New Downtown Calgary Arena

[odogfo]

An article from this morning in regards to the a plan 'b' arena location

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgarynext-plan-b-is-being-examined

[People.talking]

The odds rights now point towards the plan B site

[Calgarian]

I think it makes sense to try and combine the buildings, but there isn't enough room for it unless they move out of the inner city. McMahon desperately needs something to happen, I'd prefer the wrecking ball, but a proper renovation could definitely work, they just need to make it a horse shoe and enclose the damn concourse!

[speedog]

McMahon, the only other stadiums I've been to are the big O, Skydome and BC Place and I can't recall much about them. Even if one renovates McMahon, one place it would probably still sorely lack in are boxes/suites, I'm not sure how many in here have been in McMahon's boxes/suites but my impression of them is that they're pretty sad and I can't see how you'd add new/better ones short of tearing down the whole stadium and starting over. The rest of the stadium I believe is fixable, yeah it'll cost a lot of money but that old girl is sort of endearing in a way.

[The Urbanist]

There's a ULI event on this topic at 5:45PM on Thursday. The event's speakers include Ted Turner for AEG Worldwide (O2 in London & LA Live) and Glenn Scott from the Katz group. Robb Kerr from the Fan 960 is the moderator. Here's the link for more info:

http://alberta.uli.org/event/arena-and-entertainment-districts-event/

[MalcolmTucker]

Realistically I won't go to any events at McMahon until the seating area is entirely rebuilt. People on average are just a lot taller than when the stadium was designed.

That being said, spending major tax dollars on it without removing the concert restrictions is a non-starter for me.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by speedog

McMahon, the only other stadiums I've been to are the big O, Skydome and BC Place and I can't recall much about them. Even if one renovates McMahon, one place it would probably still sorely lack in are boxes/suites, I'm not sure how many in here have been in McMahon's boxes/suites but my impression of them is that they're pretty sad and I can't see how you'd add new/better ones short of tearing down the whole stadium and starting over. The rest of the stadium I believe is fixable, yeah it'll cost a lot of money but that old girl is sort of endearing in a way.

Could they upgrade one side, add box seats, basically improve everything and leave the other side as cheap seats to be upgraded in the future if demand warrants it? It''s essentially 2 buildings.

[Luk_o]

I liked the NEXT concept and the location, but the execution for the Stamps and game day experience in a permanently enclosed makeshift stadium layout out of the field house would have been brutal. I'm glad they're looking at the reno option for McMahon. Keep the elements in the game!
- Complete the concourse walk around on both ends and put measures in place to help enclose the stadium from the wind.
- Incorporate new/more/better washroom facilities on these new end zones.
- New seats, and for the love of god get red of those blue ones! Nothing but red and white. You could also decrease the capacity by installing better individual seating throughout.
- Wishful thinking would be to install partial canopies over each side to further block the wind and give a bit of shelter. Could be done but would be expensive.

Most Calgarians don't care about the CFL or the Stamps, that's just the reality. While I personally would love a new stadium, I know this doesn't speak for the majority - Renovate McMahon, its fine.

[CalgaryAlex]

Really one thing they could do is tear down the top half of the east side of the stadium and replace it with a few tiers of boxes. The four corners of the stadium only fill up at Riders games and partially during the Labour Day Classic. By tearing out half of the cheap seats, they would simply push all of the cheap tickets into the sunny side of the stadium, which is where people want to sit anyways.

Then push the concourse out on the west side into the parking lot to triple the width of the concourse there. Completely overhaul the concourse with big upgrades on washroom space and new vendors. Link the concourse across both end zones with a significantly wider connecting concourse. Widen the east concourse as well, but with removed seating capacity on that side, changes don't have to be as significant as the west side. Add a retractable awning on the west side of the stadium (honestly, this doesn't have to be too costly if you keep it low-tech) for rainy or snowy days.

Maybe add boxes at each end zone and, if possible, keep some room for temporary Grey Cup/special event seating above the end zone concourses.

Keep costs down by not going "all the way" and maintaining a majority share of the current stadium, and you can increase revenue by making the place more comfortable for the casual or corporate fan.

Edit: in addition, spend a few hundred bucks to upgrade the damn beer fridges. Would be nice to get a cold one once in a while if i'm paying that much for a Canadian.

[lubicon]

renovate McMahon, that works just fine. do a complete tear down and rebuild or each side but do it one at a time. Should be able to accomplish each half in a year so two years for the total job and you only lose half the capacity and don't chase the team out of the city completely while it is happening. Better yet, build some endzone seating (ie horseshoe) which has the bonus of accommodating some of the STH who would be displaced during the rebuild. End result is basically a new stadium. Gotta be a horseshoe and 40 000 seating capacity give or take.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by speedog

McMahon, the only other stadiums I've been to are the big O, Skydome and BC Place and I can't recall much about them. Even if one renovates McMahon, one place it would probably still sorely lack in are boxes/suites, I'm not sure how many in here have been in McMahon's boxes/suites but my impression of them is that they're pretty sad and I can't see how you'd add new/better ones short of tearing down the whole stadium and starting over. The rest of the stadium I believe is fixable, yeah it'll cost a lot of money but that old girl is sort of endearing in a way.

They could probably add some box seats, it would mean a lot of demo work which would likely have to be staged over a couple offseasons, but it could happen.

[tomthumb2]

Originally Posted by Luk_o

I liked the NEXT concept and the location, but the execution for the Stamps and game day experience in a permanently enclosed makeshift stadium layout out of the field house would have been brutal. I'm glad they're looking at the reno option for McMahon. Keep the elements in the game!
- Complete the concourse walk around on both ends and put measures in place to help enclose the stadium from the wind.
- Incorporate new/more/better washroom facilities on these new end zones.
- New seats, and for the love of god get red of those blue ones! Nothing but red and white. You could also decrease the capacity by installing better individual seating throughout.
- Wishful thinking would be to install partial canopies over each side to further block the wind and give a bit of shelter. Could be done but would be expensive.

Most Calgarians don't care about the CFL or the Stamps, that's just the reality. While I personally would love a new stadium, I know this doesn't speak for the majority - Renovate McMahon, its fine.

Sadly this seems to be the trend, although there were 28,000 for a crappy pre-season game last week. Being a season ticket holder, I'll be greatly disappointed if they only do "some renovations" as quoted in the Herald. That's just brutal. Then again, I'll prbably be dead by the time they actually get around to doing ANYTHING.

[odogfo]

In the end, as long as Calgary builds a better arena than edmonton, that's all that matters.

[Luk_o]

Originally Posted by tomthumb2

Sadly this seems to be the trend, although there were 28,000 for a crappy pre-season game last week. Being a season ticket holder, I'll be greatly disappointed if they only do "some renovations" as quoted in the Herald. That's just brutal. Then again, I'll prbably be dead by the time they actually get around to doing ANYTHING.

Long time season ticket holder myself, I hear ya. Another huge thing about NEXT is that it would essentially kill tailgating - the traditional cornerstone to the Stampeder gameday experience. IMO McMahon is in the perfect location as you need the lot space to make this happen, but I don't want downtown land utilized as lot space that's never used.

Stage the reno over years - with the right upgrades McMahon can really be a great facility for the league that it houses. Doesn't need the glitz of an NFL barn and quite honestly, I don't want it too. Been to a few of the massive new billion dollar stadiums down south and they make it so comfortable that they almost take away from the game, you look around and its a bunch of people looking at their phone...even watching the game live IN FRONT OF THEM on their phone. Not saying this is everyone but you can definitely notice it more in the new Cadillacs compared to the older 'less comfort' Stadiums.

Free WIFI, enclosed w/ A/C...don't want it. Give me a decent seat, some wind mitigation, easy access to beer & the pisser and that's perfect.

[MalcolmTucker]

Unless tailgating and parking becomes very lucrative eventually the space around McMahon will no longer be parking lots.

[Calgarian]

The city came out with a plan for the redevelopment of the area a few years back. Not sure if it was a study or a more advanced concept though. It did show McMahon there as part of the proposal. If someone wants to go digging through old Calgary Construction threads they could probably find something...

[Socguy]

Originally Posted by odogfo

In the end, as long as Calgary builds a better arena than edmonton, that's all that matters.

That's going to be VERY expensive.

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

The city came out with a plan for the redevelopment of the area a few years back. Not sure if it was a study or a more advanced concept though. It did show McMahon there as part of the proposal. If someone wants to go digging through old Calgary Construction threads they could probably find something...

Is page 105 of the Brentwood TOD ARP what you are referring to?
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Documents/arp-asp/arp/brentwood-arp.pdf

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Is page 105 of the Brentwood TOD ARP what you are referring to?
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Documents/arp-asp/arp/brentwood-arp.pdf

Could be it, that one looks tied to the Motel Village redevelopment, can't recall if that was in the scope of the one I saw some years back.

[MalcolmTucker]

McMahon is outside of the scope. There is no plan from the city side, as it is university land and the university has not initiated a plan. The city cannot initiate a plan on the land.