Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

It's crazy to think what Saskatoon is spending downtown on an arena and convention centre. That is some serious cash. Seems Saskatoon and Regina are much more ambitious than a lot of the Ontario cities that have greater populations. Maybe it is a combination of Ontario being so "Toronto-centric" and the smaller cities thinking they have to be less ambitious "because we are not Toronto". I compare London as the Grand Rapids type city. Grand Rapids is 2.5 hours from Detroit and London is similar distance to Toronto. Yet Grand Rapids is far more ambitious with building attractions, sports facilities, etc.

I wouldn't call it ambitious. I would call it crazy. Both cities have good bones but, there's alot they could do for less monetary incentives to be more attractive than going the sports and convention center route. One is so overvalued right now and the other is overbuilt.

Que the stadium whores...

[someone123]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I wouldn't call it ambitious. I would call it crazy. Both cities have good bones but, there's alot they could do for less monetary incentives to be more attractive than going the sports and convention center route. One is so overvalued right now and the other is overbuilt.

There has to be some discussion of financing and it depends on contributions from levels of government or tenants.

I don't know all the details for the Saskatoon project but the $1B seems to be for the mixed-use development, not $1B for a sports building. Also worth noting that you increasingly see "sticker prices" which include long-term operating expenses (for say a 30 year period). Nothing wrong with that but it needs to be thought of differently and isn't comparable to capital spending numbers alone.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I wouldn't call it ambitious. I would call it crazy. Both cities have good bones but, there's alot they could do for less monetary incentives to be more attractive than going the sports and convention center route. One is so overvalued right now and the other is overbuilt.

Que the stadium whores...

I think it's completely bonkers considering they already built an NHL capacity arena for their WHL team.

While I do think Saskatchewan could actually support an NHL if they called them the Saskatchewan Roughriders, I don't think the NHL will ever embrace the idea.