Quote:
Originally Posted by Djeffery
What does 10,000 seats gain you though? You can probably replicate what the Huskies have for under $10million, have a couple thousand seats, for the high school championships and whatever other local events, and still put the winter bubble over the field. I mean, if you aren't going to build it with the intent of a CFL team, then there is no point than anything larger than that because the CFL is the only thing that will be filling up the seats on a regular basis.
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I am having a hard time squaring this type of sentiment with a few realities:
- HRM has bid on major one-off sporting events in the past that included a stadium when there was no guarantee of a CFL team and they were widely supported until the budget hugely exceeded that of the current stadium proposal. Why were those proposals better than a much more affordable proposal focused on building durable infrastructure with a primary tenant already lined up? How on earth could it be that 2005 Halifax almost ran $700M+ CWGs while a $130M stadium is beyond the pale in 2019 Halifax?
- Virtually every city on this planet with a population and economy like Halifax's has an outdoor sport or performance venue capable of holding well over 10,000 people. Hardly any of these were built purely with private sector pro sports dollars, and it is completely unrealistic to expect that to happen in Halifax. Why is normal infrastructure in most cities considered an extravagance in Halifax?
- Halifax has hosted many outdoor concerts and events in the past that would have been better in a stadium rather than on a grassy field like the Common. Presumably if there were a decent venue there would be more of these events. So why do people keep saying this will only be for the CFL?
I think it's a bit messed up that this is being framed as a failure for the CFL promoters to pay more for a stadium rather than an opportunity for HRM that is unlikely to happen again for many years if the current council passes on it. It reminds me of a certain comment from Stephen Harper that rattled a few cages but had more than a kernel of truth to it.