Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Oilkountry]

New scoreboard at rogers arena is massive, 4x the size of its previous. Mind the terrible artist renderings that portray it as a 4:3. (cleary not) Also new LED ring

Fans can look forward to a new video board that is almost four times larger (1300 SF per side vs 350 SF) than the previous screen. A high refresh rate of 3840Hz (3,840 times per second) and stronger contrast ratio will also result in a clearer image and more vibrant colours. Lastly, the video board is engineered with a modern seamless curve, allowing viewing angles from all areas in the arena.

Along with the video board, a new video 'ring beam' will extend around the entire bowl, delivering high quality game information, messages, and animations. There will also be 64 new digital screens installed above every bowl entrance. Programmed and integrated together, each of these new features will greatly improve the fan experience and game entertainment elements at Rogers Arena.

[Oilkountry]

Also new for Rogers Arena.

Confirmed black seats in 2024,redesign of the North Plaza entry 2024.

At ice-level, boards, glass, dashers, penalty boxes and benches will also be replaced for the upcoming hockey season, benefiting players and fans alike.

And the new club we were talking about earlier in the thread

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

....A high refresh rate of 3840Hz (3,840 times per second)....

What is the benefit of such a high refresh rate? It's not as if any videos or camera feeds will be even remotely close to that.

[elly63]

Sign of the times. I had no idea where Rogers Arena was. If I hadn't seen the Canuck images, I wouldn't have known. Part of that is getting older and not caring about mainstream sports anymore but another part is Rogers naming conventions themselves.

Just me and my opinion YMMV

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by elly63

Sign of the times. I had no idea where Rogers Arena was. If I hadn't seen the Canuck images, I wouldn't have known. Part of that is getting older and not caring about mainstream sports anymore but another part is Rogers naming conventions themselves.

Just me and my opinion YMMV

I thought it was the Edmonton arena till the Canuck player pic too!

[J.OT13]

Yeah, arena and stadium names are becoming meaningless, especially when you have the same sponsor on multiple venues. Rogers has three, I count two TDs, two Bells, Shaw had two Convention Centres at one point.

At least when it's a local company (for example, MTS Centre, Corel Centre, Molson Centre), it's not quite as bad, but we're seeing less and less of it. I don't count Rogers as local Toronto company considering how huge they are.

[Acajack]

There is a Centre Bell in Montreal and a Place Bell in Laval. Similar facilities though the one in Laval is obviously smaller.

Earlier this summer we were having dinner with friends in Gatineau and one of their kids called them in a panic from Montreal: "We're at Centre Bell and it's not the show we were supposed to see! They're selling the wrong t-shirts!!!!"

Thankfully Place Bell is on the same métro line and they made it to the other show.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is a Centre Bell in Montreal and a Place Bell in Laval. Similar facilities though the one in Laval is obviously smaller.

Earlier this summer we were having dinner with friends in Gatineau and one of their kids called them in a panic from Montreal: "We're at Centre Bell and it's not the show we were supposed to see! They're selling the wrong t-shirts!!!!"

Thankfully Place Bell is on the same métro line and they made it to the other show.

One thing when two facilities have the same name in different metro areas, but the two Bells in the Montreal Metro is just...

At least Gatineau's arena has a local name on it, Slush Puppie!

[MonctonRad]

I just posted a version of this in the retail thread, but I thought it appropriate here too.

Irving manufactures Majesta/Royale tissues in a large plant in Moncton (Dieppe). It is one of the largest toilet tissue plants in Canada. When the Avenir Centre in Moncton was looking for a naming sponsor after it was constructed about five years ago, the idea was floated to sell the rights to Irving and call the new arena the Majesta Centre, until local wags pointed out that in short order the nickname for the new arena would become the Toilet Bowl."

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I just posted a version of this in the retail thread, but I thought it appropriate here too.

Irving manufactures Majesta/Royale tissues in a large plant in Moncton (Dieppe). It is one of the largest toilet tissue plants in Canada. When the Avenir Centre in Moncton was looking for a naming sponsor after it was constructed about five years ago, the idea was floated to sell the rights to Irving and call the new arena the Majesta Centre, until local wags pointed out that in short order the nickname for the new arena would become the Toilet Bowl."

Good call to pull the plug, or should I say the chain, on that idea.

[esquire]

^ Everyone knows the real toilet bowl is in Regina

[Acajack]

Love the saltiness! Just in time for Labour Day etc.

[MonctonRad]

"Moncton Wildcats playoff hopes circling the drain after three game homestand losing streak in the Toilet Bowl. A late game rally was flushed away with an overtime goal by the Halifax Mooseheads."

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Everyone knows the real toilet bowl is in Regina

I thought they still use outhouses in Regina ?

[J.OT13]

Speaking of toilet, the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.

This is an image from 2003-2004. The two stadiums at the upper, right have been demolished and replaced with... parking. There's one newer building (early 2010s) housing a few restaurants on the block east of where the Spectrum was located.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_...Sports_Complex

It's almost like they are preserving these parking lots just to leave space to rotate the stadiums whenever it's time to build more modern facilities. At this time, the parking lots are home to the second generation stadiums of all North American major leagues (with NBA and NHL always sharing the arena, no MLS, which is played 30 minutes outside central Philly).

The area is served by a subway station, but fans have to walk 500 meters + through parking lots to get to it.

I don't think Canada has anything quite this bad.

[esquire]

I don't think we've ever had anything like what you're depicting in Philadelphia (KC has a similar setup with Kaufmann/Arrowhead, I'm sure there must be others). But there are some arenas/stadiums located close by each other.

It's not exactly the same as Philly, but Winnipeg used to have its old 50s-vintage arena and stadium across the street from each other in the Polo Park area, which is an inner suburban shopping district. In 2004 the arena was replaced by Canada Life Centre, and then in 2013 IG Field opened and that was the end of that.

You can see the entire old Winnipeg sports district in this early 80s aerial shot... there is the old arena (where Jets 1.0 played), the old stadium (where the Bombers and Goldeyes played - you can see the baseball stands), the old velodrome (site in the 1967 Pan American Games) and Alexander Park soccer field which hosted local clubs but was believe it or not, also used for friendlies featuring some fairly well-known European clubs. All of those facilities are gone now.



I think pre-BC Place in Vancouver, Empire Field and Pacific Coliseum were a stone's throw from each other.

I guess Ottawa with the Civic Centre and Lansdowne Stadium too. That's all I can think of.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't think we've ever had anything like what you're depicting in Philadelphia (KC has a similar setup with Kaufmann/Arrowhead, I'm sure there must be others). But there are some arenas/stadiums located close by each other.

It's not exactly the same as Philly, but Winnipeg used to have its old 50s-vintage arena and stadium across the street from each other in the Polo Park area, which is an inner suburban shopping district. In 2004 the arena was replaced by Canada Life Centre, and then in 2013 IG Field opened and that was the end of that.

You can see the entire old Winnipeg sports district in this early 80s aerial shot... there is the old arena (where Jets 1.0 played), the old stadium (where the Bombers and Goldeyes played - you can see the baseball stands), the old velodrome (site in the 1967 Pan American Games) and Alexander Park soccer field which hosted local clubs but was believe it or not, also used for friendlies featuring some fairly well-known European clubs. All of those facilities are gone now.

I think pre-BC Place in Vancouver, Empire Field and Pacific Coliseum were a stone's throw from each other.

I guess Ottawa with the Civic Centre and Lansdowne Stadium too. That's all I can think of.

I think KC's set-up is a little better than Philly's. It looks like it was planned, not just a bunch of stadiums randomly thrown into the same parking lot. Still terrible. Probably even more car centric.

Interesting to see that Winnipeg shot. Everything is close together. Parking doesn't seem excessive. Kind of fascinating to see the tiny Gold Eye stadium sort of sharing the field with Canad Inns. I guess none of it is left today.

Lansdowne was always a sports location. Multiple venues were built and demolished over the years. it was of course mostly parking for decades, but has been transformed. More changes to come with the Civic Centre's days being counted, along with the north side stands.

Vancouver too doesn't have excess parking at Pacific Coliseum (love that they kept that second generation NHL arena. Most of the time they are demolished or converted). Both venues were tight-knit, based on the remnants of the old Empire Field.

[EpicPonyTime]

Regina has a similar setup with the Brandt Centre/Mosaic Stadium/former Taylor Field all being located at Evraz Place. I think there's a convention centre and some smaller rinks located there as well?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Interesting to see that Winnipeg shot. Everything is close together. Parking doesn't seem excessive. Kind of fascinating to see the tiny Gold Eye stadium sort of sharing the field with Canad Inns. I guess none of it is left today.

In many ways it was a good example of 1950s Canadian urbanism as it transitioned from traditional urbanism to 1960s/70s car-focused suburbia. The venues replaced old downtown/central city facilities (at the time this on the outskirts of the city, but today it would be considered inner suburban), but it was still somewhat urban in character with good transit access, fairly small parking lots and a recognizably urban street layout. Many fans parked at neighbouring businesses (especially in the pre-Sunday shopping days) or on nearby residential streets.

The baseball stadium was extremely ill thought out as the football field overlapped with the baseball field. The Winnipeg Whips, the Montreal Expos' AAA affilaite, were the last team to play in there back in the 70s. After that it was empty for a decade before being demolished in the mid 80s to make way for new Blue Bombers facilities. Winnipeg didn't have a proper baseball stadium again until Shaw Park was completed in 1999.

Interestingly, above the arena you can see a large regional shopping centre (Winnipeg's first and one of Canada's first) that replaced a horse racing venue that was there until the 1950s.

Gradually, all of those old venues were demolished and turned into shopping centres and big box stores.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I just posted a version of this in the retail thread, but I thought it appropriate here too.

Irving manufactures Majesta/Royale tissues in a large plant in Moncton (Dieppe). It is one of the largest toilet tissue plants in Canada. When the Avenir Centre in Moncton was looking for a naming sponsor after it was constructed about five years ago, the idea was floated to sell the rights to Irving and call the new arena the Majesta Centre, until local wags pointed out that in short order the nickname for the new arena would become the Toilet Bowl."

When Budweiser Gardens was built, Labatts bought the naming rights and originally called it the John Labatt Centre, in honour of the founder of Labatt's Breweries. Immediately, the popular local rock FM radio morning show branded the place "The John". Fortunately, the nickname never took off.