Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[Oilkountry]

I apologize about the end zone seats at BC place comment. ive never sat there (in any stadium) Always been on the side lines

[esquire]

^ End zone is more of a niche thing. Some love it, but most prefer the sidelines. I think the quality of the views there are generally overstated, especially in the CFL where the field is huge. Low end zones like the one in Montreal are crap, but most of the league is decent.

[Denscity]

Do the Mens National Soccer Team relocate to warmer climes in the winter to practice? Because practicing in a indoor facility smaller than a real pitch puts them at a disadvantage. I realize that we shouldn't be ranked 8th in the world like the women due to way way more competition, but 86th or 100th is absolutely ridiculous!!

[king10]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Do the Mens National Soccer Team relocate to warmer climes in the winter to practice? Because practicing in a indoor facility smaller than a real pitch puts them at a disadvantage. I realize that we shouldn't be ranked 8th in the world like the women due to way way more competition, but 86th or 100th is absolutely ridiculous!!

The mens team doesn't train in Canada unless its for a scheduled friendly or qualifying game that is to be played in Canada.

The majority of friendlies are played in Central America, Florida, and Western Europe. The mens team will train in Florida, California or London. Very few if any training camps happen in Canada. And to be honest the players do most of their training and development at their pro clubs which most have top notch facilities.

I don't think you have a clear grasp of the Mens National team setup, its nothing like the women Its not like they come to Canada in the middle of winter and train at an indoor facility for a month thats half the size of a regular field.... They train at pro facilities in England, or lately at Orlando City's training ground in Florida. In Toronto prior to home games they train either in Alliston, Ontario at a resort, or the TFC training complex. But most training camps happen in Florida. And these training camps only happen on FIFA breaks that are no longer than 7 to 10 days in which pro clubs are forced to release players for National team duty.

Also the FIFA rankings are so skewed, they really aren't accurate in many cases. CONCACAF is split up into 3 regions. Central, Carribean, and Northern. The northen region consisting of Canada Mexico and the USA does not have its own regional championship. While the other two regions do every two years. Thats why you see the likes of trinidad and haiti and cuba ranked ahead of Canada. Because they get double the points for beating up on small minnow islands. While Canada only gets that once every 4 years during WCQ. The next rankings you'll see Canada jump 20 places for beating Dominica twice. The rankings are flawed. What matters more is qualification and progression at major tournaments like the World Cup, Gold Cup, and Super Copa.

[Steveston]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

I apologize about the end zone seats at BC place comment. ive never sat there (in any stadium) Always been on the side lines

No worries, mate!

Come join me next game by my seats, Section 202, front row, right on the aisle! Lowest price category in the stadium, but in my opinion, great seats!

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Judging by the pics BC Place needs to be the National Soccer Stadium of Canada if it doesn't have to be real grass. And the men's team should move in like the women did. Synergy and you can play outside year round.

The National Team will always play on natural grass. This is why they preferred and played at Saputo Stadium before 2010 (most 2010 WC qualifer home games). It was the only soccer specific stadium with natural grass in the country. Since then, BMO has put natural grass as well so now Team Canada plays all their games there.

[Matrix19]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

Start licking your lips Quebec

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-approves-opening-expansion-process-1.316896

oh yeah !












source : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Construct...%A2tre-de-Quebec/805734972788630?fref=ts

[Franco401]

Man, that's amazing. As much as downtown settings work better for arenas, putting it there makes it seem totally massive.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

The National Team will always play on natural grass. This is why they preferred and played at Saputo Stadium before 2010 (most 2010 WC qualifer home games). It was the only soccer specific stadium with natural grass in the country. Since then, BMO has put natural grass as well so now Team Canada plays all their games there.

Ya I was wondering about natural grass being a requirement which is why I mentioned it.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by Franco401

Man, that's amazing. As much as downtown settings work better for arenas, putting it there makes it seem totally massive.

Lot's of room for a CFL stadium too

[HomerSPC]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

Lot's of room for a CFL stadium too

It became pretty obvious in the preseason that Quebec City doesn't care enough about the CFL at this point.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by HomerSPC

It became pretty obvious in the preseason that Quebec City doesn't care enough about the CFL at this point.

Not right now you're probably right. Once an NHL team is well established it may help the situation. I wouldn't take to much from a preseason game with no home team.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

The National Team will always play on natural grass.

Not always. In a recent interview Coach Floro is very open to playing friendlies on a suitable artificial surface. He is likely seeing that the game cannot grow if the gospel isn't spread around the country. And seeing as almost every large stadium in Canada does have a suitable artificial surface then we can see the Nats playing in places like Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, the Hammer and the Peg (and before long, Regina).

Floro also stated though he wants all qualifiers played on turf and that means basically BMO or Saputo and since the Honduras fiasco at Saputo, it is much less likely to be there.

FIFA does allow qualifiers on FIFA 2 star rated artificial turf, it's just a player's preference that we don't play on it for WCQ.

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by elly63

Not always. In a recent interview Coach Floro is very open to playing friendlies on a suitable artificial surface. He is likely seeing that the game cannot grow if the gospel isn't spread around the country. And seeing as almost every large stadium in Canada does have a suitable artificial surface then we can see the Nats playing in places like Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, the Hammer and the Peg (and before long, Regina).

Floro also stated though he wants all qualifiers played on turf and that means basically BMO or Saputo and since the Honduras fiasco at Saputo, it is much less likely to be there.

FIFA does allow qualifiers on FIFA 2 star rated artificial turf, it's just a player's preference that we don't play on it for WCQ.

Pardon my ignorance but what fiasco?

[king10]

Originally Posted by elly63

Not always. In a recent interview Coach Floro is very open to playing friendlies on a suitable artificial surface. He is likely seeing that the game cannot grow if the gospel isn't spread around the country. And seeing as almost every large stadium in Canada does have a suitable artificial surface then we can see the Nats playing in places like Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, the Hammer and the Peg (and before long, Regina).

Floro also stated though he wants all qualifiers played on turf and that means basically BMO or Saputo and since the Honduras fiasco at Saputo, it is much less likely to be there.

FIFA does allow qualifiers on FIFA 2 star rated artificial turf, it's just a player's preference that we don't play on it for WCQ.

I think you meant all qualifiers played on grass.

Other than that you summed up the situation to a tee.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

Pardon my ignorance but what fiasco?

2010 wcq. 75% of saputo was honduras fans.

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by king10

2010 wcq. 75% of saputo was honduras fans.

That sucks although I don't see it happening nowadays. September 2008 was back when we had an NASL team very few people followed and Saputo was a smaller stadium. It wasn't until February 2009 (Champions league against Santos Laguna) that soccer interest was really born in Montreal. Now with the Impact being in MLS, more people know what's going.

It happens more often than we think. That's the result of being a multi cultural country with no soccer history.

Article from 2010 (oddly talking about another Canada vs Honduras game in Mtl)

A crowd of 7,535 in the 13,000-seat stadium — the largest turnout for a friendly in Montreal — was solidly behind the home side except for a knot of Honduras supporters in the south grandstand of a stadium in which only the seats on the north side are covered.

That was important for captain Paul Stalteri after playing in front of a mostly pro-Peru crowd in Toronto. And it was the reverse of what happened two years ago when Canada was beaten 2-1 by the Hondurans in Montreal in World Cup qualifying.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-wins-friendly-over-honduras-in-montreal-1.905771

Like I said, thankfully the MLS' growth is changing that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

That sucks although I don't see it happening nowadays. September 2008 was back when we had an NASL team very few people followed and Saputo was a smaller stadium. It wasn't until February 2009 (Champions league against Santos Laguna) that soccer interest was really born in Montreal. Now with the Impact being in MLS, more people know what's going.

It happens more often than we think. That's the result of being a multi cultural country with no soccer history.

Article from 2010 (oddly talking about another Canada vs Honduras game in Mtl)

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-wins-friendly-over-honduras-in-montreal-1.905771

Like I said, thankfully the MLS' growth is changing that.

Yeah, it's no knock on Montreal and Toronto. It's happened in the U.S., Australia and other countries as well.

[tovan]

Demolition of the Big O in Montreal now expected to cost $800 million...

http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news/2015/06/16/oib-has-estimate-of-cost-to-demolish-olympic-stadium

There is now a price tag to demolish Olympic Stadium.

$700 million, according to a study commissioned by the Olympic Installations Board in 2009.

The Journal de Montreal says at today's prices, the cost would bump up to about $800 million.

The deconstruction, according to the study, would have to be done piece by piece, because implosion of the structure, would create a toxic dust cloud over most of the city, much like what happened when the twin towers were destroyed in New York in 2001.

As it stands now, the stadium, which was built at a cost of 1.5 billion dollars, needs $200 million dollars worth of repair and renovation work, and a new roof.

[esquire]

^ Let's put our thinking caps on and consider why a bureaucracy made up of people who make a living from running a stadium might want to discourage people from wanting it demolished, despite the fact that it is increasingly outdated, has no tenants and is in need of costly repairs and upgrades.

Can we count on people in that situation to give us objective, unbiased, accurate information? Or could there be a tendency to play up the costs (almost a billion dollars!) and risks (toxic dust cloud of death!) associated with the outcome they might want to avoid?