Scotiabank Saddledome

Scotiabank Saddledome is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located in Stampede Park in the southeast end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL), and to host ice hockey and figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

The facility also hosts concerts, conferences and other sporting championships, and events for the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. It underwent a major renovation in 1994–95 and sold its naming rights, during which its original name of Olympic Saddledome was changed to Canadian Airlines Saddledome. The facility was given the name Pengrowth Saddledome in 2000, after Pengrowth Management Ltd. signed a ten-year agreement. It adopted its current name in October 2010 as Scotiabank signed on as title sponsor.

The Saddledome is owned by the City of Calgary, who leases it to the Saddledome Foundation, a non-profit organization, to oversee its operation. Since 1996, it has been managed by the Flames. The Saddledome was damaged during the 2013 Alberta floods in June and July that year, but was repaired and reopened in time for the 2013–14 NHL season.

The arena's roof is shaped like a horse saddle, thus earning the name "Saddledome". It is the third oldest arena in the NHL, after Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Calgary had been served for 30 years by the Stampede Corral when the Calgary Flames arrived in 1980. With a total capacity of 8,700, the Corral was the largest arena in Canada west of Toronto in 1950, but had fallen below major league standards by the 1970s. The Corral was deemed insufficient for the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1977, leading the World Hockey Association's Calgary Cowboys to fold rather than hope to be a team selected to merge with the NHL.

Calgary's bid to host the 1988 Winter Olympics, coupled with the arrival of the Flames, drove the need to build a new arena. City Council debated the merits of several locations for the city's new Olympic Coliseum, and narrowed their choices down to two areas in the Victoria Park neighbourhood on the east end of downtown. Two other sites, one on the west end of downtown, and a late bid by several businessmen pushing to build the arena in the northern suburb of Airdrie were also considered.

The Victoria Park Community Association fought the bid to build the arena in their neighborhood, threatening to oppose the city's Olympic bid if necessary. City Council voted on March 3, 1981, to build the proposed 20,000-seat arena on the Stampede grounds, immediately east of the Corral and south of Victoria Park. The community continued to fight the city over rezoning the land to allow for the new arena amidst fears of traffic congestion in their neighbourhood which resulted in numerous costly delays to the start of construction. In a bid to end the battle, Mayor Ralph Klein asked the provincial government in July 1981 to take over the land designated for the arena to bypass the appeals process and force approval. The province supported the city amidst protests by community associations and invoked rarely used powers to overrule planning regulations, allowing construction to begin. The following day, on July 29, 1981, builders began construction of the arena. The International Olympic Committee was impressed that the project was underway, as noted in the XV Olympic Winter Games official report which stated "The fact that this facility was already being built added credibility to (Calgary's) bid and proved to be a positive factor in demonstrating Calgary's commitment to hosting the Games".

The facility was designed by Graham McCourt Architects. While they set out to design a unique building, the idea of a western theme never occurred to Barry Graham or his team. The roof of the building was designed to be a reverse hyperbolic paraboloid, similar to the 1971-built Scandinavium in Gothenburg, allowing for a pillar-free view from all seats and reducing the interior volume by a third relative to traditional arenas, resulting in reduced heating, lighting and maintenance costs. Additionally, the floating roof can flex to compensate for the city's frequent temperature fluctuations. When the design was unveiled, the roof was immediately referred to as being saddle-shaped. Of 1,270 entries submitted in a contest to name the arena, 735 involved the word Saddle. The winning name in the contest, Olympic Saddledome, was drawn from a hat filled with several similar saddle-themed names. At the time the name received a tepid reception from some, including the chairman of Calgary's Olympic Organizing Committee (OCO), Frank King, who was quoted as saying "It is neither Olympic nor western, and it's not even dome".