Stadiums and Arenas of Canada

[elly63]

Praise for Investors Group Field
One Heart Celebration gets first look inside
Jim Bender Winnipeg Sun May 26, 2013

It still needs some finishing touches but the new football facility at the University of Manitoba opened to rave reviews Sunday.

Investors Group Field was christened by the One Heart Celebration where about 85 churches participated in a non-denominational service.

"It's a beautiful stadium and it's a wonderful thing that it's the body of Christ that's coming to dedicate the stadium to God," said Folusho Baiyet, one of about 15,000 who attended.

"We love to be the first people to take a look at it and see how everything's going, see how it's all set up and can't wait to get in there and watch some football," said William McGimpsey, who brought his family to worship.

The opening left little doubt that the stadium will be ready for the club's first pre-season game on June 12th.

"It's pretty impressive," said Sue Murdock. "It's so nice and open, it's great. Big screens, lots of seating."

There are screens at both ends of the 33,500-seat stadium.

"I really like these open concourses where you don't even have to sit down to get a good look at the game," said Dave Dickie. "It sure beats the old stadium, that's for sure.

"I like the way the field is set down below the seats. It doesn't look like there's going to be bad seat in the house, so that's a good thing."

Micca Correia, who attended some games at Canad Inns Stadium, concurred.

"This one's nicer and looks a lot bigger," she said. "I like those little wavy things at the top."

Traffic and parking, however, remain a concern for some.

"I'm not crazy about the location," said long-time season ticket holder Ray Wiebe. "I liked it where it was. It had better access all around.

"There's only two roads into this place here and the old stadium, there's a dozen roads around there."

Wiebe plans to bus to the games.

"It's great to see that we have so many people coming out, but more importantly, it's great to finally open Investors Group Field," Bombers president/CEO Garth Buchko said of the test event. "I don't anticipate a lot but whatever they are, we will make changes based on what we find from today."

Bombers were pleased with the results.

"The reviews I'm hearing as the people are leaving this place, they love facilities," said Bombers vice-president/COO Jim Bell. "I can't wait now to start the football games."

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Well I'm pretty sure I saw a statistic not too long ago that 70% of all CFL merchandise sold is for the Sask Roughriders! Pretty cool. Plus my ex lived in Regina when he was going to the RCMP academy/depot and said whenever there was a game in Regina, the whole city basically shuts down, and the whole city supports the team whole-heartedly. It is basically the Canadian football city.

I don't know if it's still true, but the Riders at one point sold the third most merch of any team in Canada (only the Leafs and Canadiens sold more). Also, there are 4 official Rider stores (1 in Stoon, 3 in Regina) where the Riders make 100% of the profits as opposed to general sports stores where the profits go to the CFL to be distributed to all teams.

As far as the city shutting down... It's kind of funny, once we had to pause the game to run an errand (blaspemous) and the roads were the emptiest I'd ever seen them.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I don't know if it's still true, but the Riders at one point sold the third most merch of any team in Canada (only the Leafs and Canadiens sold more). Also, there are 4 official Rider stores (1 in Stoon, 3 in Regina) where the Riders make 100% of the profits as opposed to general sports stores where the profits go to the CFL to be distributed to all teams.

The 70% figure is accurate. As of 2011 CFL Roughriders Rank Third in Canadian Sports Merchandise Sales

It’s easy being green: Roughriders marketing sets example for other teams

I would think the Jets sold a lot of merch

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Thanks for thosw pics Chris. IGF looks great and what a proud moment for Winnipeg as they now have 3 great sports facilities for which to watch their beloved teams in.

[craner]

^No kidding.
Hope Calgary can get a little bit of that action.

IGF turned out even better than I anticipated (and I already had high hopes during construction).
Winnipeg can be proud.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Great pictures from Winnipeg. Looks like a stadium from a country where they take their domestic national football league (regardless of code) seriously.

Which means it is not typical of Canada.

Agree. Football matters in this part of Canada and you can tell. I bet the new Riders stadium will look equally big league.

[Chadillaccc]

Hopefully even bigger league! Considering the significantly larger budget for Regina's stadium

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by elly63

The 70% figure is accurate. As of 2011 CFL Roughriders Rank Third in Canadian Sports Merchandise Sales

It’s easy being green: Roughriders marketing sets example for other teams

I would think the Jets sold a lot of merch

Yes, the Jets were actually number 1 in the NHL for merchandise sold last year so they would have been number 1 in Canada overall.

[Matrix19]

Originally Posted by Shinook

This is not an NHL arena. Why?

Newsflash: QUEBEC CITY DOES NOT HAVE AN NHL TEAM

Originally Posted by Hybrid247

Lol maybe it should be NHL-calibre arena instead.

I stand corrected
I should have said : NHL-calibre arena

[Matrix19]

Originally Posted by Matrix19

another update for the Quebec City NHL-calibre arena

Photo from Canoe :



http://argent.canoe.ca/nouvelles/le-coli...et-pour-une-franchise-de-la-lnh-23052013

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Wow, that's coming along nicely Matrix! I didn't think we would see the arena in Quebec City rise so quickly out of the ground. I take it those tower-like structures along the outer wall would be the staircases and elevators of the arena?

yep and you can see in this video how the construction will look like in the next days (week by week):

• Video Link

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Hopefully even bigger league! Considering the significantly larger budget for Regina's stadium

I bet it will be. Regina will likely set the standard for football stadia in this country. I pity the city that has to follow in Regina's footsteps. Something tells me that would be Calgary.

That said, there is going to be a marked difference in the calibre and scale of CFL stadia moving from east to west. You'd think the east would have superior and pricier facilities given it has double the population. It's already a slam dunk for western Canada and Regina hasn't even happened yet.

[GORDBO]

I'm thinking Calgary is waiting to see what Regina is going to do, so they can
start planning something that will top their facility. I can't imagine Calgary allowing Winnipeg and Regina, [with a combined population less than Calgary's] to have better stadiums than they would have.

[Chadillaccc]

Well Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg was nicer than McMahon Stadium here in Cowtown, plus it had partial cover over the stands. So I dunno, maybe you are right, but maybe not. As soon as Edmonton started getting stoked about its arena, Calgary's politicians were basically like "nope! Not happening here!"

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Great pictures from Winnipeg. Looks like a stadium from a country where they take their domestic national football league (regardless of code) seriously.

Which means it is not typical of Canada.

Did you mean to say not typical of EASTERN Canada? The CFL is alive and well in the WEST where most realize that a certain league without a team in it's second biggest city isn't the end-all.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Well Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg was nicer than McMahon Stadium here in Cowtown, plus it had partial cover over the stands. So I dunno, maybe you are right, but maybe not. As soon as Edmonton started getting stoked about its arena, Calgary's politicians were basically like "nope! Not happening here!"

Isn't there talk of a new Saddledome and McMahon though? Nothing will happen for a while, but Calgary is due for a replacement of both. I just hope you don't end up with a stadium smaller than the one you have now.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Did you mean to say not typical of EASTERN Canada? The CFL is alive and well in the WEST where most realize that a certain league without a team in it's second biggest city isn't the end-all.

I might say the Prairies then. Even Vancouver and BC have been iffy on the CFL at time.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I might say the Prairies then. Even Vancouver and BC have been iffy on the CFL at time.

Agree, it's been Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba that have carried the league through thick and thin. They are to Canadian football what the state of Victoria is to Aussie football.

[Prometheus]

Brutal. Hamilton's temporary stadium in Guelph is going to seat less than 14,000: http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=424107

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Brutal. Hamilton's temporary stadium in Guelph is going to seat less than 14,000: http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=424107

Meh. For a temporary facility it'll do considering that Molson Stadium in Montreal only had about 18,000 seats when the Alouettes moved in on a permanent basis back in 1998.

Of course, the Ticats have far more fans than the Montreal Alouettes circa 1998 did. I wonder if this layout at Guelph Stadium will accommodate their season ticket base? Will there be many single-game tickets available?

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Just checking on Ticketmaster - it doesn't seem hard to get tickets