Halifax Stadium Discussion

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I do have to wonder why an executive from Atlantic Loto, who is a public servant in an organization that Nova Scotia helps govern, is involved in this.

Atlantic Lotto is a crown corporation thus Scrimshaw is not a public servant per se. Also, I imagine he is doing this on his own time...........

re: the Edmonton Sun article, I think the writer has done an excellent job encapsulating the situation here. If you want the CFL, you really gotta want it!!

It does not appear that the HRM council wants it. Moncton meanwhile is making a strong case for a CFL team and is developing regional allies in it's cause (like in PEI with the idea of a CFL practice and team BBQ).

I don't get the impression that there is much vision in HRM council. The motto in Moncton meanwhile is "We may be second, but we try harder".

[fenwick16]

According to this news story the first Touchdown Atlantic scheduled for Moncton is a sell out. It took 32 hours to sell the 20,000 tickets. http://www.timescolonist.com/Touchdown+Atlantic+already+sellout/2726482/story.html

Touchdown Atlantic already a sellout

Canwest News ServiceMarch 25, 2010 3:41 PM

MONCTON, N.B. — The Canadian Football League’s first regular-season foray into Atlantic Canada is guaranteed of a sellout.

The public sale of tickets for Scotiabank Touchdown Atlantic, featuring the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos on Sept. 26, sold out in 32 hours.

“Apart from a small number of tickets that have been held for minor football associations and bus trips from out of town, the game has sold out, and it has sold out in virtually no time at all,’’ CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said in a statement.

A capacity crowd of more than 20,000 is expected at the new Stade Moncton Stadium on the campus of the Universite de Moncton.

More than 13,000 tickets were sold Wednesday during a one-day pre-sale available to fans who registered in advance online. Thousands more were purchased on Thursday.

The original Touchdown Atlantic featured the Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats in an exhibition game in Halifax on June 11, 2005. That game at 11,000-seat Huskies Stadium at St. Mary’s University was also a sellout
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

[Empire]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

According to this news story the first Touchdown Atlantic scheduled for Moncton is a sell out. It took 32 hours to sell the 20,000 tickets. http://www.timescolonist.com/Touchdown+Atlantic+already+sellout/2726482/story.html

If Jennifer Watts wants to ban concerts on the commons then perhaps she can publicly state whether she is for or against a stadium......When she says against I would assume her credibility would drop to zero.

[hfx_chris]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

According to this news story the first Touchdown Atlantic scheduled for Moncton is a sell out. It took 32 hours to sell the 20,000 tickets. http://www.timescolonist.com/Touchdown+Atlantic+already+sellout/2726482/story.html

Damnit. I completely forgot about that, I wanted tickets.

[MaritimeCFLFan]

I managed to pick up end zone tickets.

[Empire]

I assume this clip from the SMU Journal is a bad April fools day joke?

Pg. 12
SMU Journal

Huskies Football
Program
Cancelled

“Randy” Andy Johnson
Sports Editor

In a huge blow to the SMU community,
the Huskies Football team
has been disbanded after 50 years of
dominance in the Atlantic University
Football Conference. Despite
being the winners of 23 AUS football
championships, the university is determined
to cancel the program.
Citing growing concerns over the
academic performance of the athletes,
lowered entrance standards, damages
caused by rowdy football fans to university
facilities, and a fear of being
unable to compete with the new football
team being fielded by Dalhousie
University, SMU administration has
cancelled the football program indefinitely.
Football players have been offered
an ultimatum by university officials;
the players will be allowed to reapply
to SMU to be accepted under regular
academic acceptance requirements or
they can apply to other universities
with a letter of recommendation from
the SMU administration.
Though there has been mass outcry
from students, staff and alumni, the
administration has stuck to their guns
and will not be allowing the football
team to reform anytime soon. The
money that was previously funnelled
to the football program will be reassigned
to other university programs
and into the creation of new varsity
teams. The new varsity teams to be
created with the football funding will
include a competitive ball room dance
team and a division 1 croquet team.
In the week following the administrations
decision, SMU enrolment has
dropped 600% and continues to fall
precipitously. In an interview with
the Vice President of Administration
Gabrielle Morrison the university is
not concerned with the drop in enrolment.
“We are trying to cater to
the students who are focused on their
studies and are looking to discourage
the students who are only here to create
a nuisance. SMU needs to loose
it’s image of a party school and take
on a role as a responsible and serious
education facility.”
Following the university’s decision
I met with several unnamed students
“This is a bullshit decision” says one
particularly disturbed student “can’t
they see that the Football team is the
only thing that draws people to this
school?” Under the leadership of the
“Pit Crew”, a group of self-proclaimed
football fanatics started a loud
chant of “BULLSHIT” that has been
ongoing outside the administrations
offices for the past week.
We interviewed the former Huskies
head coach Steve Sumarah who is not
too worried about his future. “I was
just doing this gig for the fun of it,
my heart hasn’t been in it since Erik
[Glavic] left the team. From here I’m
going to go back to my real job selling
used cars for O’Regans.”
With the removal of SMU from the
AUS Football Conference a new dominant
team will be found. All indications
are that St. FX will take over
the title of Best in the East and Team
to Beat, however, the Acadia Axemen
are likely to succeed since they won’t
be getting the crap kicked out of them
by the Huskies.
This has been a dark week in SMU
history. Students, staff, alumni, and
football fans, this is the last time you
will ever see the words, “SMU Football
Team,” in print in The Journal.

[Wishblade]

^Arent they a little early with it?

[-Harlington-]

that better be a joke, i dont think people will find particularly funny.

[cormiermax]

It cant be true.

[beyeas]

"The new varsity teams to be
created with the football funding will
include a competitive ball room dance
team and a division 1 croquet team."

That statement in and of itself shows that this is certainly a joke, and obviously is intended for the issue that straddles April 1.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by beyeas

"The new varsity teams to be
created with the football funding will
include a competitive ball room dance
team and a division 1 croquet team."

That statement in and of itself shows that this is certainly a joke, and obviously is intended for the issue that straddles April 1.

It's a bad joke at best, after all SMU has a stadium to reburbish.

Dal joins Atlantic football league
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Sports/1173902.html

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Empire

It's a bad joke at best.

Dal joins Atlantic football league
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Sports/1173902.html

I hope that Dalhousie will eventually consider joining the CIAU again.

[MaritimeCFLFan]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I hope that Dalhousie will eventually consider joining the CIAU again.

I beleive this is the first step to becoming a part of the CIAU again.

[hfx_chris]

When I started to read that my heart skipped a few beats...

[reddog794]

If this happens, I might consider finishing my degree back at Dal again! Shoot, I've gotta call Spook!

I'm shaking I'm so happy with the news.

Wickwire and the surrounding environs, Memorial Arena, and Studly Gym, make for a large athletic footprint, big enough for a collegiate stadium of say 15k+...

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by reddog794

If this happens, I might consider finishing my degree back at Dal again! Shoot, I've gotta call Spook!

I'm shaking I'm so happy with the news.

Wickwire and the surrounding environs, Memorial Arena, and Studly Gym, make for a large athletic footprint, big enough for a collegiate stadium of say 15k+...

Dalhousie certainly has a lot more money in its endowment fund than SMU. Hopefully they will show an interest in CIAU football and construct a stadium (its unlikely at this point but who knows what will happen in the next few years).

[fenwick16]

The new Central Library is being designed and will soon be built. Someone in the HRM council championed that cause and managed to arrange funding. Now will Mayor Kelly or one of the councillors champion this cause (building a stadium) and see that it gets built? Who was the driving force behind the new Central Library (was it Councillor Uteck?). Does someone know? Maybe that person can champion the stadium cause.

[MaritimeCFLFan]

There is news today that the previously proposed new stadium in Winnipeg will proceed and be ready for the 2012 CFL season. I am very happy to see that there is a will somewhere in this country to make things happen. Perhaps our politicians in Halifax can learn a thing or two from whats being done in Winnipeg. The stadium will have 33,000 permanent seats and be expandable to 40,000. Also can be covered in the winter and used year round. The price tag is not that bad either.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/2010/03/31/mb-bomber-stadium-winnipeg.html?ref=rss

[Empire]

Originally Posted by MaritimeCFLFan

There is news today that the previously proposed new stadium in Winnipeg will proceed and be ready for the 2012 CFL season. I am very happy to see that there is a will somewhere in this country to make things happen. Perhaps our politicians in Halifax can learn a thing or two from whats being done in Winnipeg. The stadium will have 33,000 permanent seats and be expandable to 40,000. Also can be covered in the winter and used year round. The price tag is not that bad either.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/2010/03/31/mb-bomber-stadium-winnipeg.html?ref=rss

Maybe send this link to all of the councilors?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

The new Central Library is being designed and will soon be built. Someone in the HRM council championed that cause and managed to arrange funding. Now will Mayor Kelly or one of the councillors champion this cause (building a stadium) and see that it gets built? Who was the driving force behind the new Central Library (was it Councillor Uteck?). Does someone know? Maybe that person can champion the stadium cause.

You probably don't want to use the library as an example because it has been the subject of about 10 studies over a period of 30 years. It was not a quick project by any stretch of the imagination.

I think part of the problem in Halifax is the HRM, but another part is that the city receives very little funding from the province and federal government. In fact, Halifax receives the lowest transfers of any city in Canada. I believe it received the same amount as St. John's for the sewage system, for example, despite the fact that the budget for the Halifax project was something like 3.5 times larger. Not really sure how that situation can be remedied. Hopefully the NDP government in NS will have a bit more of an urban focus. Former governments put a lot of effort into propping up rural areas like Cape Breton when about 2/3 of NSians live relatively close to the city (and probably account for about 80% of tax revenues).

The stadium does seem like a special situation, however. I think Halifax was in a unique situation where it could have gotten a lot of national interest and a lot of federal funding, but it squandered that opportunity with the ruined Commonwealth Games bid. There was federal funding in place ($200M+) and a plan for a stadium roughly on par with the one planned for Winnipeg. Not saying we should have tried hosting $2B games, but I think that Halifax could have gotten something had things been managed properly. The city shoots itself in the foot a lot.