Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I thought the success of the Rush resulted in some cold water being thrown on that idea... the Rush are drawing well and the idea of a smaller downtown rink seems counterintuitive. Although that said, some MLL teams play in smaller, more WHL-sized venues so I guess it could work in Saskatoon too.

Actually it's been the complete opposite; there was never talk of a downtown arena until the Rush started selling out Sask Place, because that's when the accessibility and poor amenities became apparent. Prior to the Rush, there were maybe two shows a year that were sold out so they were a slight annoyance, but now everyone sees how frustrating it is when there are hour-long delays because everyone's taking the two roads out to the arena.

I also don't think anyone has a smaller arena in mind, if they did build a new one downtown. It would almost certainly be another 15,000 seater. If anything, you hear more people complain that it should be bigger.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

a senior official with Canada Soccer, one of three national soccer federations involved in the United Bid Committee, expressed their frustration with the Vancouver bid debacle by saying “negotiating with the BC NDP is like negotiating with the Beverly Hillbillies.

The problem with that is, the premise of the TV show was that the Hillbillies were the sensible ones and the "city slickers" were the dolts. Much the same situation here with the ineffective CSA playing the role of "city slicker"

Chicago pulling out is very telling, making you wonder that the folks in BC may have made a good decision. Security costs alone are outrageous.

[WhipperSnapper]

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with Vancouver's decision. I'm just curious what you are basing Chicago pulling out as "very telling".

[elly63]

Looks like the Alberta government won't be backing Edmonton with funding without changes from FIFA. Seems everybody knows about the scam that is FIFA and some are giving some pushback.

[logan5]

This has all fallen apart rather quickly. We are still so far out from this thing, there must be time to at least try to solve whatever issues. On a world stage like this you really want your star cities involved, especially Vancouver.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by logan5

This has all fallen apart rather quickly. We are still so far out from this thing, there must be time to at least try to solve whatever issues. On a world stage like this you really want your star cities involved, especially Vancouver.

Vancouver and (particularly) Chicago pulling out are very telling signs that this bid is in trouble. They are world class, world famous cities in their own right and would have no problem hosting the Olympics, yet they don't want nothing to do with the bid because of the dodgy financial issues? That's something else. The fact that the third biggest city respectfully in Canada and the US don't have faith in the bid must be unheard of.

[MonctonRad]

Lights on at the new events centre in downtown Moncton:


from Mayor Dawn Arnold's FB page

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Lights on at the new events centre in downtown Moncton:

Congratulations ... it looks great!

[esquire]

^ Agreed.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

United 2026 Bid Book is out - http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/...available.html

Looks like BMO would be expanded to 45,500 for the tournament

Edmonton capacity at 56,418 and Montreal at 55,822

[JHikka]

Commonwealth - 56,418
Luxury Suite Quantity - 22
Luxury Suite Capacity - 328
Club Seats - 0
Less Seat Kills (VIP & Media Tribune) - 5,946
Forecasted FWC Capacity - 50,472

Olympic Stadium - 55,822
Luxury Suite Quantity - 34
Luxury Suite Capacity - 1,161
Club Seats - 0
Less Seat Kills (VIP & Media Tribune) - 5,917
Forecasted FWC Capacity - 49,905

BMO Field - 45,500
Luxury Suite Quantity - 45
Luxury Suite Capacity - 1,078
Club Seats - 0
Less Seat Kills (VIP & Media Tribune) - 5,400
Forecasted FWC Capacity - 40,100

The Canadian stadiums are the only stadiums without club seating in the bid. Guessing BMO's expansion would be temporary seating in the North End.

Total Hotel Rooms in 2026:
Edmonton - 6,263
Montreal - 14,779
Toronto - 33,158

The next fewest hotel rooms to Edmonton is Baltimore with 9,241. Montreal has a similar number to Monterrey and Philadelphia. Toronto is similar to Atlanta and Washington DC.

All Canadian locations are being projected until the Round of 16.

[esquire]

With all of the renovations that Commonwealth Stadium has had over the years, I'm surprised that it only has 22 suites.

[EpicPonyTime]

I'm curious why they allot more media/VIP seats to Commonwealth than Olympic or BMO. I can't imagine Edmonton would get the more important games over the other two.

[osmo]

Canada easily has the worst venues as part of this bid package, which is quite sad. Commonwealth, which is our best pure soccer stadium in Canada is likely just behind Estadio Chivas which was recently renovated. BMO Field is the worst venue of them all by a mile.

This WC was a missed opportunity to boost up Canadian stadium infrastructure. I am not sure how liberal you get with renovations for this since Canada (and Mexico) has such a minor part of the overall USA dominated bid.

Also, very strange to see Chicago, not in the mix.

Morrocco appears to be going in with 13 venues, some as small as 20k seats. Ironically, in knowing that, Canada could of likely bid on this by itself with a host of venues nationwide that could meet that minimum.

[king10]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

I'm curious why they allot more media/VIP seats to Commonwealth than Olympic or BMO. I can't imagine Edmonton would get the more important games over the other two.

pretty sure its a % of total capacity and since Edm is slightly larger capacity than MTL it has a higher % of Media/VIP.

I'm surprised MTL is so low in terms of capacity. If they wanted they could fit 70,000 seats but I'm guessing they're downsizing a bit as there will be very few events in the future requiring 70,000.

[king10]

Originally Posted by osmo

Canada easily has the worst venues as part of this bid package, which is quite sad. Commonwealth, which is our best pure soccer stadium in Canada is likely just behind Estadio Chivas which was recently renovated. BMO Field is the worst venue of them all by a mile.

This WC was a missed opportunity to boost up Canadian stadium infrastructure. I am not sure how liberal you get with renovations for this since Canada (and Mexico) has such a minor part of the overall USA dominated bid.

Also, very strange to see Chicago, not in the mix.

Morrocco appears to be going in with 13 venues, some as small as 20k seats. Ironically, in knowing that, Canada could of likely bid on this by itself with a host of venues nationwide that could meet that minimum.

How do you come to that conclusion? Commonwealth has a massive track around it that puts fans tens of metres away from the action. It's the worst pure soccer venue of the 3 being submitted, because its not a pure soccer venue.... it's an athletics venue. BMO field is the best pure soccer venue because its a soccer specific stadium aka pure soccer venue.

Maybe you meant best stadium amenities, but that doesn't mean best pure soccer stadium.

Chicago is not in the mix because like Vancouver they did not submit to FIFA's demands.

Also not sure where you're getting the Morocco 20K seat venues. They're all planned to be over 40K with 14 stadiums not 13.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by king10

How do you come to that conclusion? Commonwealth has a massive track around it that puts fans tens of metres away from the action. It's the worst pure soccer venue of the 3 being submitted, because its not a pure soccer venue.... it's an athletics venue. BMO field is the best pure soccer venue because its a soccer specific stadium aka pure soccer venue.

Maybe you meant best stadium amenities, but that doesn't mean best pure soccer stadium.

Chicago is not in the mix because like Vancouver they did not submit to FIFA's demands.

Also not sure were you're getting the Morocco 20K seat venues. They're all planned to be over 40K.

I was at once for this and now, I'm totally against it. Morocco will win the bid because they are willing to pad the pockets of FIFA which is such a corrupt organization. It would be one thing if it were a joint bid between the US and Canada where the majority of Canadian cities could have the opportunity to host games. But ten games split between 3 cities- the cost of putting this on will far outweigh the revenue that they will pull in. I would even be surprised if the FIFA delegates vote in favour of the joint bid- it already sounds like in the media that the voting parties favour Morocco.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Jammon

I was at once for this and now, I'm totally against it. Morocco will win the bid because they are willing to pad the pockets of FIFA which is such a corrupt organization. It would be one thing if it were a joint bid between the US and Canada where the majority of Canadian cities could have the opportunity to host games. But ten games split between 3 cities- the cost of putting this on will far outweigh the revenue that they will pull in. I would even be surprised if the FIFA delegates vote in favour of the joint bid- it already sounds like in the media that the voting parties favour Morocco.

Agreed. Originally I was all for Canada hosting. But when it was revealed we would only get 10 games my opinion soured. It really is a colossal collapse because North America was the front runner to host for so long and just recently Morocco seems to have overtaken North America as the favorite.

If we make a play in the future at least half the games should be played in Canada to make it worthwhile.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by king10

I'm surprised MTL is so low in terms of capacity. If they wanted they could fit 70,000 seats but I'm guessing they're downsizing a bit as there will be very few events in the future requiring 70,000.

Good point re MTL, in recent years they've added temporary seating to bump total capacity up to ~70,000 for major events. I don't get why they wouldn't do that for the World Cup... the one endzone near the jumbotron has room for a huge temporary grandstand.

[Vixx]

I love soccer, always have, but bending over to FIFA, one of the most corrupt international organizations, bullshit demands makes me wonder what compelled the CSA to go in on this joint bid.

I seriously wonder what it is Canada will get out of 10 (likely just group stage matches) apart from a high security bill. I wouldn't even be surprised if Morocco gets this one either, even though they are not even remotely capable of hosting a full blown World Cup tournament without filling some high up officials' pockets.

If Canada were serious, we would've went at this one solo or maybe teamed up with just the United States to give us some infrastructure relief and support.