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Originally Posted by esquire
On that last point, I'm pretty sure that I recall seeing some sort of "how the Jets came back" documentary a while back when someone from TNSE said that the arena's final design was intended to be able to support a NHL franchise if and when that opportunity arose. When the rink first opened though, that wasn't the public sentiment... the general feeling was that 15,000 seats was simply too small for the modern day NHL. The only media personality I can remember saying that it could support a NHL franchise right from the very beginning was Don Cherry, of all people, who remarked on Coach's Corner that "they didn't build that for the AHL", or words to that effect.
As I recall, it wasn't until the Coyotes and Penguins started floundering in the mid-late 2000s (which coincided with the CAD rising significantly against the USD) that serious public talk began of the NHL returning to Winnipeg. That was a few years after the then-MTS Centre had opened.
But yes, you are right, from 2004-2011 the upper deck at Canada Life Centre was generally only used for concerts and a couple Manitoba Moose games a year.
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Arenas of 10-15k are kind of no-man’s land of hockey arenas in much of Canada. SaskTel Centre and MTS Place are the only ones I can think of.
One can easily see the justification for the <10k ones in the smaller cities of Canada (Centre Avenir, Mile One Centre, Budweiser Centre).
Over 15k, and one is playing with real money and real intent to go pro. A handful of concerts does not justify the huge jump in cost for an 18k rink.
I don’t know the cost/size ratio breaks down exactly in construction, but the paucity of them seems to indicate the marginal benefits aren’t worth their increased cost.
That is for the people of Saskatoon to decide, though