Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by Berklon
Yea, I don't understand what makes Canada's arenas "world class". There's nothing wrong with them... but we only have a few that are up to (or close to) the latest standards - but they don't seem to be anything above and beyond other arenas in the world.

Originally Posted by Medicine Mad Hatter

I think people really just take them for granted here because we have them.

We had plenty of big new arenas built in the 90s and onward that can host really any event to a high standard. Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, Quebec city and Ottawa all have pretty outstanding large arenas. And Edmonton is on the way. We have other large arenas in Calgary, Saskatoon, Hamilton, secondary ones in Vancouver, Edmonton, Quebec and Ottawa, etc, that can also host large events but just not with the same standards. There are top notch mid-sized arenas all over as well, just look at some of the facilities in the CHL. Relative to a country of our size, that is really impressive.

mmm..I'm with Berklon on this one, I'm not so sure how spectacular hockey crazed Canada's arenas stand up to other places in the world.

..take for example California, It has roughly the same population as Canada but has about 18 indoor arenas over 10 thousand seats. Canada currently has I believe 15 arenas with over 10 thousand seats (if Colisée Pepsi isn't being demolished as we speak):

California:
Oakland Oracle Arena... 19 596
Los AngelesSTAPLES Center... 19 060
Inglewood Inglewood Forum... 17 505
San Jose HP Pavilion... 17 496
SacramentoSleep Train Arena... 17 317
Anaheim Honda Center... 17 174
Los AngelesMemorialSprtsArena... 16 740
Fresno Save Mart Center... 16 500
Daly City Cow Palace... 14 115
Los AngelesPauley Pavilion... 13 800
San Diego ValleyViewCasinoCtr... 12 920
Berkeley Haas Pavilion... 12 172
San Diego Viejas Arena... 12 045
Long Beach Long Beach Arena... 11 200
Ontario Citizens BB Arena... 11 089
Los AngelesGalen Center... 10 258
Fresno Selland Arena... 10 120
Stockton Stockton Arena... 10 000

Canada:
Montréal Centre Bell... 21 273
Toronto Air Canada Centre... 20 300
Calgary ScotiabkSaddledome... 19 285
Ottawa Scotia Bank Place... 19 153
Vancouver Rogers Arena... 18 630
Quebec CityVideotron Centre... 18 259
Hamilton FirstOntario Centre... 17 500
Edmonton Rexall Place... 16 839
Vancouver Pacific Coliseum... 16 160
Quebec CityColisée Pepsi... 15 399
Saskatoon SaskTel Centre... 15 195
Winnipeg MTS Centre ... 15 015
Ottawa Civic Centre Arena... 10 530
Halifax Halifax Metro Centre… 10 595
Toronto RICOH Coliseum... 10 000

^^^ but some of the arenas listed were built before the 1970's i.e., Forum, MemorialSprtsArena, Cow Palace in California just like as in Canada with Colisée Pepsi, Civic Centre Arena, and Halifax Metro Centre.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

mmm..I'm with Berklon on this one, I'm not so sure how spectacular hockey crazed Canada's arenas stand up to other places in the world.

..take for example California, It has roughly the same population as Canada but has about 18 indoor arenas over 10 thousand seats. Canada currently has I believe 15 arenas with over 10 thousand seats (if Colisée Pepsi isn't being demolished as we speak):

California:
Oakland Oracle Arena... 19 596
Los AngelesSTAPLES Center... 19 060
Inglewood Inglewood Forum... 17 505
San Jose HP Pavilion... 17 496
SacramentoSleep Train Arena... 17 317
Anaheim Honda Center... 17 174
Los AngelesMemorialSprtsArena... 16 740
Fresno Save Mart Center... 16 500
Daly City Cow Palace... 14 115
Los AngelesPauley Pavilion... 13 800
San Diego ValleyViewCasinoCtr... 12 920
Berkeley Haas Pavilion... 12 172
San Diego Viejas Arena... 12 045
Long Beach Long Beach Arena... 11 200
Ontario Citizens BB Arena... 11 089
Los AngelesGalen Center... 10 258
Fresno Selland Arena... 10 120
Stockton Stockton Arena... 10 000

Canada:
Montréal Centre Bell... 21 273
Toronto Air Canada Centre... 20 300
Calgary ScotiabkSaddledome... 19 285
Ottawa Scotia Bank Place... 19 153
Vancouver Rogers Arena... 18 630
Quebec CityVideotron Centre... 18 259
Hamilton FirstOntario Centre... 17 500
Edmonton Rexall Place... 16 839
Vancouver Pacific Coliseum... 16 160
Quebec CityColisée Pepsi... 15 399
Saskatoon SaskTel Centre... 15 195
Winnipeg MTS Centre ... 15 015
Ottawa Civic Centre Arena... 10 530
Halifax Halifax Metro Centre… 10 595
Toronto RICOH Coliseum... 10 000

I'm not sure what you are trying to show here? California has about three million more people then canada. It has three more arenas over 10 000 seats then Canada. Seems about right all things considered, doesnt it?`

If those three million people were split into three cities of a million each, and moved into Canada. It would probably be pretty safe to say each one would likely have an arena over 10 000 seats. I would think anyways. This would make it exactly the same.

I dont really see your example showing anything other then Canada is more or less the same as the United States (California at least)

[red-paladin]

Also, because they have more people, in a smaller area, and they have some desert etc, they have a lot of cites.

Remember that Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg have just over the population of Metro Vancouver combined, but twice the arenas. Put your populations in the right configuration, have several major leagues, minor leagues, lots of money to go into stadiums and bam.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

Also, because they have more people, in a smaller area, and they have some desert etc, they have a lot of cites.

Remember that Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg have just over the population of Metro Vancouver combined, but twice the arenas. Put your populations in the right configuration, have several major leagues, minor leagues, lots of money to go into stadiums and bam.

I think I know what you are getting at, thats what i'm thinking too, Hockey, in & of itself, doesn't necessarily have much to do with arenas/size per capita in the world..

FYI though
Census Metropolitan Area in *millions from Statistics Canada 2014:

Calgary (1.4*) + Edmonton (1.3*) + Saskatoon (.3*) + Winnipeg (.8*) = 3.8*
Vancouver = (2.4*)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

I'm not sure what you are trying to show here? California has about three million more people then canada. It has three more arenas over 10 000 seats then Canada. Seems about right all things considered, doesnt it?`

If those three million people were split into three cities of a million each, and moved into Canada. It would probably be pretty safe to say each one would likely have an arena over 10 000 seats. I would think anyways. This would make it exactly the same.

I dont really see your example showing anything other then Canada is more or less the same as the United States (California at least)

I did not know California was as hockey-crazed as Canada is, and that this would therefore justify all those awesome arenas. Also, California's population is also more concentrated than Canada's, so many of those arenas are in close proximity to one another.

Same goes for Germany (alluding to an earlier post). Sure they don't have many NHL-calibre arenas but they do have a lot that would put the CHL to shame, and hockey isn't even a top-of-mind sport in Germany.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Man - the Skydome is a really different place with the roof open and it being 95% full. The place was rocking last night

[elly63]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

..take for example California, It has roughly the same population as Canada but has about 18 indoor arenas over 10 thousand seats. Canada currently has I believe 15 arenas with over 10 thousand seats (if Colisée Pepsi isn't being demolished as we speak):

California:
Oakland Oracle Arena... 19 596
Los AngelesSTAPLES Center... 19 060
Inglewood Inglewood Forum... 17 505
San Jose HP Pavilion... 17 496
SacramentoSleep Train Arena... 17 317
Anaheim Honda Center... 17 174
Los AngelesMemorialSprtsArena... 16 740
Fresno Save Mart Center... 16 500
Daly City Cow Palace... 14 115
Los AngelesPauley Pavilion... 13 800
San Diego ValleyViewCasinoCtr... 12 920
Berkeley Haas Pavilion... 12 172
San Diego Viejas Arena... 12 045
Long Beach Long Beach Arena... 11 200
Ontario Citizens BB Arena... 11 089
Los AngelesGalen Center... 10 258
Fresno Selland Arena... 10 120
Stockton Stockton Arena... 10 000

Well, if your point of comparison is buildings over 10K and not how "world class" they are, I would point out that at least three of those buildings off the top of my head are probably worse facilities than Northlands. The LA Sports Arena, Forum and the Cow Palace are old buildings. Long Beach Arena has been renovated but was built in 1978. Most buildings have been renovated one way or another but what I view as "world class" is how ready they are to host a modern audience and have all the amenities.

Regardless what Berklon thinks we have some of the best big arenas in the world aside from the US.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Man - the Skydome is a really different place with the roof open and it being 95% full. The place was rocking last night

Sports are fun when people come out and support their team! Who knew?

Seriously though, good for Toronto.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by elly63

Well, if your point of comparison is buildings over 10K and not how "world class" they are, I would point out that at least three of those buildings off the top of my head are probably worse facilities than Northlands. The LA Sports Arena, Forum and the Cow Palace are old buildings. Long Beach Arena has been renovated but was built in 1978. Most buildings have been renovated one way or another but what I view as "world class" is how ready they are to host a modern audience and have all the amenities.

Regardless what Berklon thinks we have some of the best big arenas in the world aside from the US.

Yeah, I think Canada does very well when it comes to indoor arenas. Frankly it's hard to think of any cities that DON'T have an impressive arena relative to the size of the place.

Outoor stadiums, on the other hand, are a different story altogether. Aside from maybe Edmonton, virtually every Canadian city is deficient in some way. Winnipeg is not bad but IGF is more of a national-calibre stadium (great for CFL, but not really a place for a major world events), Vancouver is OK with BC Place but the only baseball stadium is a tiny relic.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

Outoor stadiums, on the other hand, are a different story altogether. Aside from maybe Edmonton, virtually every Canadian city is deficient in some way. Winnipeg is not bad but IGF is more of a national-calibre stadium (great for CFL, but not really a place for a major world events), Vancouver is OK with BC Place but the only baseball stadium is a tiny relic.

If you think about it and make apples to apples comparisons in stadiums we are still doing well. We seem to compare ourselves with countries several times our populations and with leagues that have revenues that reflect that population size.

Also because a stadium may have a larger capacity doesn't mean it is a "world class" stadium. Or does it get a free ride if it is iconic ie Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, or Michigan Stadium. Are they "good" stadiums or just historical.

I guess it's just hard to compare because what I appreciate someone else might not. I'm into history, myself but someone else might appreciate wifi access which would mean nothing to me.

[esquire]

^ When I say world class, I mean capable of hosting major international sports events... the WC, Olympics, PAGs, CWGs, etc.

Commonwealth Stadium and Olympic Stadium can handle such major events. Skydome and IGF for the most part could not, as neither can fit a track. Skydome and IGF could conceivably host World Cup games so there's that, but both are too small to host a final.

Although that said, not being "world class" in that sense is not really a major problem as 99% of what goes on in Canadian stadiums is regular garden variety league games (CFL/MLB/MLS).

[king10]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

LOL, I love comments like these... as if Houston is some sort of third World Country.

compare living in southern Ontario to southern texas as a middle class citizen.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by king10

compare living in southern Ontario to southern texas as a middle class citizen.

Been to both, twice to Texas in the last year and a half (which is why I cite it as an example so much, I guess) and southern Ontario many times. I'd say they stack up quite well against each other in terms of middle class living... Houston is not the most charming city in the world but no one can say it isn't prosperous.

(Now if you had asked me where I would rather be poor or part of the working poor, the answer would be very different.)

[king10]

Originally Posted by esquire

Been to both, twice to Texas in the last year and a half (which is why I cite it as an example so much, I guess) and southern Ontario many times. I'd say they stack up quite well against each other in terms of middle class living... Houston is not the most charming city in the world but no one can say it isn't prosperous.

(Now if you had asked me where I would rather be poor or part of the working poor, the answer would be very different.)

fair point.

in lower class citizens you can really start to see the differences in social services.

[Boris2k7]

Edmonton Arena


Arena Glass 1 U/C by RemotelyBoris, on Flickr


Arena Glass 2 U/C by RemotelyBoris, on Flickr

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by king10

compare living in southern Ontario to southern texas as a middle class citizen.

Both have approximately the same middle class which is why the comment should not be made. In fact, I wouldn't be surprise if Houston had higher middle class standards of living. If you were taking about a Chinese city for example, you would have a much better point.

PS: I will be in Houston next month so I'll have a much better idea about the city.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Man - the Skydome is a really different place with the roof open and it being 95% full. The place was rocking last night

Many of Skydome's aesthetic issues magically disappear when she's full. Funny that...

[jchamoun79]

Originally Posted by king10

Id rather have our social services, health care, quality of life for the middle class than a bunch of massive stadiums like they do in Houston.

Big shiny stadiums are nice. Not needed though.

Originally Posted by Nicko999

LOL, I love comments like these... as if Houston is some sort of third World Country.

It's particularly funny given that Houston is home to the world's largest medical centre.


Source: Wikipedia

[king10]

Originally Posted by jchamoun79

It's particularly funny given that Houston is home to the world's largest medical centre.


Source: Wikipedia

free use to all its citizens?

Im not doubting there aren't top of the line medical facilities in texas for those who can afford it.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by king10

free use to all its citizens?

Im not doubting there aren't top of the line medical facilities in texas for those who can afford it.

13.4% of Americans are uninsured as of Q2 2014.

Granted not everyone's insurance package will get them access to the top surgeons at the medical centre in Houston, but generally speaking they're not in terrible shape down there.

I love our single payer system and will defend it to the end, but let's not pretend that decent health care is unaccessible to the masses once you leave Canadian borders.