'Critical juncture': Council commits $20M to field house; city seeking funding from province, feds
The city is looking to higher levels of government to get the long-awaited sports complex project across the line
By: Michael Rodriguez Posted: Nov 27, 2022
A Calgary city councillor is hoping that a funding commitment to a long-awaited multi-sport field house will open the door to hundreds of millions in funding from the provincial and federal governments.
During budget deliberations last week, council approved a $20-million commitment to the Foothills Fieldhouse, a large complex that’s planned to be built adjacent to McMahon Stadium at the current Foothills Athletic Park. The fieldhouse would feature multiple courts, athletic areas and a 400-metre track, filling current gaps in the city’s offerings of indoor sports facilities.
The city’s webpage for the project plots the cost at more than $285 million over five years. Coun. Jasmine Mian said the city will leverage its funding commitment in hopes of getting most of that cost covered by the provincial and federal governments.
“We’re at a critical juncture I think right now with the field house project in that the city has committed to doing it,” the Ward 3 councillor and former Olympic wrestler told Postmedia on Sunday. “Now we’ve set the money aside, and we’re going to our provincial and federal partners and asking them to join us at the table to get this project across the line.”
The city has sent letters outlining the funding request to provincial and federal officials, but if higher levels of government don’t kick in their share, Mian said the city should find a way to cover the entire cost itself. “We have to get this built for people,” she said, adding she believes the project is about 40 years overdue.
“We’re one of the only major cities in Canada that doesn’t have a field house,” she said. “Anyone who’s played competitive sports, anyone who’s a parent who has a child who plays competitive sports, probably at one time or another had to go up to Edmonton to compete in their field house.”
The Foothills Fieldhouse is one of the city’s “big four” priority capital projects, the others being the event centre that will eventually replace the Saddledome, the BMO Centre expansion and the Arts Commons transformation. Mian lauded the field house as the only one that’s a “true quality of life project for everyday Calgarians,” with the others likely seeing seldom use by most residents.
“I think a field house is something that is so important for people’s health. It’s a form of crime prevention for youth, it’s a form of healthy living for so many people and it’s really sorely needed,” she said.
Mian said a world-class field house would give athletes of all ages more sporting options in Calgary, helping to move the city away from its winter sports focus to allow more opportunities in summer sports and help draw big events that could also act as a boost to tourism.
“The fact that it’s contemplated that that facility would have a 400-metre track would allow Calgary to become a great center for track and field — even better than it is,” she said. “I think that this is such a great city-shaping project that would help so many people, and I’m really hopeful that we can get it funded with the help of our other levels of government.”
Currently, there’s no firm timeline for the construction of the Foothills Fieldhouse. Council first began talking about the project in 2019, but Mian estimates the city is still several years out from breaking ground.
Council approved a concept plan for the Foothills and McMahon area in September 2021, which reimagines the area with multiple new amenities including the long-awaited field house, outdoor fields, renovations to the aging McMahon Stadium, and an entertainment district featuring hotels and mixed-use residential buildings.