Quote:
Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn
I think Olympic Stadium deserves a proper renovation... and a football/soccer specific renovation makes a lot of sense.
However, what wouldn't make sense is for the stadium to simply sit for most of the year, while the Montreal Football Club of the MLS plays their games at Saputo Stadium with Olympic stadium in the background.
They were able to install grass at Olympic Stadium for a single friendly versus AC Milan ... and once they have the roof situation figured out, they should also be able to figure out solutions to have real turf available for MLS games.
I don't think it makes sense to spend all this money on refurbishing Olympic Stadium if it's only going to be used sporadically. Montreal's Olympic Stadium has the potential to be the biggest and best football/soccer stadium in all of Canada. |
You are making reasonable points so I will respond reasonably. Unfortunately you are raising some points that we have been through before and aren't reasonably possible even if I wish they could happen.
It is too expensive to try and keep turf indoors. As I said the Jays commissioned
a big study and trials through Guelph and they decided it wasn't practical or worth the cost. And that is with a roof that opens not a fixed roof like Montreal.
The stadium is too big for both the Als and CFM who need a sub 30k rightsized rectilinear stadium. CFM will not go back to playing on artificial turf and the costs are too prohibitive to try and grow grass on a permanent basis. The cost for a one game turf installation can be from 700k to one million dollars.
It can't be the best football or soccer venue as the seats are too far away from the field and there are too many seats when CFM are drawing 16k and the Als 20k
As for being used sporadically that's the whole idea of the roof refurb, to get dates because of the dates they were losing in the winter because of the unreliability of the roof.
The article I posted earlier about BC Place stated how single events are more profitable than the games with their regular tenants. The tenants get a preferred rate compared to one offs. It also showed how a building can be successful without having core tenants.
I agree with all your wishes and dreams except the practicality. I wish they could happen too but they won't (unless something drastic happens).