Stadiums and Arenas of Canada

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Welkin

any community access or college use is probably less than 5% of the equation.

Are you serious?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Well, good thing I have you and other outsiders to tell me how the Riders work in the provincial cultural fabric here.

The comment had zero to do with the Riders cultural relevance in the province of Saskatchewan no matter how much you want to twist people's words. 70% of season's ticket holders come from Regina. There is NO reference to culture in that sentence. Stop reading more into people's posts than actually exist.

God you're a tedious person.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The comment had zero to do with the Riders cultural relevance in the province of Saskatchewan no matter how much you want to twist people's words. 70% of season's ticket holders come from Regina. There was NO reference to culture in that sentence. Stop reading more into people's posts than actually exist.

God you're a tedious person.

It ties in to the culture. And 70% of our current season ticket total would make us the weakest team in the West by quite a bit. As someone who is not originally from Regina, it kind of really grinds a nerve when people so glibbly dismiss the rest of the province and say it's Regina's team. Regina may form a bit of a core, but the rest of the province is what pushes the team to what it is/has become. Without the whole province, the Riders would be the poor club of the west (if it even still existed - the telethon of the 90s was a provincial affair), and we certainly wouldn't have any hope in getting the stadium that was just proposed.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Nathan

It ties in to the culture

So what? That's not what was written. You're responding to something in your own head rather than what people write.

Originally Posted by Welkin

This stadium is great, but keep in mind that the Riders could never afford to build a stadium like this in a hundred years. This stadium is strictly a gift from the taxpayers of Regina and Saskatchewan to their community owned team. Toronto and Calgary are privately owned teams and I don't think the taxpayers of Alberta or Ontario are planning to build a football palace for two privately owned businesses. Privately owned businesses have to build what they can afford and what makes sense to the bottom line. Toronto, Calgary and Montreal will have to make do with what makes economic sense (unless they get a special sweetheart deal like Hamilton and Ottawa).

I'm not expecting comparable stadia in Calgary and Toronto. Calgary will come closer, but Toronto isn't about to splurge on football. Toronto will end up with the least impressive football stadium in the league. I'd be astonished if we got something anywhere as nice as IGF. Not going to happen.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Well, good thing I have you and other outsiders to tell me how the Riders work in the provincial cultural fabric here.

Nathan the "outsiders" aren't with it. You can't beat it in to them so best to just ignore and move on. Let them think what they want but facts are what matter's.

[Welkin]

Originally Posted by elly63

Are you serious?

Yes I am serious. Take the Riders out of the equation and what would have been built? A couple of playing fields and some bleachers. Are you trying to tell me that community sports access and U of R need the facilities provided by a $300 million dollar stadium? Don't get me wrong, I love this stadium and I am willing to pay the increase in taxes and ticket prices to watch my team play in something this nice. Just don't tell me this is not a 95% Riders deal. No Riders, No new stadium (and there is nothing wrong with that). U of R games, concerts, community events, weddings,......are just a little bit of the frosting and absolutely none of the cake.

[esquire]

^ Absolutely. No one builds a $300M facility for touch football and ultimate frisbee rec league use.

At the outset, the proponents of the Bomber stadium plan pitched an inflatable all-season bubble over the field as a way to derive additional value from the facility (and no doubt to add a warm-and-fuzzy community use component justifying public subsidies), but the idea quickly died when it was realized that with the wear and tear from that kind of use and the resulting need to replace the turf more frequently to keep it up to pro standards, it made no sense to do that. IGF was built for the Bombers in the same way that Mosaic will be built for the Riders... the fact that CIS clubs get to use it is just a happy coincidence.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I'm not expecting comparable stadia in Calgary and Toronto. Calgary will come closer, but Toronto isn't about to splurge on football. Toronto will end up with the least impressive football stadium in the league. I'd be astonished if we got something anywhere as nice as IGF. Not going to happen.

It may take a while before Calgary builds a McMahon replacement, but why wouldn't it be a half-decent facility? The fact that the team is privately owned is not necessarily an impediment... after all, the Oilers are privately owned and they convinced the City of Edmonton to give them insane amounts of money. I highly doubt that the Flames' and Stamps' new homes won't involve public contributions in the forms of loans, grants or whatever.

And with its corporate resources, Calgary can probably also afford to go big in a way that the Bombers and Riders never could... they could probably put in as many skyboxes as Winnipeg and Regina combined. The Stamps don't have the facilities to attract the big spending downtown head offices, but you can bet that if they upgraded to something better they could probably pull it off. After all, the Bombers did it... moving to IGF sent the team's revenues up by 50%, and Winnipeg's sports market is not really any less crowded than Calgary's.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Absolutely. No one builds a $300M facility for touch football and ultimate frisbee rec league use.

At the outset, the proponents of the Bomber stadium plan pitched an inflatable all-season bubble over the field as a way to derive additional value from the facility (and no doubt to add a warm-and-fuzzy community use component justifying public subsidies), but the idea quickly died when it was realized that with the wear and tear from that kind of use and the resulting need to replace the turf more frequently to keep it up to pro standards, it made no sense to do that. IGF was built for the Bombers in the same way that Mosaic will be built for the Riders... the fact that CIS clubs get to use it is just a happy coincidence.

Universities do need to maintain a professional level playing surface, locker rooms, and training facilities, even if the professional level grandstand is not necessary. And universities can also assist in big non-cash ways, in terms of land and the fact that their campuses will already possess a comprehensive transit and traffic plan. Its true that no university is going to build a beautiful 30,000 seat stadium like IGF, but the question is if it could have been (or how much it would have cost to have been) built without the university.

That said, the most expensive university-owned stadium in the country (excluding CFL co-use stadiums) is Varsity in Toronto, and that's a paltry $50M.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by VIce

Universities do need to maintain a professional level playing surface, locker rooms, and training facilities, even if the professional level grandstand is not necessary. And universities can also assist in big non-cash ways, in terms of land and the fact that their campuses will already possess a comprehensive transit and traffic plan. Its true that no university is going to build a beautiful 30,000 seat stadium like IGF, but the question is if it could have been (or how much it would have cost to have been) built without the university.

That said, the most expensive university-owned stadium in the country (excluding CFL co-use stadiums) is Varsity in Toronto, and that's a paltry $50M.

At McMahon, you'd be lucky to get 3,000 fans for the biggest, high-visibility games - 2013 Hardy Cup attendance was 1,024; 2012's was 2,164, 2011 - 1,712, 2010 - 2,786 and these are significant games in the Canadian university football world. So a new UofC football stadium isn't needed - McMahon with all of it's warts will easily handle any crowd that will show up for a UofC Dino's football game.

The Stampeders (Flames ownership group), on the other hand, will most likely be looking at a new stadium at some point in the future - whether or not it needs to be on UofC land is debatable. For the Flames/Stampeders, owning their own stadium and having control of parking revenues and such is something they don't have in the same fashion at McMahon.

[esquire]

^ As VIce pointed out, the Universities can bring large amounts of land to the table. That's one of the main (if not the only real) reasons that IGF was built at the U of M campus.

For what it's worth though, the dazzle of a new facility can certainly help a team's profile. There were a couple of UM Bisons games that drew around the 10,000 mark last season which has never happened before to my recollection. Obviously that will drop off as the excitement over the new venue wears off, but it undeniably raised the profile of Bison football on campus and around the community. The attractiveness of the new facilities will also help when it comes to recruiting... the UM used to have terrible football facilities, but now it has some of the best. It looks more like a serious program to a graduating high school player choosing where to go next.

[elly63]

Things speeding up in Hamilton. West side stands getting the sealant treatment prior to installing seats (presently happening on east side), press box nearly enclosed, field prep continuing

[esquire]

Less than 2 months to go and THF looks like it still has a good 6 months of work ahead of it. I'd be amazed if they pull it off.

[Migs]

Originally Posted by esquire

Less than 2 months to go and THF looks like it still has a good 6 months of work ahead of it. I'd be amazed if they pull it off.

It's fascinating to think that some still think it will be ready.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

It's fascinating that some think it won't be ready

[OTSkyline]

Isn't there a way to add a poll to this thread? Would love to see how many think hamilton's stadium will be ready and done for the first home opener as oposed to those who think it will not be.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Migs

It's fascinating to think that some still think it will be ready.

I’ve worked in construction related areas for over 30 years and I have to agree, the field preparation is only starting, the seats haven’t been started yet. Plus there is substantial finish work to complete. Ottawa is more likely to be ready for the start.

Baring weather delays THF may be ready mid-season.

[Berklon]

It may be "ready" for the first home game, but I suspect it'll be VERY bare bones (beyond it being a bare bones stadium to begin with) and with a lot of ugly unfinished areas.

It may look presentable on TV, but to people who show up to the stadium - it may leave a bad first impression.

It really is going to be down to the wire.

[Chadillaccc]

Stranger things have happened. Obviously we all hope it will be ready, but hope doesn't make construction move quicker.

Maybe they are just aiming to have the fields, seats, and washrooms complete by home opener, with minimal concessions? Phase the opening or whatever.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Berklon

It may be "ready" for the first home game, but I suspect it'll be VERY bare bones (beyond it being a bare bones stadium to begin with) and with a lot of ugly unfinished areas.

It may look presentable on TV, but to people who show up to the stadium - it may leave a bad first impression.

It really is going to be down to the wire.

It's one thing if the concessions aren't all ready to go and the dressing rooms are unfinished... you can work around that. But when you have walls missing, structural and electrical work to do, that sort of thing... it's kind of tough to make it work when the place is still pretty much a total construction zone.

I want the new stadium to be ready on time, but there is not much about those pictures that tells me THF will be able to host a game two months from now.