I read this article too.
There is no question that arenas and stadia can be overbuilt and can result in major fiscal embarrassment for their respective political jurisdictions, especially if things go overboard and they become architectural masterpieces or sports shrines. This sort of situation obviously should be avoided.
The fact remains however that the coliseum needs to be replaced. The roof is too low for major touring bands and their staging. The acoustics of the coliseum suck big time. The building also has essentially non existent A/C and this is a major problem for curling and hockey playoffs that can extend well into the late spring. If you put 7,000 sweaty people in there in late May, the ice can start to get soft pretty quick and it can be hard to see what's going on with all the ice fog in the air!
Another issue is ice time availability for the Wildcats during the QMJHL playoffs. The coliseum is heavily booked with trade shows in the late winter and the spring and this has caused major scheduling problems if the Cats make a deep playoff run. God forbid if the Miracles also had a successful playoff season!
The existing infrastructure is old and capacity issues are becoming more and more problematic every single year. We need a new arena. That is self evident. It is also obvious that it should be built downtown in order to maximize economic benefit and to kickstart redevelopment in the core.
A new events centre must be built. It is important that we are prudent in what is constructed. It doesn't need to be an architectural masterpiece, but it should be "right sized" so that it can serve as an appropriate hockey venue for the playoff crowds and is also able to attract major touring acts. I think 10,000 seats is about right.
It is also important to realize that we are talking about much more than a rink here. We are talking about a mixed use development that will give the critical mass needed to stimulate years of future growth in the west end of downtown. Components could include retail, restaurants, condos, apartments, a transit hub, a small convention centre and possibly a new civic library. In the end, the arena itself may be no more than half of the development and perhaps lots less.
The CBC article makes good points, but in many ways, it
misses the point as far as our proposed events centre is concerned......