Halifax Stadium Discussion

[Jstaleness]

Peter Kelly has mentioned the stadium idea in his facebook post this morning.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Jstaleness

Peter Kelly has mentioned the stadium idea in his facebook post this morning.

That is a good start. It also is good to see Councillor Dawn Sloane listed as one of the ones supporting the idea. It is good to see co-operation within municipal council.

I think at times that Mayor Kelly gets a bad rap - he has done a lot of good things for the HRM. If he can advance the stadium project then he will deserve top marks (just my opinion).

[beyeas]

Moncton Rad: How about you stick to debating facts, rather than attacking a group. I happen to be married to a "south end corporate lawyer", so as far as your snide comment goes: @#$% off. You are not going to win a debate by sneering at others. If you disagree with what someone else has said about Moncton, then answer it with facts. If you can't, then shut up.

Fenwick: My problem with Kelly is that, yes he is now mentioning a stadium etc, but he is doing in reaction to what is going on. The knock on him is not that he is a bad guy (in fact he seems like a genuinely nice person and I am sure he truly does care about the city) but rather than he blows in the wind rather than leads. He is now mentioning a stadium only after having been shocked that the lack of a stadium was an issue. Why was he not out in front on this, rather than reacting afterwards? I want a Mayor who will take the reins and lead the city forward, not be reactive after the fact and making a FB post about a stadium. This is where Moncton has been able to lead Halifax, because they are not simply reacting to what Halifax is done but moving ahead with plans on their own.

[-Harlington-]

peter kelly's facebook status says this today:

A stadium could be a great asset for our community given a sound business plan. Building it would require government participation with your tax dollars. It would also require commitments from private enterprise for the ongoing operation. Clearly, over time, it will be built. How you see this developing?

source: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/mayorpeterkelly

there is alot of people commenting on parking and stupid things, i hope more people encourage him into this stadium idea

[cormiermax]

Lol some of the comments are so stupid (Build more parking downtown first! Repair the metro center! Build an animal shelter! blah blah blah) People these days.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Moncton Rad: How about you stick to debating facts, rather than attacking a group. I happen to be married to a "south end corporate lawyer", so as far as your snide comment goes: @#$% off. You are not going to win a debate by sneering at others. If you disagree with what someone else has said about Moncton, then answer it with facts. If you can't, then shut up.

It was someone123 who was taking potshots at the non-Halifax rural majority in the Maritimes..................I was just offering a rebuttal, sorry if you took offense. My brother in law happens to be a corporate lawyer in Halifax - he just doesn't happen to live in the south end.

What ticks me off is that there are a lot of Haligonian participants on this forum who constantly come up with reasons why they think the CFL wouldn't work in Moncton rather than listing the reasons why they think the CFL would work in Halifax.

Sometimes this negativity can become infectious and I can succumb to it as well.

Stop crapping on Moncton and I'll play nice too!

[cormiermax]

I dont think most people commenting on facebook understand what a multi-purpose stadium is, they keep saying the metro center works fine

[halifaxboyns]

It might be interesting to see two teams in the maritimes - one in Halifax and one in Moncton. You could create a great eastern rivalry (much like the Calgary/Edmonton one) and then have a big game for the September long weekend?

I freely admit I bias to Halifax; I grew up there but live in Calgary now. Personally; if Moncton gets a team - so be it. But I'd like to actually see both have a team, would certainly make things interesting. Plus, I'm not a sports person but the more we talk about it the more I think I'd actually go to games regularly.

[MonctonRad]

My dream would be to have teams in both Moncton and Halifax as well. The catchment areas are dissimilar enough I think it could work. The rivalry would be insane.

It would probably be a hard sell for the CFL though.

[Empire]

I wonder how long a temporary stadium would last? Empire field in BC was built in 3 months for $14.4 million with 27,432 seats.

Empire Stadium
http://inhabitat.com/2010/06/29/vancouver-soccer-field-made-with-22000-recycled-tires/

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=327181

The Lions are expecting close to a sellout for the first regular-season game at Empire Field, the 27,432-seat outdoor facility the team will use this season.

The temporary stadium was built on the site of the old Empire Stadium in East Vancouver for a cost of $14.4 million. The change in venue was necessary because of construction of a new $458-million retractable roof at B.C. Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Empire

I wonder how long a temporary stadium would last? Empire field in BC was built in 3 months for $14.4 million with 27,432 seats.

Empire Stadium
http://inhabitat.com/2010/06/29/vancouver-soccer-field-made-with-22000-recycled-tires/

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=327181

The Lions are expecting close to a sellout for the first regular-season game at Empire Field, the 27,432-seat outdoor facility the team will use this season.

The temporary stadium was built on the site of the old Empire Stadium in East Vancouver for a cost of $14.4 million. The change in venue was necessary because of construction of a new $458-million retractable roof at B.C. Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.

I read about this a couple of days ago. According to this website the cost of $14.4 million was not to buy the stadium but instead to rent it - http://dcnonl.com/article/id38724 . The stadium components were shipped from Switzerland, assembled on site will be kept until the BC Place is complete and then will be dismantled and shipped back to Switzerland.

[brettinhalifax]

account deleted

[DigitalNinja]

I have to laugh at a lot of the comments on his page there.
One guy was commenting about businesses paying for a stadium and that the money spent should go towards welfare!!! LMAO
So it's ok to give to a minority of lazy people who don't want to work. (I know there are some who use it legit but majority not so much.)
The mentality of the people in this province astounds me. I'mma go back to china and live there after university, get away from here.

[MonctonRad]

I feel that we are hijacking the Halifax stadium thread here. Perhaps this discussion should be over on the Maritimes CFL thread.

In any event, there are still more people within one hour of Moncton than there is within one hour of Regina (287,000 vs. 266,000). They have made a franchise work so we might be able to as well.

I have lived in both Moncton and Halifax and I can state from personal experience that Moncton is a better sports town. The Wildcats are a huge draw in the wintertime. They average about 4,800 a game for 34 home games a year. I know that Halifax get's better numbers but on a per capita basis, the attendance in Moncton is much better and is third best in the QMJHL.

The key for football is that it would be major league (therefore a big deal) and there are only nine home dates (regular season) per year. One home game every second weekend is not too onerous a burden and knowing the football culture here in southeastern NB, I think we could easily get over 20,000 people out just from the local (within one hour) market. Add in the CFA's from other parts of the province as well as PEI and northern NS and I think we could boost attendance to an average of 25,000 or so.

I think the Saskatchewan model would work for Moncton. Halifax on the other hand would be a more urban market, like Calgary or Winnipeg. Both are valid.

Let's work on getting two teams in the region!

NS+NB+PEI = 1.85M people
SK+MB = 2.2M people

If the eastern prairies can have two teams then so can we!

[ATL Stadium]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I feel that we are hijacking the Halifax stadium thread here. Perhaps this discussion should be over on the Maritimes CFL thread.

In any event, there are still more people within one hour of Moncton than there is within one hour of Regina (287,000 vs. 266,000). They have made a franchise work so we might be able to as well.

I have lived in both Moncton and Halifax and I can state from personal experience that Moncton is a better sports town. The Wildcats are a huge draw in the wintertime. They average about 4,800 a game for 34 home games a year. I know that Halifax get's better numbers but on a per capita basis, the attendance in Moncton is much better and is third best in the QMJHL.

The key for football is that it would be major league (therefore a big deal) and there are only nine home dates (regular season) per year. One home game every second weekend is not too onerous a burden and knowing the football culture here in southeastern NB, I think we could easily get over 20,000 people out just from the local (within one hour) market. Add in the CFA's from other parts of the province as well as PEI and northern NS and I think we could boost attendance to an average of 25,000 or so.

I think the Saskatchewan model would work for Moncton. Halifax on the other hand would be a more urban market, like Calgary or Winnipeg. Both are valid.

Let's work on getting two teams in the region!

NS+NB+PEI = 1.85M people
SK+MB = 2.2M people

If the eastern prairies can have two teams then so can we!

It would be fantastic to have both Moncton and HRM get CFL teams.....but for both it is the same issue.....I feel Moncton is short on both their stadium size and drawing power....HRM has yet to step up at all....So both need stadiums that are min 25,000 and expandable when needed. It is a requirement of the league......
The comparison to the Riders is difficult.....dont we all wish there was an extremely wealthy owner that just wanted to put a team in Atlantic Canada and had no need or want for any sort of return on their investment....no owner is going to take the risk that any team could draw like the Riders do from those distances......it is the extreme exception.....how long have the Green Riders been around? We are the new guys on the block....

[ATL Stadium]

Having a stadium.....will bring many opportunities.... a CFL team would be hopefully one of those......
Have to have a stadium first!
Stay focused....all this ranting about demographics and drawing power.....lets stay focused on getting a stadium and then see what follows along....

Stadium 25,000 to 30,000 permanent seats
Stadium expandable for larger event(s)
Some sort of cantilevered roof or canopy
Accessible via planes.trains.automobiles
Location with a view.....maybe that is wishful thinking...

[ATL Stadium]

Originally Posted by brettinhalifax

First of all, 680,000 is 9% bigger than 625,000. 9% isn't a wash.



But the bigger difference is the distribution of those 625-680,000 people. 75% of Halifax's 680,000 live under an hour from the stadium. But only 46% of Moncton's 624,000 live under an hour from the stadium. Halifax has a bigger population base to draw from and a much better geographic distribution of the population. IMO that isn't a wash.

According to Dave Naylor, about 85 per cent of Saskatchewan Roughrider season ticket holders live in Regina. That means approximately 10% of Regina residents go to each game. WOW As a comparison, the next smallest market in the CFL is Winnipeg where about 4% of the population goes to each game.

I think there are two ways for a CFL team to succeed in Moncton. They either have to replicate the Riders success and draw extremely heavily from the 1hr radius or they'd have to draw 5% (still an impressive amount of support) from the immediate area and have to count on up to 10,000 making the trip from Halifax/Saint John/Fredericton. But that equates to better regional support than the Riders get.

IMO any CFL business plan that requires replicating Regina's support of the Riders or exceeding Saskatchewan's support for the Riders is an unworkable business plan.

Brett....
STADIUM FIRST!
You are right ......it would be a pipe dream to think anyone could count on creating the same draw the Green Riders have.

The real key number is the immediate population......the comparison Moncton to HRM as unfair.....we could all state that we could from 30 million within a six hour plane ride......the draw power reality is quiet different.....
HRM can honestly say it has a much larger immediate population....but no Stadium.

Until HRM has a stadium.....we are no competition to Moncton...they are courting and the CFL is all wide eyed right now....
But Moncton built too small.....and that is a stumbling block for the CFL....so this is the opportunity of a life time for HRM....!!!!!

[ATL Stadium]

I know many have been barking up HRM council's tree......lets move along to the NDP.....they are socialists lets get them to do something for the people...

Darrell Dexter....

902.424.6600
Fax 902.424.7648
Toll Free 800.267.1993

email [email protected]

Lets give DD some Stadiums requests....

If you leave a message.....tell them "its the Stadium calling....send 50 million"

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It was someone123 who was taking potshots at the non-Halifax rural majority in the Maritimes

It's curious how it seems to be okay to complain about entitled elitists with lattes in Halifax (who only want to sabotage Moncton and so on) but inappropriate to talk about the economics in different markets.

The real issue here is that the urban areas in the Maritimes are growing more and have higher incomes. In the Halifax area there is more growth and more money to be spent on things like stadiums and marketing deals with sports teams. The rural areas over a 20-30 year period are going to lose more population and they have older, poorer residents somewhat less likely to participate in things like CFL games. That's not a potshot, it's just the way it is.

My opinion is still that the stadium issue in Halifax was set back mainly by the Commonwealth Games bid. That was 5 years ago now so we might start to see some renewed interest from governments once the current round of capital projects is done. If the stadium happens it should be of CFL caliber (plus good for a variety of other events so that it is well-used and accessible to the public) and a team will very likely follow.

As for stadium location, I would prefer to see it on the peninsula or in a similarly central area easy to serve with transit. I don't think there's much benefit to putting it on a highway. Whenever we've seen serious bids for infrastructure like this in Halifax it is almost always located in the core.

[-Harlington-]

Peter kelly changed his status to where should the stadium be built?
and thank go he did because the comments on the last one were really starting to piss me off because of the stupidity of some people in this city, at least this time we are getting more positive comments most of which say build it far from the city or shannon park
but hey, at least were getting somewhere
i hope we can get some more positive comments on there to show that halifax really wants this!