Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[JustForTheHalibut]

Originally Posted by esquire

But if you have a domestic league you run into the issue of where to play the games... unless all the early season games will be played in Windsor, Victoria and Maple Creek until the rest of the country thaws out.

Where is that? what does Maple Creek have for playing soccer that lower mainland doesn't have. Just play games in Langley or Abbotsford or Chilliwack, what have you, if worried about domestic league season stretching into Fall and Spring.

[JustForTheHalibut]

Never mind, I looked it up and of all places, Maple Creek's in Saskatchewan average day time temperature for this month is like only one degree off from Victoria's or Windsor, ON. temp for November.

[JHikka]

League of Legends Worlds 2022 locations have been confirmed:

Play-ins at Liga Latinoamerica Arena in Mexico City
Groups & QFs at Hulu Theatre at MSG in New York City
Semifinals at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
Finals at Chase Center in San Francisco

https://www.upcomer.com/riot-announc...a-and-the-usa/

First time the event takes place in Mexico and Canada.

[esquire]

It took a while, but the NY Islanders finally have a new forever home. UBS Arena opened last week. It looks nice, it's pretty much what I'd expect for a new rink in 2021. Here are some pics from Twitter:

[Berklon]

I really like the exterior of UBS. Using a brick facade gives it a much warmer and traditional look - which is why I also liked American Airlines Center (Dallas Stars arena).

The interior looks good, but if you take away the Islander-specific stuff, the colour of the seats and the scoreboard - then I'd have a hard time telling most arena interiors apart.

Was never a fan of the ceiling rafters of arena. More arenas need to take a page out of MSGs ceiling. Looks fantastic, feels more intimate and allows for better concert sound. Gives it more of a concert hall feel.

[Brisket17]

The exterior and concourse levels of UBS looks great, though the seating bowl does nothing for me - it looks like a more modern Nassau Coliseum (which I'm sure that was the intent). But the shade of blue on the seats just looks dull, and upper level seating seems to be recessed further away from the ice.

Watching last night's game, I couldn't take my eyes off the metal railing guards in the corner seating near ice level - I assume it's due to the retractable seating but I can't recall seeing another arena where those guards stuck out like sore thumbs.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Brisket17

The exterior and concourse levels of UBS looks great, though the seating bowl does nothing for me - it looks like a more modern Nassau Coliseum (which I'm sure that was the intent). But the shade of blue on the seats just looks dull, and upper level seating seems to be recessed further away from the ice.

Watching last night's game, I couldn't take my eyes off the metal railing guards in the corner seating near ice level - I assume it's due to the retractable seating but I can't recall seeing another arena where those guards stuck out like sore thumbs.

Vegas' arena is similar.

[JHikka]

The new arena in Pittsburgh has a similar railing setup but UBS looks less intrusive along the aisles.

The difference is that for Pens broadcasts that corner is bottom right, but for Isles it's top left.

[esquire]

What's interesting to me about the latest generation of rinks, basically the ones built within the last decade or so, is how gigantic the interior spaces are. In terms of seating capacity they typically aren't much bigger than the venues that preceded them, but in terms of sheer interior volume they are enormous. It looks as though you could plunk Nassau Coliseum right inside UBS Arena.

One impact of this is that the upper level seats look way higher than they used to be.

[JHikka]

Since we're on the subject of comparable new builds and what we could be doing in Canada, here's the new arena in Tampere, Finland:









13,455 capacity for hockey, 50+ suites, built atop existing rail lines and near a VR Station which is Finland's regional rail service provider. Arena opens this weekend. Cost roughly $180M CAD.

[esquire]

^ Very nice. $180M is way lower than what I would expect for the cost of a building like that in Europe.

The interior reminds me a bit of CLC, but the exterior looks very chic. Why does that one side rise so high?

[JHikka]

I'm guessing the raised section is the hotel.

https://nokiaarena.fi/en/arena-services/

Fun fact: this arena was designed by Daniel Libeskind, who also designed the ROM addition and the L Tower here in Toronto.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by esquire

One would hope.

Maybe my expectations are just heightened because it's Calgary and they are known for somewhat splashy buildings. But between the fieldhouse proposal for the Stampeders and now this thing for the Flames, Calgary is responsible for two of the biggest clunkers we've seen among Canadian arena and stadium proposals in recent decades.

Agreed. What Field House design are you referring to? The old mega complex design in West Village for the Stamps and Flames?

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by JHikka

https://twitter.com/brent_bellamy/st...44185182359556

We traded an iconic roofline for an HP printer.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Agreed. What Field House design are you referring to? The old mega complex design in West Village for the Stamps and Flames?

Yeah, the one that included a terrible football stadium proposal next to the arena.

[WhipperSnapper]

Islanders Home.

OMG. What a tacky facade especially given its suburban context.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Since we're on the subject of comparable new builds and what we could be doing in Canada, here's the new arena in Tampere, Finland:









13,455 capacity for hockey, 50+ suites, built atop existing rail lines and near a VR Station which is Finland's regional rail service provider. Arena opens this weekend. Cost roughly $180M CAD.

Thats a gorgeous facility and such value too

[craner]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is that DT Toronto/Bloor/North York in the background ?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by esquire

What's interesting to me about the latest generation of rinks, basically the ones built within the last decade or so, is how gigantic the interior spaces are. In terms of seating capacity they typically aren't much bigger than the venues that preceded them, but in terms of sheer interior volume they are enormous. It looks as though you could plunk Nassau Coliseum right inside UBS Arena.

One impact of this is that the upper level seats look way higher than they used to be.

In a recent podcast, Tim Lewiecke, whose company built UBS as well as rebuilt the Seattle arena, said that in Seattle, the new arena is basically double the volume of the original Key Arena. Which is impressive when you consider that they used the same roof, but entirely rebuilt the rest of it under the roof. I think part of is the stacking of multiple tiers of seating. 4 levels most of the way around at UBS adds to the interior space, even though they also tried to keep the roof low like the Nassau Coliseum. I think the seating is also spread out more. Some of those UBS pictures, the rows look quite spacious, and not just the premium seating along the sides. Not to mention suites and lounges and whatever other things they come up with the separate people from their money instead of them just sitting there and, you know, watch a bloody hockey game lol.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

In a recent podcast, Tim Lewiecke, whose company built UBS as well as rebuilt the Seattle arena, said that in Seattle, the new arena is basically double the volume of the original Key Arena. Which is impressive when you consider that they used the same roof, but entirely rebuilt the rest of it under the roof. I think part of is the stacking of multiple tiers of seating. 4 levels most of the way around at UBS adds to the interior space, even though they also tried to keep the roof low like the Nassau Coliseum. I think the seating is also spread out more. Some of those UBS pictures, the rows look quite spacious, and not just the premium seating along the sides. Not to mention suites and lounges and whatever other things they come up with the separate people from their money instead of them just sitting there and, you know, watch a bloody hockey game lol.

Fun to consider that UBS has 3-4K less total capacity than arenas like the United Center and Bell Centre. I've sat in the nosebleeds in Montreal and i'm wondering how much closer the nosebleeds are at UBS by comparison.