Halifax Stadium Discussion

[MaritimeCFLFan]

Originally Posted by downtowndawn

Have submitted the model and requested a trust fund be setup

Great News!

What type of model was submitted?

Hopefully council will vote to proceed. My only suggestion is that this is done right the first time. Let's think about this for the long term possibilities and not just for the Women's World Cup.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by downtowndawn

Have submitted the model and requested a trust fund be setup

Thank you Councillor Sloane. I have also sent a private message. I appreciate all the effort that you have put into this.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Do you mean the model that Fenwick brought when he visited, or another model?

That model was quite simple - but I can do better with help from contacts in the Toronto area. It sounds like the city doesn't have much time for this - I have already spent many hours of my time on this stadium concept over the past year (almost all of my spare time). So if I can help in any way, then I would gladly do so for free. I majored in Chemical Engineering so I have some basic understanding of structural design. However, I have been spending some of my spare time on the internet researching which engineering companies are specializing in stadium design and construction. If I can help the municipality by contacting these engineering companies then I will gladly do so.

[-Harlington-]

Originally Posted by downtowndawn

Have submitted the model and requested a trust fund be setup

amazing news, would great to see something needed and big get done in halifax

[beyeas]

On the upside, there may be a beneficial confluence of things here: FIFA bid and rumblings about the need for a new stadium for SMU football.

On the downside, the VERY tight timeline worries me, as Halifax is not known for moving quickly on opportunities, and that in and of itself may be enough to give the naysayers an edge (*insert sarcastic handwringing over the lack of roundtable discussions and sub-committee reports*).

[fenwick16]

I like the type of stadium below (Stanford Stadium). The capacity is much greater than required at 50,000 seats but if you imagine it without the end zones seating, fewer rows along the Grandstand side, stretched out for the CFL, and no upper tier along the other side then it would be about 20,000 seats. Then there would be lots of room for expansion in the future. This stadium, including demolition of their old stadium was built for $90 million dollars and opened 4 years ago - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Stadium . In order to get an idea of how such a large stadium can be built so cheaply then you should check out this YouTube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amWNxBSLGJk . I think that Halifax could get a very nice stadium for $40 - $50 million using the Stanford type of construction method. This is the type of stadium that I was thinking of when I made this 3D model - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTVTTrSHXn8&feature=fvsr . However, even my 3D model shown in the animation is much too big at 31,000 seats. (It has a roof for protection from the rainy Maritime weather.)

[Empire]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I like the type of stadium below (Stanford Stadium). The capacity is much greater than required at 50,000 seats but if you imagine it without the end zones seating, fewer rows along the Grandstand side, stretched out for the CFL, and no upper tier along the other side then it would be about 20,000 seats. Then there would be lots of room for expansion in the future. This stadium, including demolition of their old stadium was built for $90 million dollars and opened 4 years ago - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Stadium . In order to get an idea of how such a large stadium can be built so cheaply then you should check out this YouTube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amWNxBSLGJk . I think that Halifax could get a very nice stadium for $40 - $50 million using the Stanford type of construction method. This is the type of stadium that I was thinking of when I made this 3D model - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTVTTrSHXn8&feature=fvsr . However, even my 3D model shown in the animation is much too big at 31,000 seats. (It has a roof for protection from the rainy Maritime weather.)

This would work well in the Gorsebrook green space, especially with buffer trees surrounding the stadium. A sunken bowl would help mitigate sound as well. I like the Roman Coliseum feature on the west side.

[fenwick16]

GREAT NEWS!! The council voted to continue in its bid to be a host city. I started watching the HRM proceedings on Haligonia.ca a bit late (around 5:30 PM Ontario time or 6:30 PM Atlantic time), so I missed it! The HRM council will vote again in January 2011. "Council will look at the issue again next month after more information is gathered and decide then whether to keep its hat in the ring." It sounds like they will need quite a bit of community support in order to vote in favour again in January 2011.

Did anyone watch the proceedings? Will a stadium building Trust Fund be set up?

(source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9018930.html )

Halifax councillors vote to vie for women's world cup

By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Staff Reporter
Tue, Dec 7 - 6:40 PM

Halifax regional council took a tentative step Tuesday toward becoming one of the host cities for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The Canadian Soccer Association is bidding to host the soccer tournament. It plans to play games in six locations across the country.

Grant MacDonald, of Events Nova Scotia, gave council a breakdown of what it has to do to be considered as a host city. Among the requirements is having a minimum 20,000-seat stadium with a grass or FIFA-approved artificial turf.

The deadline for expressions of interest, which includes a $25,000 non-refundable bid fee, is Dec. 24.

“The timelines do pose some constraints and would require an accelerated approach,” MacDonald said at the committee of the whole meeting.

“Based on this information, it is our recommendation that Halifax ... notify the Canadian Soccer Association that we will not be continuing as a candidate bid city.”

But Coun. Darren Fisher (East Dartmouth – The Lakes) said council should continue the process because “we can’t afford to lose this.”

He called on the municipality to continue its bid to be a host city, and to speed up the process of community consultation and exploration of public and private funding partners.

Initial comments from other councillors were more pro than con and the gap widened when Events Nova Scotia said it would look after the bid fee. The motion passed easily.

Council will look at the issue again next month after more information is gathered and decide then whether to keep its hat in the ring.

If Halifax is chosen, it will need to commit to providing the stadium and other required facilities. It will also need to commit $250,000 in in-kind funding for things like security and ground transportation and $2 million in corporate, government and community support.

FIFA will choose a host country in March 2011. If Canada is selected, the Canadian Soccer Association will choose the host cities within 12 months.

MacDonald said after the meeting that Halifax “has a very real shot at this” because at this time only eight cities have expressed an interest in hosting games.

He said Events Nova Scotia has been working on the bid process for months, attended a bid information session and is working with the local soccer community.

Asked how he felt now that the municipality wanted to go forward, he said: “I feel like I’m late for work because we have a significant amount of work to do in a very short period of time. But, we feel confident we’ll be able to engage the public as well as stakeholder groups so we can have an informed discussion about whether this is right for Halifax and right for Nova Scotia.”

The Canadian bid would see seven games played in each of the host cities over 10 days, with players and officials in the city for a total of 17 days.

[-Harlington-]

Fantastic, cant wait to see where this goes

[thurmas]

I hope you guys get this I want to see Halifax join the cfl already so they can lose to my Blue Bombers good luck guys!

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by thurmas

I hope you guys get this I want to see Halifax join the cfl already so they can lose to my Blue Bombers good luck guys!

We will have to hold off on our Blue Bombers bashing until Halifax has a CFL team. Hopefully it will become a reality in the not too distant future.

[MaritimeCFLFan]

Excellent News!

HRM Councillors lets see this through.

[hfx_chris]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

We will have to hold off on our Blue Bombers bashing...

Difficult...to do...
Must... say something... about... Bombers'... performance...

[fenwick16]

In an allnovascotia.com story, Mayor Kelly was quoted as stating after the council meeting tonight that a 20,000 seat stadium could cost upwards of $40 million. Based on the cost of recently built stadiums at the US university level, this could build a very decent stadium. This is about double the cost of the Moncton Stadium which has 20,000 seats but 10,000 are temporary. So it sounds reasonable that $40 million could build 20,000 permanent seats with permanent washrooms. It will depend on how much of that amount goes into providing parking.

As an example, the Columbus Crew Stadium below was built for $28.5 million dollars in 1999 (that was 11 years ago, so there would be some inflation). It would be good to see something with a roof at least over the sideline stands though.

( http://the270.com/2007/06/30/columbus-from-above/ )

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by hfx_chris

Difficult...to do...
Must... say something... about... Bombers'... performance...

At least they have a team. So what is there to say? 4 wins is better than not even having a chance to win one.

PS: Are you saying that their performance was sputtering?

It was also stated in the article that one option might be to upgrade Huskies Stadium. The story stated that staff will examine that and other options and report back in the new year.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by hfx_chris

Difficult...to do...
Must... say something... about... Bombers'... performance...

Wow - I didn't know William Shatner posted in this forum?

$40 million isn't too bad. Plus considering the economy is stalling; perhaps the government might consider some additional stimulus. I doubt it, but we'll see.

[MaritimeCFLFan]

What exactly will $40 mil get us? Please lets do this right.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by MaritimeCFLFan

What exactly will $40 mil get us? Please lets do this right.

It could be quite nice. The one below was built for $61.6 million (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfoCision_Stadium_%E2%80%93_Summa_Field) and seats 27,000 with a very impressive media centre that also contains 80,000 square feet of academic space. This link give a good description - http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/2009/06/notes-from-my-tour-of-infocision-stadium/. So $40 million could get Halifax the start of a very good stadium.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Did anyone watch the proceedings? Will a stadium building Trust Fund be set up?

This was done "in camera", so it was not a public debate. All I know is what was in the ANS article.

[ATL Stadium]

My congratulations to HRM Council for the positive move in continuing on in the FIFA Host city bid process. The min requirement of 20,000 seat stadium should put us in a 25-30,000 seat ask position. Which would certainly bring the doors wide open for a CFL interest. Of course for the CFL puzzle pieces to come in place we will have to be watchful of the other cities in the same line up.