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Old Posted Apr 30, 2023, 9:08 PM
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J.OT13 J.OT13 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thewave46 View Post
Football stadiums are terrible investments. Domed ones doubly so.

As a once in a couple generations gift to a league that is pretty marginal profit-wise (CFL), maybe a new open air stadium is fine. It sort of can be justified as a civic amenity. I'm not really big on gridiron football, so I'm pretty meh on the whole scheme.

It stings more to do this for the richest league in the world I imagine, but it seems unlikely we'll have to worry about that here.

A domed stadium in a city of less than several million people would be a white elephant. The one that even comes close to being used effectively and offering a decent value for money is SkyDome, and that was a fiasco. The others are travesties, value-wise.
I agree. A stadium that's only used 9 to 35 games per year is a bad investment. A bare-bones open air stadium of $100-$150 millions might be worth it for CFL/CPL/MLS stadiums. Call it local pride, economic development or whatever, but adding a dome or retractable roof can get that price tag to $500 million+.

Quote:
Originally Posted by elly63 View Post
This is U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, the example I think is most appropriate for Canada. Via Wikipedia here is some relevant info.

While the Vikings' owners wanted an outdoor stadium, the state and local governments would only provide funding for an indoor stadium capable of hosting major events like the Super Bowl and the Final Four. A retractable roof was the trend in 2010s football stadiums. However, retractable roof facilities are not typically designed for the roof to be opened and closed in sub-freezing conditions. When built in temperate climates, retractable roofs are generally kept closed throughout the winter months, both to reduce the stress on the roof and its components and also to reduce or eliminate the need to winterize the stadium's interior. In contrast, to be of any competitive on-field advantage to the Vikings, a retractable roof facility would have needed to be designed to operate in a Minnesotan winter so as to allow the Vikings to play a home game outdoors during the NFL playoffs. Eventually, this design was deemed too expensive.

Architecture firm HKS, Inc. decided to go for a lightweight translucent roof and glazed entrances with giant pivoting doors, aiming to get as much natural light from the outside as possible. The roof is made up of 60% Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a fluorine-based clear plastic. ETFE's low R-factor and the roof's slanted design, inspired by Nordic vernacular architecture, allows the stadium to endure heavy snow loads. Snow accumulates in areas that are more safely and easily accessible, and also moves down the slanted roof into a heated gutter, the water from which drains to the nearby Mississippi River.

The translucent roof and large wall panels also give fans a view of downtown Minneapolis. The glass operable wall panels allow the stadium to experience some of the outdoor elements while providing protection from the snow, rain, and the cold winter weather.

An older, simpler model of this can be seen at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand
Wow. Vikings wanted a more basic open air stadium, and the City and State went "NO, we will build you a ridiculously expensive domed stadium!"

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