Calgary Flames announce relocation to Red Deer, Alberta for 2024-25 season

In a surprise news release, the Calgary Flames made a monumental announcement today, April 1, 2024.

The club announced that the Flames franchise will be relocating to Red Deer, Alberta, roughly 150 kilometres north of Calgary, for the 2024-25 season.

“We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from our great fans in the Calgary area over the years,” said Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation president and CEO John Bean in the release. “However, even with the approval of the new event centre, we feel our franchise will be more viable in the long-term in the Red Deer area.”

The Flames have been located in Calgary since 1980, They played at the Stampede Corral between 1980 and 1983, and then moved to the Olympic Saddledome – built as part of the city’s bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics – in 1983. A deal for the construction of a new arena was approved by City Council in October 2023 after nearly two decades of planning and negotiations, but that appears to have not been enough to cement the club’s future in Calgary.

Bean noted in his remarks in the release that while the opening of the new arena in 2027 will undoubtedly make the city an attractive destination, Red Deer’s proximity to the Donut Mill on Gasoline Alley would provide a larger incentive for prospective free agents to join the Flames franchise. The relocation continues a decades-long trend, dating back to the Flames’ relocation from Atlanta, of the hockey club gradually moving closer and closer to the Donut Mill.

The release was fairly light on concrete details, such as where the Flames would play in Red Deer – presumably the Enmax Centrium – or what would happen with CSEC’s other teams, the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen, National Lacrosse League’s Calgary Roughnecks or Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders. All of those teams, presumably, would also desire increased proximity to the Donut Mill.

Wait, what’s the date today? Did somebody send us a fake news release?

Happy April Fools’ Day from all of us at FlamesNation!