Surrey looking to build a Major Arena

[EastVanMark]

Word out of Surrey is that mayor Diane watts is pushing for the construction of a major new arena capable of supporting professional hockey. Watts would like to see a bigger facility, something capable of hosting what the mayor calls "professional" hockey. She's currently talking with the provincial government about a public-private partnership that could lead to the construction of a new arena or events center in the town center, perhaps built as part of a convention center.

Vancouver could really use a forward thinking progressive mayor like her.

[invisibleairwaves]

Yes...unfortunately, Watts apparently wants to build it way out on the Cloverdale fairgrounds rather than in the city centre. I'm not at all convinced of the necessity for the arena, considering the brand-new facility next door in Langley and the new money-losing rink in Abbotsford, but if it has to be built, it really should go closer to transit and the "future downtown" of the city.

In the end though, the city really has much more important things to spend money on. Surrey could take the cost of a new 10,000 seat arena and spend it all on building sidewalks instead, and it still wouldn't be enough.

[geoff's two cents]

Yes...unfortunately, Watts apparently wants to build it way out on the Cloverdale fairgrounds rather than in the city centre. I'm not at all convinced of the necessity for the arena, considering the brand-new facility next door in Langley and the new money-losing rink in Abbotsford, but if it has to be built, it really should go closer to transit and the "future downtown" of the city.

Indeed, I think that a Cloverdale Fairgrounds arena is a terrible idea, especially considering the poor transit access, close proximity to Langley, and the dearth of cultural/entertainment attractions in what is supposed to be the city "centre."

[crazyjoeda]

Vancouver could really use a forward thinking progressive mayor like her.

I hope you're joking? Surrey is run by morons! Out of all the cities in Metro Vancouver Surrey is probably the least progressive. The roads are a mess, transit sucks, most neighborhoods are not pedestrian or bike friendly and many areas feel unsafe.

Why doesn't Diane Watts work on making Surrey a better place to live instead of building a useless arena? Does she have some delusion that Surrey could attract an NHL team because even AHL seems highly unlikely, and either way it would be a waste because most people would still only be interested in the Canucks.

[nova9]

I hope you're joking? Surrey is run by morons! Out of all the cities in Metro Vancouver Surrey is probably the least progressive. The roads are a mess, transit sucks, most neighborhoods are not pedestrian or bike friendly and many areas feel unsafe.

Why doesn't Diane Watts work on making Surrey a better place to live instead of building a useless arena? Does she have some delusion that Surrey could attract an NHL team because even AHL seems highly unlikely, and either way it would be a waste because most people would still only be interested in the Canucks.

Although if it means more of the Ed Hardy set from Surrey stays local and doesn't come into town, then great! The rest of the normal Surrey people are welcome to come and go as they please. ;)

[vansky]

I hope you're joking? Surrey is run by morons! Out of all the cities in Metro Vancouver Surrey is probably the least progressive. The roads are a mess, transit sucks, most neighborhoods are not pedestrian or bike friendly and many areas feel unsafe.

Why doesn't Diane Watts work on making Surrey a better place to live instead of building a useless arena? Does she have some delusion that Surrey could attract an NHL team because even AHL seems highly unlikely, and either way it would be a waste because most people would still only be interested in the Canucks.

is there a spot to be built on within city core?

[VanCvl]

is there a spot to be built on within city core?

I think the area around Scott Road would be a great place because it's very close to SkyTrain, New Westminster across Patullo, and close enough to City Centre and Scott Road to Newton.

[Zassk]

This stadium idea boggles the mind. The AHL and WHL already have fantastic facilities in the region. What tenant is going to come there? ECHL seems unlikely and will be perceived as inferior to the other two leagues. Another AHL or WHL franchise seems unthinkable. Are there really so many hockey audience dollars to go around?

[jlousa]

I think people are overlooking that it's not meant to be a hockey arena, it's an entertainment mutliplex. It will be more geared towards concerts, lectures/presentations, small conferences/conventions etc. That's not to say it''ll be a good idea and it will be successful but let's not confuse it with something it's not meant to be.

[Whalleyboy]

Personally i think if surrey is building an arena for a "professional" hockey team it has to be in the city centre to draw more from the whole region. Cloverdale I wouldnt be against seeing an Trade centre building there but not an arena for a professional hockey team. As said earlier to out of the way.
Also the comment on ECHL if in the city centre would possibly be a good draw since as it stands there is only one canadian team in the league. Well it techinically is below AHL Surrey can't pull anothere AHL team over since there is already one in abbotsford. Which in my mind is manly failing due to its location. People like to transit out to games and everything so they dont have to deal with traffic and they could also drink before or after a game. Surrey will have this same problem in cloverdale. If they build an arena in Central they will have easy access to transit allowing people to hit up bars before and after the game thus also creating better Bussiness in the city centre from locals

[Whalleyboy]

is there a spot to be built on within city core?
Heres just a few locations that could be used. Given a all have something on the lot but most of them are old building like the bright or that run down drugs store by gateway
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=204919430778929884696.00049ba62e27b740424dd&ll=49.198563,-122.849813&spn=0.002303,0.004823&t=h&z=18

[crazyjoeda]

Obviously those transit oriented locations are superior, but even the ridiculous idea of pro-hockey aside I'm not convinced a major arena in Surrey would get enough use. There's lots of competition from Rogers Arena, Thunderbird Arena, Pacific Coliseum, Langley Event Centre and the Abbotsford Entertainment Centre.

BTW, its disappointing to see so much available land around Surrey's Skytrain stations considering what's been done in other areas; even the Evergreen-line has more development and it doesn't even exist yet!

[go_leafs_go02]

Only idea I could see working potentially is a new City Centre arena fitting maybe 10,000 max which could then potentially poach the Giants from Pac Coliseum.

Anything larger than that - and it will become a white elephant.

I regularily go to Chilliwack Bruins games, and SoF hockey is coming quite saturated, The Heat in Abbotsford can't draw flies, the Langley Chiefs do OK, and Chilliwack does alright, it does outdraw the Heat, but the Heat coming in 2 years ago definitely did a chunk out of their ticket sales.

[LotusLand]

Let's see the Canucks, Lions and Whitecaps are in Vancouver. The Giants are in Vancouver. I could care less if Surrey builds a 100,000 seat stadium. Fact is they can't attract top notch anything just liked the concerts and nightlife they have right now.

Watts needs to worry about attracting businesses to the core rather than some dumb grandiose stadium idea.

Also why does she keep wasting money on bringing in high profile people to Surrey's annual economic summit or whatever. She first needs to make Surrey more desirable to lower mainlanders before she can pitch it to anyone in the world. End rant.

[vansky]

if this gets built, and the white caps stadium gets built, metro van got some really nice, fancy number of sports facilities....richmond oval, gm,bc, whitecaps, surrey, pacific center...

but i rather see new development of conference/convention centers, it's growing, and vcc is doing pretty well too

[go_leafs_go02]

Looking at this from a WHL standpoint, if you compare to the OHL near and around Toronto, there is the Mississauga Majors, the Brampton Battalion, and the Oshawa Generals. All those teams are within 40 km of each other.

In comparison, would an additional WHL franchise in say Surrey be worth it? You'd immediately set up a regional rivalry with Vancouver and Chilliwack. Not sure if there would be a big enough market for that. In Toronto they say, it's not a hockey town, it's a Leafs town, while the Giants prove otherwise, not sure if Surrey could support a hockey team.

Also, from what I understood, this was more of a developer coming to Surrey and proposing an arena in Cloverdale - this wasn't a brainstorm from Watts.

[Zassk]

Is it true that Abbotsford Heat are drawing poor crowds? I figured that the AHL would do well there. Both the Heat and the Bruins are utterly ignored by the Vancouver media, sadly. I suppose that might change if one of them moved to a location near SkyTrain in Surrey.

If in fact Phoenix moves back to Winnipeg in the NHL (we should finally know within a month), the Winnipeg owner has indicated he will move the AHL Moose. The likely scenario seems to be a shuffling of AHL franchises with the Canucks farm team being the one here in the Fraser Valley, and Calgary's farm team being in a new location on the prairies somewhere.

With a new affiliation with the Canucks, I could definitely see the AHL team moving to a new, larger arena in Surrey. But that's the only situation in which I can see the AHL moving to Surrey.

[EastVanMark]

I hope you're joking? Surrey is run by morons! Out of all the cities in Metro Vancouver Surrey is probably the least progressive. The roads are a mess, transit sucks, most neighborhoods are not pedestrian or bike friendly and many areas feel unsafe.

Why doesn't Diane Watts work on making Surrey a better place to live instead of building a useless arena? Does she have some delusion that Surrey could attract an NHL team because even AHL seems highly unlikely, and either way it would be a waste because most people would still only be interested in the Canucks.

Not joking at all actually. There are no bigger morons running a city than there is in Vancouver (other than possibly Burnaby). Road and neighborhood setups were inherited, not created by Watts. Most transit issues in least in part if not in whole are controlled by the provincial government. Watts has been active in aggressively trying to transform a troubled area which previous mayors largely only paid lip-service to and this arena initiative is yet another effort to improve both the quantity and quality of facilities available to residents of the regions second largest city.

[go_leafs_go02]

Is it true that Abbotsford Heat are drawing poor crowds? I figured that the AHL would do well there. Both the Heat and the Bruins are utterly ignored by the Vancouver media, sadly. I suppose that might change if one of them moved to a location near SkyTrain in Surrey.

If in fact Phoenix moves back to Winnipeg in the NHL (we should finally know within a month), the Winnipeg owner has indicated he will move the AHL Moose. The likely scenario seems to be a shuffling of AHL franchises with the Canucks farm team being the one here in the Fraser Valley, and Calgary's farm team being in a new location on the prairies somewhere.

With a new affiliation with the Canucks, I could definitely see the AHL team moving to a new, larger arena in Surrey. But that's the only situation in which I can see the AHL moving to Surrey.

The Bruins are slightly outdrawn by the Heat, (Bruins 3,321.4 fans to date, vs Heat 3,492.5 fans per game to date) mainly because of a few reason - a) junior hockey is huge in Canada - while the AHL outside of the Moose doesn't seem to do good anywhere in Canada. b) the Heat are the Flames farm team, and much like how when I lived in Hamilton, I would refuse to cheer for the Bulldogs (AHL) because they were the Montreal Canadiens farm team, and I'm a Leaf fan. Same reason why Canucks fans won't cheer for the Flames farm team.

In relation to the Pacific Coliseum - I'm wondering how many years does that building have shelf-life remaining? I know it was given a significant upgrade for the Olympics, and I've been to about 4-5 Giants games in the last few years - but it still over 40 years old, and eventually it will need to be replaced.

I think marketing the Giants long-term as a Metro Vancouver team would be positive - especially if placed in Surrey City Centre near skytrain connections. Pac Coliseum is easily accessible by car, but no real other convenient method to the PNE grounds is available.

Still, if Surrey builds an NHL standard arena, I fear we'll be looking at a Glendale, Arizona problem with Coyotes if the arena has no major tenant. GM Place (rogers arena) is still state of the art, and I don't think the Canucks would ever move out of Vancouver-proper to Surrey.

So yeah, a 9-10,000 seat arena with the goal to replace the Pacific Coliseum as a major secondary venue would the only thing I see possible. And please put it in Surrey Centre, Cloverdale is out there, and besides the Langley Events Centre is about 8 km from there.

[Whalleyboy]

Its amazing reading all these comments. One thing we all seem to share in common is if surrey builds a 10,000 seat arena it should be in the city centre. Even if it isnt just for a hockey team and its more of a concert/convention centre area. It should be in the City centre.

It might actually help grow the area better. As it stands Central is failing largely but I think its because its still to based around the hope people living in the area and using transit to go places. It needs to start more focusing on things to do in the area. The arena is a good start in my mind It could be for hockey/concerts/trade shows/etc...

[crazyjoeda]

Not joking at all actually. There are no bigger morons running a city than there is in Vancouver (other than possibly Burnaby). Road and neighborhood setups were inherited, not created by Watts. Most transit issues in least in part if not in whole are controlled by the provincial government. Watts has been active in aggressively trying to transform a troubled area which previous mayors largely only paid lip-service to and this arena initiative is yet another effort to improve both the quantity and quality of facilities available to residents of the regions second largest city.

She's been mayor for 6 years. I'm talking about the poor design of new roads. I agree transit is a regional issue involving Translink and the BC government but the city has not done enough to foster increased ridership; development around existing transit infrastructure has improved under Watts but is still disappointing. If the troubled neighborhood you're referring to is Whalley it still has a very long way to go and much of the trouble has simply spread to other areas. Newton and Guildford are not nice places to live.

[EastVanMark]

She's been mayor for 6 years. I'm talking about the poor design of new roads. I agree transit is a regional issue involving Translink and the BC government but the city has not done enough to foster increased ridership; development around existing transit infrastructure has improved under Watts but is still disappointing. If the troubled neighborhood you're referring to is Whalley it still has a very long way to go and much of the trouble has simply spread to other areas. Newton and Guildford are not nice places to live.

You are not going to see drastic improvement in a few years like you could or would in a more established city like Vancouver (although that still doesn't stand in the latter's way of screwing everything up). It will be at least a decade or so before you even start to see anything changing. This proposed new arena (if built in or somewhere near the city center) along with the possibility of a new central library, and or city hall along with the Guildford mall expansion would go a long way to improving their respective areas. Her special business tax zone was a superb move that should be emulated by other municipalities (hello Vancouver). With that all being said, even if all this came to pass, Guildford and Newton wouldn't be "nice places to live" for another 10-20 years yet.

[Nutterbug]

The Chilliwack Bruins are moving to Victoria. That, and the fact that Manitoba might get an NHL team opens up some more possibilities. I'd say the A might work, as long as it's a Canucks farm team. The W seems like a possibility, with no other team in the Valley.

That said, the arena needs to be in Surrey Central, not in some far flung place like Cloverdale.

[go_leafs_go02]

The Chilliwack Bruins are moving to Victoria. That, and the fact that Manitoba might get an NHL team opens up some more possibilities. I'd say the A might work, as long as it's a Canucks farm team. The W seems like a possibility, with no other team in the Valley.

That said, the arena needs to be in Surrey Central, not in some far flung place like Cloverdale.

Thing is, Cloverdale is pretty much 10 km from the Langley Events Centre - to build something there would immediately reduce the impact on both buildings. Langley has the BCHL, Chilliwack is getting the BCHL back (Quesnel is moving there from what it looks like).

Either way, I really believe an AHL team anywhere else outside of Vancouver Proper will kill the Heat plain and simple.

Perhaps the best solution would be the WHL Giants to move to Surrey City Centre, with the AHL Moose or whoever moving to Pacific Coliseum. However, I really have no clue how much shelf-life for the Coliseum remains.

AHL in Surrey and Abbotsford will kill one of the franchises, depending on which team they represent (Canucks or Flames).

[twoNeurons]

With all the changes in Winnipeg and Victoria, does this say anything for an arena in Surrey or for the Abby Heat?

[EastVanMark]

Surrey may seek private partner to build spectator arena near Scott Road SkyTrain station

Vancouver Sun
June 15, 2015. 2:49 pm • Section: Sports, STAFF

The city of Surrey will vote tonight on a recommendation to seek private partnership to build a spectator arena near the Scott Road SkyTrain station.

The city’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Department is asking council to authorize city staff to issue a Request for Expression of Interest to find a private partner who would finance, design, build and operate a “spectator arena facility” adjacent to the two community ice sheets.

The city would provide the land to the arena developer at no cost.

A city report states that “respondents will be asked to demonstrate that a business relationship exists with a professional sports franchise and the facility will fulfill the requirements of the league in which the franchise operates.”

The size and seating capacity of the arena would depend on the particular league and sports team franchise that the proponents are able to secure as anchor tenant.

The South Surrey Arena, home of the B.C. Hockey League’s Surrey Eagles, is the city’s biggest arena with fixed seating for 1,242 fans. If an arena proponent wishes to attract a Western Hockey League tenant to Surrey, the new rink would need at least 5,000 seats to meet WHL standards.

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2015/06/15/surrey-may-seek-private-partner-to-build-spectator-arena-near-scott-road-skytrain-station/

[Tetsuo]

Wonder if they would try to aim for the Vancouver Stealth or Giants

[Denscity]

Half a million people with a 1200 seat arena?? That's gotta be the worst per capita ratio in the country!

[Henbo]

lol the Surrey Coyotes anybody? :D

[Whalleyboy]

As I said in the other thread I think it would be nice to see an ECHL team back in BC.
It could be a Canuck Farm team. ECHL is also technically a higher league then WHL. WHL is a junior league while ECHL is a mid-level professional league. There is also a lot of ECHL team on the west coast to so it wouldn't be like the AHL where Abbotsford had to pay for teams to come out. Then again AHL is moving like 4 or 5 teams to California so if that goes well maybe by the time the arena is built AHL will have a strong presence in the west that it could come back to BC as well.

[paulsparrow]

Half a million people with a 1200 seat arena?? That's gotta be the worst per capita ratio in the country!

Not to mention its Olympic sized so thats the first problem. As well the ice stays in year round so it can't be used for other functions. And it's on the White Rock border so it's not reasonable access for 80% of Surrey's population.

[paulsparrow]

If Surrey could lock in the the Giants to a long term contract then a 7-8,000 seat arena in North Surrey makes sense. Otherwise go smaller with 5,000 seat venue.

As a few people have pointed out Surrey for its size has no main arena. Considering Langley has the LEC and even their other arena beats anything Surrey has as well Delta has two nice arenas in Ladner and North Delta.

Having said that we also need a good 1000 seat arena in Cloverdale as the center of Surrey where minor teams can play. Yes we have lots of sheets of ice in Surrey but who wants to watch a game from a 3 level metal bleacher through glass or behind a dark net in the Cloverdale barn.

[EastVanMark]

Wonder if they would try to aim for the Vancouver Stealth or Giants

If they are smart that is exactly what they will do. Thats 2 anchor tenants right off the bat and the Stealth would be much more prosperous in Surrey than they are in Langley. Win-Win for both sides.

[Tetsuo]

Cloverdale is going to get new sheets, not sure if theyre keeping the barn or replacing it

[logan5]

Surrey baffles me. Why would they want to build the arena around Scott Road Station when Surrey is trying to build an energy and excitement in Surrey Central. Even if it cost more in the long run a major junior team would make downtown surrey much more attractive to developers and new businesses (that surrey desperately needs) catering to the gameday crowds. Nowadays the game day experience is an important conponent to success. An arena around Scott Road doesnt come close to providing that.

[Tetsuo]

I wouldn't be surprised Surrey's plan for Bridgeview down the road is elimination of industrial lands into something residential

[logicbomb]

Surrey baffles me. Why would they want to build the arena around Scott Road Station when Surrey is trying to build an energy and excitement in Surrey Central. Even if it cost more in the long run a major junior team would make downtown surrey much more attractive to developers and new businesses (that surrey desperately needs) catering to the gameday crowds. Nowadays the game day experience is an important conponent to success. An arena around Scott Road doesnt come close to providing that.

-Parking
-Land is cheaper
-Decent connection to the Skytrain, SFPR, KGB, and Scott Rd.
-There have been plans to add office and residential developments south of Scott Road Station too in the past. This may kick start some development down there.

Ideally, yeah, you would want this in downtown Surrey beside Surrey Central Station, but land around there is so damn expensive now plus the road networks aren't handling today's traffic well. Imagine the traffic after a concert, festival or game? Yikes.

[logan5]

Hopefully they come to their senses on this. A major cultural building belongs downtown.

[sacrifice333]

Maybe just like Hamilton got the Predators, Surrey can get the Panthers. :D

[BCPhil]

Surrey baffles me. Why would they want to build the arena around Scott Road Station when Surrey is trying to build an energy and excitement in Surrey Central. Even if it cost more in the long run a major junior team would make downtown surrey much more attractive to developers and new businesses (that surrey desperately needs) catering to the gameday crowds. Nowadays the game day experience is an important conponent to success. An arena around Scott Road doesnt come close to providing that.

It depends on how you look at it.

It's not like everyone is interested in the Game Day experience. Even at the Canucks game, most people arrive in the area right before the game and leave right after (just ride Skytrain or try to drive in the area on game night). I would say maybe 25% at most partake in activities pre/post game (most head straight to skytrain to beat the rush that the beat the rush rush causes). But for a large arena, that sells out every game, that is a lot of people.

People going to WHL games fall into 2 camps: either they love hockey so much they pay to see unpaid, grown up kids play (and aren't as interested in frivolous activities around the game) or are looking for less expensive things to do (and thus aren't going to drop a C-Note on dinner and drinks). So at most, what, 15% would hit the town around the game. And 5000 is the capacity, not the typical night's sales. So to build in downtown Surrey, your talking about spending millions of dollars extra to inject maybe 100 patrons into a bar? I don't know if that is really worth it.

Plus it seems like the main goal is to kill 2 birds with one stone: amateur and pro hockey in one place. Trying to build a large multiplex in the city center would be really expensive.

An arena in the downtown would be nice, but I don't think the money needed to buy land there, then give it away to the developer free, would be worth the extra cost.

[logan5]

The best spot for an arena/event center would be the Safeway site across from the Civic Centre plaza. Would be perfect. I don't think even with the free land, that an arena developer would want his place of business in such an isolated spot. There has to be plenty of city land around Surrey Central.

[go_leafs_go02]

The best spot for an arena/event center would be the Safeway site across from the Civic Centre plaza. Would be perfect. I don't think even with the free land, that an arena developer would want his place of business in such an isolated spot. There has to be plenty of city land around Surrey Central.

I'd rather see in the block immediately southeast of Gateway Skytrain. Go from 108 Avenue to 107A Avenue and then between City Parkway and University Drive. Could turn that strip of 108 Avenue into a nice little entertainment hub too.

[paulsparrow]

If they are smart that is exactly what they will do. Thats 2 anchor tenants right off the bat and the Stealth would be much more prosperous in Surrey than they are in Langley. Win-Win for both sides.

Not sure on the more prosperous in Surrey part. A LOT of people north of the Fraser won't go to Surrey, especially Whalley. Families won't go to Whalley. Add in the fact that Lacrosse is dead in Surrey and the Stealth would suffer more than if they stayed in Langley.

The only plus side would be skytrain access. That won't outweigh the losses IMO.

[EastVanMark]

Not sure on the more prosperous in Surrey part. A LOT of people north of the Fraser won't go to Surrey, especially Whalley. Families won't go to Whalley. Add in the fact that Lacrosse is dead in Surrey and the Stealth would suffer more than if they stayed in Langley.

The only plus side would be skytrain access. That won't outweigh the losses IMO.

The Surrey location would be MUCH more central and would have a far greater drawing power. This doesn't even cover the access to the mass transit network which is only a rumour in Langley at the moment. Having an arena adjacent to a mass transit line is a must for modern day sports arenas. The large lacrosse communities of Coquitlam and New West (not to mention Surrey itself) would be much closer to a Surrey arena. The media which by in large ignores the Stealth now, would give the team more coverage if they weren't based so far away from Vancouver. The only reason the Stealth are in Langley to begin with is because Surrey doesn't have a suitable arena. Heck, they would be in Vancouver if the PNE and Vancouver Giants didn't stand in there way. (by way of high rental rate and exclusivity clause respectively)

[EastVanMark]

The best spot for an arena/event center would be the Safeway site across from the Civic Centre plaza. Would be perfect. I don't think even with the free land, that an arena developer would want his place of business in such an isolated spot. There has to be plenty of city land around Surrey Central.

Was thinking the exact same thing. That area would work so much better to house a major arena and would go a long way to establishing a true entertainment district and revitalizing the city core they have been trying to build for 2 decades. But then again, this would be totally consistent with Surrey's hodge podge approach to city building

[memememe76]

I would much rather live near a Safeway than a hockey arena.

[paulsparrow]

The Surrey location would be MUCH more central and would have a far greater drawing power. This doesn't even cover the access to the mass transit network which is only a rumour in Langley at the moment. Having an arena adjacent to a mass transit line is a must for modern day sports arenas. The large lacrosse communities of Coquitlam and New West (not to mention Surrey itself) would be much closer to a Surrey arena. The media which by in large ignores the Stealth now, would give the team more coverage if they weren't based so far away from Vancouver. The only reason the Stealth are in Langley to begin with is because Surrey doesn't have a suitable arena. Heck, they would be in Vancouver if the PNE and Vancouver Giants didn't stand in there way. (by way of high rental rate and exclusivity clause respectively)
EastVanMark. I have worked with past Pro lacrosse teams and ownership here as well as community lacrosse and I stand by what I said previously from experience and knowledge.

When you say Surrey is more "Central" you mean central to what? LEC is much closer for Coquitlam people to get to then Whalley. The demographics of Surrey is not one that really supports hockey and certainly not lacrosse (why I was part of moving junior and intermediate lacrosse out of Surrey to Langley).

Again I state families will NOT go to Whalley to watch sports. If the arena went to Bridgeview then yes you would appeal to the masses for attendance for hockey. Lacrosse is largely based now where young families are so outside of New West you are no longer central to the fans.

[EastVanMark]

EastVanMark. I have worked with past Pro lacrosse teams and ownership here as well as community lacrosse and I stand by what I said previously from experience and knowledge.

When you say Surrey is more "Central" you mean central to what? LEC is much closer for Coquitlam people to get to then Whalley. The demographics of Surrey is not one that really supports hockey and certainly not lacrosse (why I was part of moving junior and intermediate lacrosse out of Surrey to Langley).

Again I state families will NOT go to Whalley to watch sports. If the arena went to Bridgeview then yes you would appeal to the masses for attendance for hockey. Lacrosse is largely based now where young families are so outside of New West you are no longer central to the fans.

Thanks for your sharing your insights and experiences Paul.
However, I would still contend that a Surrey arena would serve the the Stealth a lot better than the LEC.

First off, an arena with an adjacent rapid transit line and in a central location is in almost every case a better venue than one that is not. That goes across the board for all events, not just sports. If you want, I can provide about 40 case studies where that is clearly displayed.

Also, when I say "central" I speak to where the population is. If you drew a 20 km circle around a central Surrey Arena and the LEC, the amount of people living in the area in the Surrey one would absolutely dwarf the Langley one. When you add the aforementioned rapid transit, that makes things even worse. But lets look to the local lacrosse scene. If you take areas where lacrosse has done well and supports WLA teams such as in Coquitlam, Burnaby, and most importantly, New West, they would ALL be closer to an arena in Surrey. (not to mention as of very soon they will all be connected by Skytrain) BTW I don't know what map your looking at, but in no way, shape or form is Coquitlam closer to Langley than it is to Surrey. (Even if the arena is built at the proposed site, its still much closer than LEC).

Surrey doesn't support hockey? The numbers say otherwise. Its number of hockey participants are third largest in the entire Province of British Columbia

As for the Stealth, they play in the league's smallest venue (by far), can't even sell that out, have the lowest attendance (again by far) for the entire league. So apparently they aren't that good at drawing all those young families either. Besides, this doesn't even speak to the fact that you need more than just families to fill an arena and have a successful sports organization. For a Lacrosse example, look to the Toronto Rock who outsell both the Raptors and Maple leafs when it comes to alcohol sales on a per fan basis. Sadly the Stealth fall well, well short in pretty much everything

[paulsparrow]

Thanks for your sharing your insights and experiences Paul.
However, I would still contend that a Surrey arena would serve the the Stealth a lot better than the LEC.

First off, an arena with an adjacent rapid transit line and in a central location is in almost every case a better venue than one that is not. That goes across the board for all events, not just sports. If you want, I can provide about 40 case studies where that is clearly displayed.

Also, when I say "central" I speak to where the population is. If you drew a 20 km circle around a central Surrey Arena and the LEC, the amount of people living in the area in the Surrey one would absolutely dwarf the Langley one. When you add the aforementioned rapid transit, that makes things even worse. But lets look to the local lacrosse scene. If you take areas where lacrosse has done well and supports WLA teams such as in Coquitlam, Burnaby, and most importantly, New West, they would ALL be closer to an arena in Surrey. (not to mention as of very soon they will all be connected by Skytrain) BTW I don't know what map your looking at, but in no way, shape or form is Coquitlam closer to Langley than it is to Surrey. (Even if the arena is built at the proposed site, its still much closer than LEC).

Surrey doesn't support hockey? The numbers say otherwise. Its number of hockey participants are third largest in the entire Province of British Columbia

As for the Stealth, they play in the league's smallest venue (by far), can't even sell that out, have the lowest attendance (again by far) for the entire league. So apparently they aren't that good at drawing all those young families either. Besides, this doesn't even speak to the fact that you need more than just families to fill an arena and have a successful sports organization. For a Lacrosse example, look to the Toronto Rock who outsell both the Raptors and Maple leafs when it comes to alcohol sales on a per fan basis. Sadly the Stealth fall well, well short in pretty much everything

So let me clear some things up.
1. Lacrosse fans. There are two types that go to Stealth games. The lax guys and the families. The families won't take public transit because it would cost more than driving a car. The lax guys won't take public transit because they just don't. These aren't downtown city folk that don't have cars. So your argument about being close to transit for lacrosse don't work.

2. Lax fans. If you look at the family side and therefore youth lacrosse the largest associations are Maple Ridge, Langley, Coquitlam and New West (most likely in that order although its a bit of a guess because I've been out of that level for a few years). Surrey is one of the smallest as well as Burnaby. As to fans of adult lacrosse (lax guys) again you are looking at New West and Coquitlam as the two big ones.

3. Central for Coquitlam. If I lived in Coquitlam I would much rather hop ont he Port Mann and drive out the highway 10 mins to an arena in Walnut Grove than to jump and either drive across 104 or wind through New West to Puttello.

4. Hockey fans. Yes Surrey has a large registration but they type of demographics will tell you these are not the type of fans that will shell out money to pay for high level hockey. They play minor.

5. Stealth attendance. Yes they are the smallest attendance in the league however their attendance is up over Everett their last location. Once they put a good product on the floor they will have no trouble filling the venue. However anything larger would probably never get filled. Too many of these players can be seen locally at WLA levels for less money.

[EastVanMark]

So let me clear some things up.
1. Lacrosse fans. There are two types that go to Stealth games. The lax guys and the families. The families won't take public transit because it would cost more than driving a car. The lax guys won't take public transit because they just don't. These aren't downtown city folk that don't have cars. So your argument about being close to transit for lacrosse don't work.

2. Lax fans. If you look at the family side and therefore youth lacrosse the largest associations are Maple Ridge, Langley, Coquitlam and New West (most likely in that order although its a bit of a guess because I've been out of that level for a few years). Surrey is one of the smallest as well as Burnaby. As to fans of adult lacrosse (lax guys) again you are looking at New West and Coquitlam as the two big ones.

3. Central for Coquitlam. If I lived in Coquitlam I would much rather hop ont he Port Mann and drive out the highway 10 mins to an arena in Walnut Grove than to jump and either drive across 104 or wind through New West to Puttello.

4. Hockey fans. Yes Surrey has a large registration but they type of demographics will tell you these are not the type of fans that will shell out money to pay for high level hockey. They play minor.

5. Stealth attendance. Yes they are the smallest attendance in the league however their attendance is up over Everett their last location. Once they put a good product on the floor they will have no trouble filling the venue. However anything larger would probably never get filled. Too many of these players can be seen locally at WLA levels for less money.

1. You provide no evidence that families wouldn't take public transit. They do for all sports, all over North America. There is a reason why arenas are built near public transportation. There IS evidence to support that. As I already stated, I can rattle of at least 40 instances where sport facilities were built near rapid transit lines and replaced old ones that were not.

2. Fair enough. You seem to be familiar with the minor lacrosse scene.

3. What you would personally do if you lived in Coquitlam is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that Surrey is closer (much closer) than Langley is.

4.You provide no evidence regarding spending habits of the demographics of Surrey. Pure speculation and unfounded at that.

5. No matter how you look at it, the Stealth are dead last in league attendance and its not even close. They play in the smallest building in the league and can't even sell it out. The Ravens (based in Vancouver) drew more fams. Actually attendance for the Stealth went down when they first moved to Langley. In 2013, they averaged 4,184 fans per game in Everett and averaged just 3,617 in Langley for 2014. In 2015, they drew an average of 4,208. Yup, those extra 24 fans really made a difference. But even if they sell out their arena, they still would be likely be last in attendance and nowhere near the NLL average.

Attendance for the Vancouver Ravens who played in the much larger market (Vancouver proper) playing in an arena with adjacent rapid transit line:
averaged 10,211 in year one
8,333 the second.
For the final year, the average crowd was 7,124. (they were middle of the pack in attendance back then)

[GMasterAres]

Surrey baffles me. Why would they want to build the arena around Scott Road Station when Surrey is trying to build an energy and excitement in Surrey Central. Even if it cost more in the long run a major junior team would make downtown surrey much more attractive to developers and new businesses (that surrey desperately needs) catering to the gameday crowds. Nowadays the game day experience is an important conponent to success. An arena around Scott Road doesnt come close to providing that.

Yah on the surface I can see why you're baffled, but the overall plan for the flats down by Scott Road is to build a transit oriented residential and commercial area to complement New Westminster on the other side of the River and also bridge the gap between New Westminster and Surrey Central. Right now it's just a big void. They are pushing out the auto wreckers (another just closed down and the land is slated for redevelopment into an office park) and upgrading industry in the area. And specifically around Scott Road they want residential and commercial.

An Arena could go a long way to help that area out and is close enough to Surrey Central via transit and even walking that it would still indirectly help.

As was mentioned though a big problem is parking. That's what hurt Abbotsford a lot was a lack of parking and arenas (even Rogers Arena) still needs a fair amount of parking. I would hope that Surrey plans to build parking garages rather than just a mass of surface parking, but either way an Arena would have a far larger footprint than most of the available land right in Surrey Central right now if you include parking.

So while I would love to see an Arena with an ECHL or WHL team in it right in Surrey Central, I don't think Scott Road is a bad place. It's also just a bit closer to New Westminster, Burnaby, and Vancouver and also right along the SFPR basically so car traffic isn't going to inundate Surrey Central compared to the arena being right in the center.

It's not a bad location.

[GMasterAres]

EastVanMark. I have worked with past Pro lacrosse teams and ownership here as well as community lacrosse and I stand by what I said previously from experience and knowledge.

When you say Surrey is more "Central" you mean central to what? LEC is much closer for Coquitlam people to get to then Whalley. The demographics of Surrey is not one that really supports hockey and certainly not lacrosse (why I was part of moving junior and intermediate lacrosse out of Surrey to Langley).

Again I state families will NOT go to Whalley to watch sports. If the arena went to Bridgeview then yes you would appeal to the masses for attendance for hockey. Lacrosse is largely based now where young families are so outside of New West you are no longer central to the fans.

Paul is correct when he says the LEC is much closer to Coquitlam than to get to Whalley. Coquitlam -> GEB -> LEC (which is pretty much right there) is really fast. Whalley and especially the Scott Road area would add a good 15 minutes or more.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Lacrosse so can't even discuss the viability of a team.

[EastVanMark]

Paul is correct when he says the LEC is much closer to Coquitlam than to get to Whalley. Coquitlam -> GEB -> LEC (which is pretty much right there) is really fast. Whalley and especially the Scott Road area would add a good 15 minutes or more.

No he is not.
Coquitlam to LEC is just under 30 km
Coquitlam to Whalley is 16 km
Coquitlam to the proposed arena site is 19 km

So no, not only is Langley not closer, it isn't even a competition.

[GMasterAres]

No he is not.
Coquitlam to LEC is just under 30 km
Coquitlam to Whalley is 16 km
Coquitlam to the proposed arena site is 19 km

So no, not only is Langley not closer, it isn't even a competition.

Ok I just looked it up and it isn't the entire story. Depends on the time. Though distance wise I do stand corrected.

Coquitlam to LEC according to Google is actually 24km (not 30km not sure where you're getting that from). When I looked this morning it said the time though was 23 minutes.
Coquitlam to the proposed arena site is 19km and it says 22 minutes from Coquitlam center.
That's a 1 minute difference.

Right now nearing rush hour though it is a different story. Coq -> LEC = 35 minutes, Coq -> Whalley/Arena = 22 minutes, so that's a 13 minute difference. Same distances, different traffic patterns.

So while the distance does look to be farther (I stand corrected) the time of travel ranges from basically the same to slightly longer during peak hour traffic.

I dunno I'd still rather see hockey and I don't live in Coquitlam so I don't actually care about anyone living there...

[EastVanMark]

Ok I just looked it up and it isn't the entire story. Depends on the time. Though distance wise I do stand corrected.

Coquitlam to LEC according to Google is actually 24km (not 30km not sure where you're getting that from). When I looked this morning it said the time though was 23 minutes.
Coquitlam to the proposed arena site is 19km and it says 22 minutes from Coquitlam center.
That's a 1 minute difference.

Right now nearing rush hour though it is a different story. Coq -> LEC = 35 minutes, Coq -> Whalley/Arena = 22 minutes, so that's a 13 minute difference. Same distances, different traffic patterns.

So while the distance does look to be farther (I stand corrected) the time of travel ranges from basically the same to slightly longer during peak hour traffic.

I dunno I'd still rather see hockey and I don't live in Coquitlam so I don't actually care about anyone living there...

According to google, the distance between Coquitlam and the proposed arena site is 18.6. Saying its 19 km is rounding up. The LEC and and Coquitlam Centre is 24.5. So actually that should be rounded up to 25, not rounded down to 24. (BTW the I said just under 30, not 30. I got that from the route that takes you over the Port Mann).

This doesn't even cover the fact that a large portion of the population in Coquitlam lives closer to Lougheed Mall. In fact, if you take the local lacrosse team's (Coquitlam's) home arena, the proposed arena site in Surrey is 12 km away. The distance from same to LEC is 25 km. That's more than twice as far. No amount of traffic, congestion, lights, construction, roadkill issues etc will change that.

Google travel times are wildy inaccurate skewed towards highway driving as their travel time estimates are based on things like speed limits. You make one light on a city street and the travel time estimate can be blown instantly.

[paulsparrow]

According to google, the distance between Coquitlam and the proposed arena site is 18.6. Saying its 19 km is rounding up. The LEC and and Coquitlam Centre is 24.5. So actually that should be rounded up to 25, not rounded down to 24. (BTW the I said just under 30, not 30. I got that from the route that takes you over the Port Mann).

This doesn't even cover the fact that a large portion of the population in Coquitlam lives closer to Lougheed Mall. In fact, if you take the local lacrosse team's (Coquitlam's) home arena, the proposed arena site in Surrey is 12 km away. The distance from same to LEC is 25 km. That's more than twice as far. No amount of traffic, congestion, lights, construction, roadkill issues etc will change that.

Google travel times are wildy inaccurate skewed towards highway driving as their travel time estimates are based on things like speed limits. You make one light on a city street and the travel time estimate can be blown instantly.
Don't know why you are using mileage. When I drive places I look at time from door to door. I know I personally would much rather drive out a 4 lane highway and down a 3 lane road than to take a 1 or 2 lane congested light infested road to Central City or Bridgeview.

However you are entitled to go what ever direction you wish. I'm just speaking for those that actually live over in Coquitlam and go to the LEC.

[EastVanMark]

Don't know why you are using mileage. When I drive places I look at time from door to door. I know I personally would much rather drive out a 4 lane highway and down a 3 lane road than to take a 1 or 2 lane congested light infested road to Central City or Bridgeview.

However you are entitled to go what ever direction you wish. I'm just speaking for those that actually live over in Coquitlam and go to the LEC.

I use mileage because that is the most reliable source for telling me how far away something is. I too would rather drive down a highway rather than a city road, however that still doesn't change the fact that the Surrey arena site is closer regardless of where in Coquitlam you begin your journey, or whether you measure by mileage or time door to door.

[GMasterAres]

According to google, the distance between Coquitlam and the proposed arena site is 18.6. Saying its 19 km is rounding up. The LEC and and Coquitlam Centre is 24.5. So actually that should be rounded up to 25, not rounded down to 24. (BTW the I said just under 30, not 30. I got that from the route that takes you over the Port Mann).

Let's not bicker about distance because I just punched in Coquitlam Center to the Arena spot and today Google says 17km. SO it's different than what it told me the first time and what it just told you.

I said I stood corrected so quite honestly, pound sand.

This doesn't even cover the fact that a large portion of the population in Coquitlam lives closer to Lougheed Mall. In fact, if you take the local lacrosse team's (Coquitlam's) home arena, the proposed arena site in Surrey is 12 km away. The distance from same to LEC is 25 km. That's more than twice as far. No amount of traffic, congestion, lights, construction, roadkill issues etc will change that.

*sigh* I'll take your word for it since the large portion of Coquitlam itself is closer to Coquitlam Center than Lougheed and Coquitlam doesn't seem to publish any population by neighborhood numbers so you're really just making the above up unless you can show me some stats to the contrary.


Google travel times are wildy inaccurate skewed towards highway driving as their travel time estimates are based on things like speed limits. You make one light on a city street and the travel time estimate can be blown instantly.

Really? Last I checked Google travel times are actually based on a lot of factors including actual travel times, current traffic, real-speed, and up-to-date information pulled from active Android devices traveling the route in addition to simple speed limits (http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/07/31/how-does-google-maps-calculate-your-eta/). Case and point, my Garmin says it should take me 45 minutes to drive from my house to my work every day because it follows speed limits and the SFPR is 80. But everyone drives 100+ and my Android Phone aka Google says it should take me about 31 minutes. It on average takes me between 28 and 32 minutes so Google is far more accurate.

What makes Google not accurate overall is that it tells you travel time "now" aka with traffic. That means the travel time will change throughout the day. If you look up a route during rush hour it will give you a different travel time than if you look at it at say 2am on a Saturday morning. My Garmin however will always give you the same travel time because it only looks at speed limits (I don't pay for the traffic service).

And if you read my post I kind of pointed that out fairly clearly in my analysis referencing the potential error.

That said, I pretty clearly said I stood corrected on my claim it is closer to LEC so again some pounding and some sand.

[GMasterAres]

I use mileage because that is the most reliable source for telling me how far away something is. I too would rather drive down a highway rather than a city road, however that still doesn't change the fact that the Surrey arena site is closer regardless of where in Coquitlam you begin your journey, or whether you measure by mileage or time door to door.

Yah I think distance is meaningless though. Tsawwassen Ferries is about 19.5km away from the Steveston Highway Exit in Richmond (other side of the tunnel) but during the evening rush hour with traffic and a single lane, it takes longer to drive that than to go from the Tsawwassen Ferries to Port Kells which is 50km away.

So 19.5km is way closer than 50km, but being parked in 1 lane through the tunnel adds so much time during the rush hour you can do almost 30 more km in the same time.

Hell it takes just as long to drive from Guildford to the Grandview Highway exit on HWY1 (17km roughly) than to drive from the Grandview Highway exit to Granville Street (9km).

Personally I give more merit to time than distance because I don't give 2 shits if I have to drive 90km or 20km, if it will take me 30 minutes to drive both, that's all that matters. Time is by far worth more than gas. People don't get frustrated driving to the local grocery store because of distance, they get frustrated when they get stuck in construction traffic and it takes them 20 minutes longer to go 5 feet.

And all honestly, as a daily driver through Metro-Vancouver, the longer it takes to go shorter distances, the more frustrated I get and I feel every driver on the planet gets.

You'd be a heck of a lot more frustrated if it took you 45 minutes to drive 3km than if it took you 45 minutes to drive 20km.

[EastVanMark]

Yah I think distance is meaningless though. Tsawwassen Ferries is about 19.5km away from the Steveston Highway Exit in Richmond (other side of the tunnel) but during the evening rush hour with traffic and a single lane, it takes longer to drive that than to go from the Tsawwassen Ferries to Port Kells which is 50km away.

So 19.5km is way closer than 50km, but being parked in 1 lane through the tunnel adds so much time during the rush hour you can do almost 30 more km in the same time.

Hell it takes just as long to drive from Guildford to the Grandview Highway exit on HWY1 (17km roughly) than to drive from the Grandview Highway exit to Granville Street (9km).

Personally I give more merit to time than distance because I don't give 2 shits if I have to drive 90km or 20km, if it will take me 30 minutes to drive both, that's all that matters. Time is by far worth more than gas. People don't get frustrated driving to the local grocery store because of distance, they get frustrated when they get stuck in construction traffic and it takes them 20 minutes longer to go 5 feet.

And all honestly, as a daily driver through Metro-Vancouver, the longer it takes to go shorter distances, the more frustrated I get and I feel every driver on the planet gets.

You'd be a heck of a lot more frustrated if it took you 45 minutes to drive 3km than if it took you 45 minutes to drive 20km.

Great points. However none of it changes the fact the proposed Surrey Arena site is closer to Coquitlam BOTH in distance as well in time.

[EastVanMark]

Let's not bicker about distance because I just punched in Coquitlam Center to the Arena spot and today Google says 17km. SO it's different than what it told me the first time and what it just told you.

I said I stood corrected so quite honestly, pound sand.



*sigh* I'll take your word for it since the large portion of Coquitlam itself is closer to Coquitlam Center than Lougheed and Coquitlam doesn't seem to publish any population by neighborhood numbers so you're really just making the above up unless you can show me some stats to the contrary.



Really? Last I checked Google travel times are actually based on a lot of factors including actual travel times, current traffic, real-speed, and up-to-date information pulled from active Android devices traveling the route in addition to simple speed limits (http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/07/31/how-does-google-maps-calculate-your-eta/). Case and point, my Garmin says it should take me 45 minutes to drive from my house to my work every day because it follows speed limits and the SFPR is 80. But everyone drives 100+ and my Android Phone aka Google says it should take me about 31 minutes. It on average takes me between 28 and 32 minutes so Google is far more accurate.

What makes Google not accurate overall is that it tells you travel time "now" aka with traffic. That means the travel time will change throughout the day. If you look up a route during rush hour it will give you a different travel time than if you look at it at say 2am on a Saturday morning. My Garmin however will always give you the same travel time because it only looks at speed limits (I don't pay for the traffic service).

And if you read my post I kind of pointed that out fairly clearly in my analysis referencing the potential error.

That said, I pretty clearly said I stood corrected on my claim it is closer to LEC so again some pounding and some sand.

I'm not making anything up. Actually, only a small portion of Coquitlam is located close to Coquitlam centre. Port Coquitlam is a mere few blocks east and Port Moody is just down the road so actually, only a tiny part of Coquitlam is located around Coq. Centre. Google and set of relatively working eyes shows me that so no figures are needed. Pick any Coquitlam address that's not immediately adjacent to Coquitlam Centre, and you'll see that the distance between the two arenas (and in particular travel times since its such a fan favorite) is drastic. So unless you live immediately adjacent to HWY 7 you will have to deal with city streets (including lights) which blows any time gained travelling on the HWY 7 immediately. In fact, if you take the Coquitlam Adanac's home arena, the distance to the Langley Events Centre even when measured by time is twice as long (if not even more depending on the route taken, with some being almost 3X as long) if you use the Golden Ears Bridge. (35km 45 min to LEC, vs 12 km or 21 min to proposed Surrey Arena site). No amount of wishful thinking is going to change that. If anything's "made up" its the notion that Langley is somehow closer to Coquitlam than Surrey is (which it isn't)

Now, as for google, like I said they skew towards the highway driving since they base on speed limits. A car travelling on a city street may have left for a destination 4 minutes before another, yet it catches a couple of lights while the car that left later doesn't, and they end up at the destination at the same time. I too have a GPS (a Tom Tom) and it used it in the US and it has told me to head to backtrack to the highway even though my final destination was almost within eyesight and the city roads were largely empty. The distance between 2 structures does not change and is impervious to variables, while measuring travel time is less accurate. But regardless, even WITH taking all that into account, unless the Langley Events Centre grows some legs and walks itself to a more convenient location, the distance from Coquitlam to the proposed Surrey site is CLOSER.

[GMasterAres]

OK you win (http://www.doindogs.com/beau/display/Champion%20Certificate.jpg) congrats.

:cool:

I don't really care. My feelings are the Arena sport wise will focus on hockey given Surrey is also moving the Ice sheets from Surrey Central North Surrey Rec to that location. Lacrosse could fit, I just don't think there is enough demand but who knows. If Coquitlam has such a huge demand for Lacrosse they should just build their own arena. *shrug* I just don't buy it is that in demand given statistically Lacrosse participation in kids and in adults doesn't even crack the top 10 sports played in BC or Canada for that matter but to each his or her own.

[paulsparrow]

Poirier Arena to LEC = 21 mins
Poirier Arena to 110st Ave Arena proposal = 20 mins (via 108 which once that goes to 1 lane for the ground level train you can add another 10 mins to.

I guess for me I'd rather drive out a multi-lane highway and jump onto a multi-lane Langley street straight to an arena versus driving through North Surrey hitting lights and traffic.

[tovan]

Mystery surrounds proposal to build Surrey outdoor stadium
Derrick Penner
Published on: October 11, 2017 | Last Updated: October 11, 2017 9:31 AM PDT
An as-yet-unnamed group has proposed to build an outdoor stadium on city-owned land in Surrey for a yet-to-be-identified pro team, said Coun. Bruce Hayne, rolling out a mystery as to who that might be.
It doesn’t appear to be either the B.C. Lions or the Vancouver Whitecaps as management of both teams, which play home games at B.C. Place Stadium now, expressed little knowledge of the proposed development....
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/mystery-surrounds-proposal-to-build-surrey-outdoor-stadium

City of Surrey:  Prequalification - Design, Construct, Finance and Operate an Outdoor Spectator Stadium
http://www.surrey.ca/business-economic-development/25065.aspx

[EastVanMark]

Although no further details have been released, it appears the proposed team would be for the Canadian Professional Soccer League, and the size of the stadium would likely be 2-5000.

From Global News:

Canadian Premier League Soccer (CPL) is working with ownership groups to establish a new professional franchise in the Lower Mainland.

“We can confirm a group of local business leaders have submitted a proposal to the City of Surrey representing a future franchise in the Lower Mainland,” CPL spokesperson Greg McIsaac said in an email.


https://globalnews.ca/news/3800718/surrey-pro-soccer-team-stadium/

[GlassCity]

Frankly I'm surprised there's interest in a Surrey stadium that size when Swangard is perfectly usable. Surely a renovation there would be more economical, unless a Surrey location (or further east) is specifically desired.