Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[steve61]

https://cultmtl.com/2024/07/photos-m...ncois-savaria/

[ZeDgE]

New arena in Calgary begins construction on Monday. Renderings will be released also.

https://calgary.citynews.ca/2024/07/...-construction/

[Coldrsx]

Indeed. Expect some significant changes as they previously were putting ~8-9 rows of seats below grade and now are doing the entire lower bowl I am told to put the retail/F&B at grade with a flow-through. Unsure how that works logistically, but that's the word on the street.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by ZeDgE

New arena in Calgary begins construction on Monday. Renderings will be released also.

Wow. No renders before it begins?

Hopefully it will be amazing.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Indeed. Expect some significant changes as they previously were putting ~8-9 rows of seats below grade and now are doing the entire lower bowl I am told to put the retail/F&B at grade with a flow-through. Unsure how that works logistically, but that's the word on the street.

Skydome has the lower bowl all below grade, so that the concourse is street level (at least on the south side of the building, the hotel lobby on level 3 is street level on the north side). The main Jays Shop store is open from inside the stadium but also has an entrance to the outside (closed on event days). I wonder if this is similar to what they are talking about for Calgary, making these in-arena services more available to outside customers. For all the benefits of an arena in a downtown, they are usually big dead zones when no event is happening. I've walked past Budweiser Gardens in London lots of times in the middle of the day or on a Saturday, looked in the windows at that nice restaurant right there on the corner and wondered why they wouldn't be open for lunch or dinner through the week or on a Saturday.

[stefanYEG]

There are lots of rumours currently swirling in Edmonton involving all of Commonwealth, Darryl Katz, the Elks, MLS (this one would surprise me), a new DT stadium just north of Rogers, and the province. I have zero actual info, but there are a lot of breadcrumbs being left out there including from some local sports media. If I were to guess, the start of the new Calgary Events Centre on Monday may be followed by more news up here in the coming weeks. I have absolutely no info beyond that, but it definitely sounds like something is cooking.

[Coldrsx]

^Indeed there is... indeed there is.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by stefanYEG

There are lots of rumours currently swirling in Edmonton involving all of Commonwealth, Darryl Katz, the Elks, MLS (this one would surprise me), a new DT stadium just north of Rogers, and the province. I have zero actual info, but there are a lot of breadcrumbs being left out there including from some local sports media.

Sources, links? I know you said you have no actual info but you must have heard something somewhere

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Skydome has the lower bowl all below grade, so that the concourse is street level (at least on the south side of the building, the hotel lobby on level 3 is street level on the north side). The main Jays Shop store is open from inside the stadium but also has an entrance to the outside (closed on event days). I wonder if this is similar to what they are talking about for Calgary, making these in-arena services more available to outside customers. For all the benefits of an arena in a downtown, they are usually big dead zones when no event is happening. I've walked past Budweiser Gardens in London lots of times in the middle of the day or on a Saturday, looked in the windows at that nice restaurant right there on the corner and wondered why they wouldn't be open for lunch or dinner through the week or on a Saturday.

The Calgary site is flat. The south side of Skydome is closer to grade when it was a train yard and roundhouse. The north side was built up when the stadium was built to bridge over the rail corridor. What is now Cityplace was raised significantly as well.

Katz shopping for another taxpayer funded stadium? Who wouldn't?

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by elly63

Sources, links? I know you said you have no actual info but you must have heard something somewhere

These are multiple rumours and speculation, but much of it makes sense.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

These are multiple rumours and speculation, but much of it makes sense.

Where is it, old ladies in the backyard whispering over clothes lines?

[WhipperSnapper]

A new downtown stadium for a CFL team anchor doesn't make much sense. I could be wrong with respects to MLS. As I remember, the time has come and gone for an affordable expansion fee. Didn't the latest team pay a half billion USD?

[Harrison]

I couldn't see a new stadium being built when Commonwealth functions fine and has the second highest capacity in the country. It just needs some extensive renovations to bring it up to modern standards and maybe moving some stands at the north and south ends closer to the field somehow. Building a completely new stadium seems wasteful, but I know NFL stadiums in the states sometimes only last 20 years until they get replaced.

What I woudl actually want to see is Provincial money matching what Calgary got for the aforementioned Commonwealth renos and to kick-start Ice District 2.0 north of Rogers Place.

[Harrison]

The MLS rumor seems silly since Edmonton could not even support a CPL franchise in FC Edmonton...

[Harrison]

I could totally see Katz buying the Elks and bringing them and the Oilers all under the same umbrella, that would make sense.

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by Harrison

The MLS rumor seems silly since Edmonton could not even support a CPL franchise in FC Edmonton...

Thats what I was thinking.

[elly63]

As much as I didn't want to believe it, Commonwealth apparently had big issues in the eyes of FIFA, and that was one of the reasons why Edmonton was out. A lot of those issues were BS elite issues but they were there nonetheless.

It's too big and lacks the modern amenities (read the Rick LeLecheur stories from November).

There was a plan for a 15k mid size stadium for Edmonton, so maybe that is being revised into something bigger. The debate is whether it is throwing good money after bad to renovate Commonwealth. Unless they can massively reduce capacity and gets seats closer to the field (on top of the track) Commonwealth's goose might be cooked.

I used to argue for Commonwealth on the basis of getting the World Cup but now that time has passed I think so has Commonwealths. In a few years there will be Olympic Stadium begging for big events.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Harrison

The MLS rumor seems silly since Edmonton could not even support a CPL franchise in FC Edmonton...

I think they will retry the CPL with a much better plan

[ericmacm]

MLS is never going to add another team in Canada when there are so many US cities trying to get in. The commissioner himself has previously said that there won’t be anymore Canadian teams.

I can’t find any sources related to these rumours.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by Harrison

I could totally see Katz buying the Elks and bringing them and the Oilers all under the same umbrella, that would make sense.

That's been shot down by a few Edmonton sports media personalities.