Quote:
Originally Posted by MonctonRad
I don't think anyone is saying that this stadium is CFL ready.........even with the temporary bleachers, it will still seat only 20,000 which is less than CFL standards.
Having said this, the Moncton Stadium will be the largest stadium in the region, will be thoroughly modern and will also have advanced press box facilities. It's the best we got.
The partnership that Moncton has forged with the CFL should be viewed as a five year experiment. If at the end of that time there is still mutual interest, then additional measures will be necessary in order to acquire a CFL franchise.
One of these measures will have to be the upgrading the current stadium to CFL standards...... It might actually be a good thing to have the existing stands set back as they are from the field. It would likely be cheaper to excavate and lower the level of the field to add more seating in front of the existing stands rather than extend the height of the stands.
By doing this and by putting new stands behind the end zones, we could easily get seating for 25-30,000 people at this facility.
One of the advantages of this stadium in it's current location is "room to grow". I have been following the furious (and mildly panicked) discussions in the Halifax forum, it seems that there is great difficulty in finding a site big enough on the penninsula to accomodate an appropriate stadium. If Halifax builds a new stadium, it may have to be in a suburban location.
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How about we Haligonians and Monctonians stop bickering (I'm guilty of it) on here and work together to lure the CFL into Atlantic Canada. I think a case can be made for a team already in Halifax without question if the stadium was there (which will not be built tomorrow but hopefully soon). And after the experiment in Moncton and the proof of fan support there (which I have no doubt of there will be) a case can be made for a 2nd team. In 5-10 years both populations should have increased, and we could really start to look at a Nova Scotia CFL team and a New Brunswick CFL team (although Saint John might want to compete for that
). Really in a sense Halifax and Nova Scotia could be compared to Winnipeg and Manitoba, and Moncton and Saint John compared to Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The CFL might have a hidden agenda to try and make Halifax jealous of Moncton, but the point is that if the CFL wants to make itself coast to coast I'm really starting to think its not completely impossible for that to include the possibility of a team in the two largest provinces in Atlantic Canada in the next 5-15 years.
A truce:
To the future success of the
Halifax or Nova Scotia Schooner's and the
Moncton or New Brunswick Express.
