Stadiums and Arenas of Canada

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by EdFromOttawa

Ottawa REDBLACKS just released their seat selection software online. Now we can take a good look at the stadium in all its glory from any angle!

http://www.seats3d.com/cfl/ottawa_redblacks/#/p_aa_2/

That is an impressive rendering. I like how they have contoured the land on the new side of the stadium. I think that using the land to create ramps creates a more pleasant stadium ambiance than having endless concrete ramps.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Yes I like the look at that

[esquire]

The stadium in Ottawa has very nice design elements, but it's hard to overlook the facility's small size. As a whole, the facility looks a lot smaller than it did with the old southside stands.

It's interesting to see the gap emerging between the east and west conferences in that regard... out west you have the huge stadiums like Commonwealth and BC Place, the new and relatively opulent facilities like IGF and the one coming up in Regina... even Calgary's will be more impressive than anything in the east once the Argos get a new and much smaller home built. A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the east division was actually the minor league affiliate for the west division teams.

[elly63]

City of Ottawa
November 29, 2013

- The new roof on the north stands is almost complete.
- Footings are being dug for a new pedestrian bridge on the east end of the stadium that will span from the main concourse to the berm.
- At the south stands, work is underway to form and build the base for the seating bowl at the front of the stands.
- Work continues to assemble the Veil that wraps around the stands.
- Work continues inside the stands to install all the drywall, electrical and plumbing. At the service level, office spaces have been built and some of the walls have been painted.

A worker is lifted to the top of the Veil behind the South stands to adjust the brackets connecting the wooden structure to the stands


From the west end of the south stands, the new stairs are in place and the shape of the Veil is now apparent


The tower crane at the west end of the field was taken down last week. A new crane for the building construction in this location will replace it


At the front of the south stands, work is underway to build the field level seating bowl

[EdFromOttawa]

Originally Posted by esquire

The stadium in Ottawa has very nice design elements, but it's hard to overlook the facility's small size. As a whole, the facility looks a lot smaller than it did with the old southside stands.

It's interesting to see the gap emerging between the east and west conferences in that regard... out west you have the huge stadiums like Commonwealth and BC Place, the new and relatively opulent facilities like IGF and the one coming up in Regina... even Calgary's will be more impressive than anything in the east once the Argos get a new and much smaller home built. A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the east division was actually the minor league affiliate for the west division teams.

Macmahon Stadium is an absolute dump. Rogers Center and BC Place are on par. Commonwealth and Mosaic are both large but ancient.

I would give the slight edge to the West (and certainly they are the larger sets of stadiums), but the new Ottawa stadium beats the pants off every other stadium in the league except for arguably BC Place and IGF. At least in terms of a CFL/soccer experience in a classy looking stadium.

A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that Calgary and Regina are an architectural backwater of the North American sports scene.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by EdFromOttawa

Macmahon Stadium is an absolute dump. Rogers Center and BC Place are on par. Commonwealth and Mosaic are both large but ancient.

I would give the slight edge to the West (and certainly they are the larger sets of stadiums), but the new Ottawa stadium beats the pants off every other stadium in the league except for arguably BC Place and IGF. At least in terms of a CFL experience in a classy looking stadium.

A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that Calgary and Regina are an architectural backwater of the North American sports scene.

Ottawa's stadium has some nice things going for it like great urban location, nice architectural elements like the wood veil and the usual new revenue-generating gewgaws, which is what sets it apart from the similar sized but much uglier THF in Hamilton. But you have to admit the new southside stand is tiny.

And while I'm usually happy to talk smack about the Roughriders and their fans, I have to give the devil his due... the game day atmosphere at Mosaic Stadium, even in its dilapidated condition, will never, ever, ever, ever be surpassed by Ottawa no matter how many awards the wooden veil wins.

I also take it from your comments that you have never been inside McMahon, Commonwealth or BC Place Stadiums?

[wacko]

Originally Posted by EdfromOttawa

Macmahon Stadium is an absolute dump. Rogers Center and BC Place are on par. Commonwealth and Mosaic are both large but ancient.

Mosaic Stadium is large? It is certainly showing its age though, hence the construction of a new stadium.

As I recall, Commonwealth is considered to be a classic stadium. I've only been there once myself, and that was for the 2003 NHL Heritage Classic. It was very cold that day, so I didn't get much of a chance to walk around and explore.

I've been to McMahon a couple of times. I would have considered it merely aging rather than an absolute dump, but perhaps that's just because I'm used to Mosaic Stadium and its bleacher seats and washroom lineups.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by EdFromOttawa

Macmahon Stadium is an absolute dump. Rogers Center and BC Place are on par. Commonwealth and Mosaic are both large but ancient. but the new Ottawa stadium beats the pants off every other stadium in the league except for arguably BC Place and IGF. At least in terms of a CFL/soccer experience in a classy looking stadium.

I would hardly call Commonwealth ancient, except in terms of age. It has been maintained very well and has had numerous upgrades. Sorry, but aside from the veil, there is nothing particularly special about Ottawa, the north stand is nothing to submit to Architectural Digest.

As for size of the facilities, I think the east stadiums are just rightsizing. If given their druthers both BC and Edmonton would lop off 10k seats easily.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by EdFromOttawa

A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that Regina is an architectural backwater of the North American sports scene.

Let's see if you'll be saying that in Jan/Feb of next year. I think you'll be eating your words

[elly63]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

That is an impressive rendering. I like how they have contoured the land on the new side of the stadium. I think that using the land to create ramps creates a more pleasant stadium ambiance than having endless concrete ramps.

[Acajack]

The south side stands of the Ottawa stadium look very nice but as others have said they look a bit small.

The north side stands look basically as they always have - a bit shinier of course.

I agree that right-sizing is a good thing but I would have built for 28,000 in both Ottawa and Hamilton. Maybe 30 even.

[EdFromOttawa]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The south side stands of the Ottawa stadium look very nice but as others have said they look a bit small.

The north side stands look basically as they always have - a bit shinier of course.

I agree that right-sizing is a good thing but I would have built for 28,000 in both Ottawa and Hamilton. Maybe 30 even.

'shrug' both have room for expansion (see along the grass berms in Ottawa); why not start off by limiting supply and make the games a hot ticket?

You can always increase later to fill out demand.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I agree that right-sizing is a good thing but I would have built for 28,000 in both Ottawa and Hamilton. Maybe 30 even.

I just can't see the numbers justifying that, especially 30k, see below. Sure there were a few good seasons, but let's create some ticket demand in these cities, make some dough, and if the demand warrants it, expand.

I'm using 24k for each stadium (patio included) and while Hamilton had better numbers (than 24k) in the mid 2000s, they've kind of settled to the size of the new stadium.

[elly63]

OMG look at those attendance numbers in Hamilton from 1982-2003, how did they stay in business? Praise Allah for some civic minded people (including Pal Hal). Would really like to see The Caretaker start getting back some of his losses.

Edit: just amazed looking at the Green Rider attendance figures and wondering how they got into trouble in the late 90s. Thankfully, there are more and better additional revenue streams today because the Sask Roughrider's attendance then was not much less than what these new stadiums will hold.

[The_Architect]

Renegades numbers aren't as bad as I remembered them.

[SHOFEAR]

I'm still confused by the Commonwealth is ancient statement.

Sure, it's 35 years old. But it's aged very graciously.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by esquire

Ottawa's stadium has some nice things going for it like great urban location, nice architectural elements like the wood veil and the usual new revenue-generating gewgaws, which is what sets it apart from the similar sized but much uglier THF in Hamilton. But you have to admit the new southside stand is tiny.

And while I'm usually happy to talk smack about the Roughriders and their fans, I have to give the devil his due... the game day atmosphere at Mosaic Stadium, even in its dilapidated condition, will never, ever, ever, ever be surpassed by Ottawa no matter how many awards the wooden veil wins.

I also take it from your comments that you have never been inside McMahon, Commonwealth or BC Place Stadiums?

I think Ottawa is doing it right. If they feel they can make money at 24,000 capacity then start there and create demand and build the fan base. Threre is so much room to expand in the East endzone and even in the wWst side as well. I think 28-30 our of the gate would have been too much. Same for Tim Hortons Field, alot of the tickets in the days where they exceeded 24K in attendance were freebies

[The_Architect]

The way I see it is the upper deck at Lansdowne is very easy to expand to the ends of the lower deck if need be.

[elly63]

Tim Hortons Field Hamilton November 29/2013

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by SHOFEAR

I'm still confused by the Commonwealth is ancient statement.

Sure, it's 35 years old. But it's aged very graciously.

I'm going to have to agree. In terms of how well stadiums have aged (aesthetically only), Commonwealth in Edmonton and Olympic in Montreal are two of my favourites. Commonwealth just has a classic look to it and Olympic still looks futuristic 30-some years later.