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.