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Originally Posted by someone123
It is very difficult to predict how stuff like this will go when you look at a time frame of more than 5 years or so. The Commonwealth Games bid from a few years ago could easily have resulted in a new stadium, for example. Some other projects like Harbour Solutions (sewage plants) or the central library seemed like they'd never be built, until one day they were. The current Metro Centre, built in the 1970's, was probably about the same relative expense for Halifax that an arena on the scale of Winnipeg's would be today.
HRM is actually a pretty big municipality with a lot of financial resources at its disposal. I don't think this is at all wise, but HRM council could finance a $60M stadium next week if they wanted to.
It's a particularly interesting time right now because Halifax is going to have a very different city council in a few months. The shipbuilding contract should also have a positive impact on the local economy.
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This is good to hear, because I was following (in and out) the Stadium updates in Halifax. I am a huge proponent of CFL expansion to Atlantic Canada and, for multiple reasons, feel that Halifax would be the best choice overall for a franchise.
In the near future, a CFL franchise is very much possible given a concrete stadium plan. Ownership could be public. It would also give a proper "big league" team for Halifax to have. Though, is $60MM feasible for a CFL-build stadium? I know this is the "NHL in Halifax" thread so I mean not to derail or anything, but current CFL stadiums are getting into the $200MM range.
Are we looking at simply seats + field for $60MM?
The relevance here is as it related to a potential NHL-level arena in Ottawa. Bear in mind, the arena going up in Quebec City will be about $400MM, and the MTS Centre, though cost roughly $133MM to build, is about $175MM today with inflation. That does not take into consideration that the $133MM figure is based on construction costs, which were set in 2003 but the following year doubled (so if the same arena was built today in Winnipeg it would cost around $265MM)