Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Just calling you out mate on your original statement. No all new stadiums are not designed for stadium views. You want to make that statement i will call you out.

Your definition of view needs to be explained. A window in a wall has a view, yep. View of an outhouse is still a view, stating that all new stadiums are designed for views, is pure BS. Called you on it.

My take on this whole argument is… the primary function of a window or exposure to the outside is to enable the stadium to have an outdoor sense by letting in natural light, not for a view. If the building can leverage a particular view, then great, if there is nothing of significance to view, then whatever. It’s primary function is to utilize natural light, and have somewhat of an outdoor effect within an enclosed stadium.

[Dalreg]

No argument from me. Just calling out false statements. Views from a stadium are nice, but not the driving force in architecture or design of said stadiums in most cases. Baseball seems to embrace stadium views more so than football stadiums. But not each and every new stadium.

[northernlights99]

I've been to AT&T Stadium for two games, Cowboys beat the Giants and lost to Green Bay, couldn't believe how many Packers fans were there.

That Stadium has so much glass its incredible ! At night from a distance the building really looks spectacular.

It took over two hours for the parking lots to clear out. Very awkward to get there by transit in fact Arlington has no public transit.

That Stadium was 100 % paid for by tax bonds, the city of Arlington owns it.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Denscity

In BC heavy industry is considered very ugly and is the last thing people want to see.
And the escarpment is flat on top and bottom so what is there to see?

Depends on one's perspective.

The escarpment is part of Hamiton's "bones", as is heavy industry... So it's simple to criticize, but we appreciate them both.

For me, the only view that really matters is of the field.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Views of the city / surrounding geography definitely matter more for ballparks than football stadiums.

Still think it makes more sense to upgrade BC place and get a natural turf field. Surely the Whitecaps Football Club can get a better deal on concessions and other grievances. . .

Vancouver’s clearly big enough to build a second soccer stadium, but land is very scarce right? Building a new stadium would make sense to me if it was for an NFL expansion team, or the MLS reaches the same level of the European football leagues. Since neither of those things seem likely to happen anytime soon, I think building an MLB ready ballpark for the Vancouver Canadians would be a better idea for the city than a new “soccer specific stadium”… since getting an MLB team is a somewhat realistic aspiration for Canada’s most popular city.

[trueviking]

I'm sorry for the ignorance, but where in Vancouver is the proposed site for the new stadium?

edit....never mind. I googled it. Nice spot.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by trueviking

I'm sorry for the ignorance, but where in Vancouver is the proposed site for the new stadium?

edit....never mind. I googled it. Nice spot.

Nice spot for views and highway access, but there is not a ton of parking and transit is lacking, but we will see what happens

[Nite]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Views of the city / surrounding geography definitely matter more for ballparks than football stadiums.

Still think it makes more sense to upgrade BC place and get a natural turf field. Surely the Whitecaps Football Club can get a better deal on concessions and other grievances. . .

Vancouver’s clearly big enough to build a second soccer stadium, but land is very scarce right? Building a new stadium would make sense to me if it was for an NFL expansion team, or the MLS reaches the same level of the European football leagues. Since neither of those things seem likely to happen anytime soon, I think building an MLB ready ballpark for the Vancouver Canadians would be a better idea for the city than a new “soccer specific stadium”… since getting an MLB team is a somewhat realistic aspiration for Canada’s most popular city.

In terms or revenue and attendance, MLS is far beyond most European leagues.

[TorontoDrew]

What became of this?

Sold: BC Place air-rights – $505 million

Source: https://goodmanreport.com/market-insights/sold-bc-place-airspace-rights/

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

What became of this?

Sold: BC Place air-rights – $505 million

Source: https://goodmanreport.com/market-insights/sold-bc-place-airspace-rights/

To answer your question, please re-check the date of the listing.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by logan5

The City intends to lease the land to the Whitecaps for 99 years to build not only a stadium, but an entertainment district. That's 50 acres of land that the Whitecaps will control - 10 acres for a very large stadium, and 40 acres that they can use to finance the stadium by drawing commercial, and residential development, making the whole enterprise much more profitable than if it was just building a stadium and nothing else. Maybe Daryl Katz would want to be a partner here. That 40 acres can accommodate a lot of development. This is no bluff.

The valuation of the Whitecaps would go up significantly if they had their own arena, which would offset a huge portion of the cost for the stadium, with the potential of the team value going up to over a billion dollars in the not too distant future. A lot of money to be made for whoever buys into the Whitecaps and the new entertainment district.

You don't need Daryl Katz. There's many multi-millionaires and billionaires that would gladly build a stadium with taxpayer's money and a new office tower anchored by the city. Entertainment District is so overdone selling taxpayers on these hand outs. Come up with something more original and less on consumerism.

[Coldrsx]

[northernlights99]

I'm puzzled how a Stadium of Rogers size only holds 44,000

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by northernlights99

I'm puzzled how a Stadium of Rogers size only holds 44,000

As originally constructed it held over 50,000. They did almost 53k for the MLB All Star game in 1991, over 54k for the 1989 Grey Cup and over 55k for an exhibition Bills-Cowboys game in the 90's. Not to mention many events with on floor seating. I was at Wrestlemania in 1990 with over 67k, and they topped that with another Wrestlemania years later. A Billy Graham thing had over 72k in the place, I can imagine the washroom lineups for that lol.

It isn't hard to see where the space went when you look inside it though. If the seating bowl completely wrapped around the outfield, you would have several thousand more seats. I'm sure the Jays wished they had that capacity in the first few years but it would have been completely wasted space for much of the history of the dome. The renovations made the last few years have really improved the place even with the lower capacity. I've been in there several times the last few years and as a larger stature guy 6'5 260, it is really noticeable how much better it is. Especially on the lower bowl that was completely rebuilt. The upper deck has new wider seats but still the original tight legroom, while the lower seats are wider and the rows have more space between them. More spacious seats means fewer seats. Plus the removal of several sections in the outfield reduces seating capacity. I think the official baseball seating capacity is just over 39k (at least that's what Ticketmaster says when you look up tickets). But that new outfield, on all levels, attracts the fans now, where as previously it would be empty out there unless the game was sold out. You now have thousands of people spending 20 bucks to stand out in the party zones or hang out overlooking the bullpens.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Seeing the skeleton of the building without the glass wall on the hotel gives a better scale to the size the place, especially when you realize that the ground floor of the hotel you see here is still well above the playing surface. The bottom 4 floors of hotel rooms are what you see inside the stadium around the videoboard.

[elly63]

This got me to thinking about the SkyDome competition and the early designs. I remember seeing these SkyDome finalists and posted them somewhere. At the time, the Bregman and Hamann design was my favourite followed by the Robbie/Allen design

Anyway, before them was a concept (I believe I saw it in the Globe and Mail) of a fixed roof domed stadium with a ring of windows around the top that could be slid (sic) open to allow ventilation and the pretense of being an outdoor stadium. Does this ring a bell with anyone.

Here are some other proposed Toronto stadium designs, the one I am thinking of is not among them. What I am thinking of is kind of a combination of the first and last design.

[elly63]

• Video Link

[craner]

Haha - gotta love 1980s computer animation.

Thanks for linking to those SkyDome finalists elly.
The Crang & Boake proposal was always my favourite but I think they probably got it right by going with the Robbie/Allen design.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by elly63

Anyway, before them was a concept (I believe I saw it in the Globe and Mail) of a fixed roof domed stadium with a ring of windows around the top that could be slid (sic) open to allow ventilation and the pretense of being an outdoor stadium. Does this ring a bell with anyone.

This kind of looks like what I am thinking of but is not it. Apparently there were around 200 designs in the competition that were narrowed down to the four above. In my mind, unlike the drawing below, the flat, top roof section was fixed and the band of three metal? sections near the top would slide open and close to provide light and airflow, feigning an outdoor stadium. Also having a flashback to what looks like a BVU-800 VCR is the background. It isn't an 800 but is similar.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by craner

The Crang & Boake proposal was always my favourite

The permanent shadow on the field wouldn't have helped that design as it was a fairly important consideration.

Here is the original news conference showing the four finalists.