Immediate reaction to the proposal from local politicians was mixed; they supported the plan to redevelop the West Village area, but many – including Major Naheed Nenshi – expressed concern at the proposal, which would potentially have the city initially fund between $440 and $690 million of the projected cost which promoters claim will be recouped over a long period of time. As part of the proposal, the city would own the facilities and be managed by CSEC - thus exempting the land from property taxes - but would not receive any share of the profits.
Based on a City of Calgary report released on April 19, 2016 it was estimated that CalgaryNext would cost about $1.8 billion with taxpayers paying up to two-thirds of the total.