Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

Just tuned into CityTV, they're showing FC Edmonton playing the Ottawa Fury (NASL soccer, one level below MLS). The stadium is at Clark Field, right next door to Commonwealth, and it looks like they've really upgraded it since the last junior football game I went to there. Totally new bleachers with seating on the east side of the field, which actually has a decent crowd in it, a supporters section with singing and drumming, and a new big screen in the north side end zone area. No football lines on the field (assuming they'd be back for when the Huskies and Wildcats start closer to the fall). It looks like it'd be a pretty good time to check out the next game actually, and pretty high level of play to boot.

Almost like a mini Saputo, same colours of the team and bleachers, same dynamic being in the shadows of a much larger stadium.

Thats awesome. Edmonton is so much farther ahead than Calgary with regards to soccer. Its shameful on Calgary to be honest. I try to go to every Foothills FC game but they play at Glenmore Park with some bleachers ffs..

Its like so many people here love soccer, but there is so little support for anything local. 20 plus thousand kids playing soccer in this city.. it has to blow up sometime right?

[MonctonRad]

Nice aerial photo showing progress on the new 9,000 seat Events Centre in Moncton

[Oilkountry]

Clarke stadium was upgraded 2 seasons ago. EFC approched the city to build a new 10,000 seat stadium attached to the commonwealth training centre. The city basically told them get 10,000 fans game in game out and we will revisit this.

wiki


IMO EFC should move to a retrofitted telus feild (Currently has no name) it was built in the mid 90's it has suites and seats and concourses ect and It's one of the only baseball stadium ive seen that has seating at an almost perfect 90 degree angle. sink 20-30M into it you could have yourselves a nice little modern downtown stadium. And it would really just be relocating the new stands from clarke to telus and building a concourse underneath it They would need a new press box and the old one would become? sky suites?. lets face it, Baseball wont be viable in edmonton for a long while

You can kind of see how a soccer pitch can fit perfectly into what already exists. It's really just about adding to whats already there and then modernizing the old.




it would kind of remind me of what they built in sanjose. horseshoe stadium with suites on the bottom, seats on top

[EpicPonyTime]

Best example of the potential for a renovated Telus Field would be Providence Park in Portland. It's a little much to expect something of that caliber for a NASL team, but one can dream.

[Oilkountry]

I'm not sure what the typical MLS pitch dimensions are but this is what a 70x110 pitch would look like at telus feild. I will admit i was off on the 90 degree statement on my last post. So you lay down that stand from clarke on the other sideline reconfigure the corners. It would be a frankenstadium by all definition but it would be a decent NASL stadium


mine

[Coldrsx]

I'd love to see that down there so long as baseball can be retained as well.

[SHOFEAR]

Please don't wreck Telus Field. Higher caliber baseball will return.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by SHOFEAR

Please don't wreck Telus Field. Higher caliber baseball will return.

You think so? I don't think its economicly feasible for a league to include Edmonton. Traveling teams would lose their shirt. if canada doesn't start a league to itself Edmonton won't see pro baseball again anytime soon

[Berklon]

Regardless of the level of baseball playing at that park, it would be ruined by putting in a soccer field. Better to have one quality field used by one team, than 2 sub-par fields used by two teams.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Regardless of the level of baseball playing at that park, it would be ruined by putting in a soccer field. Better to have one quality field used by one team, than 2 sub-par fields used by two teams.

I don't think the idea would be to turn it into a multi-use facility so much as it would be about converting it permanently to soccer.

I guess the issue in Edmonton is that Clarke Field is more than adequate for their pro soccer needs without having to spend millions of dollars reconfiguring Telus Field. But considering that Telus Field has been without pro baseball for 5 years and without higher-level pro baseball for over a decade, it does get to a point where you wonder what to do with the thing. Given the demand for housing in that area, maybe it just gets demolished and the land sold for development and that's that. Anyone know if it's possible to build there or is that flood-prone land?

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

You think so? I don't think its economicly feasible for a league to include Edmonton. Traveling teams would lose their shirt. if canada doesn't start a league to itself Edmonton won't see pro baseball again anytime soon

I'd love to see a revival of the CBL, but I doubt a nationwide baseball league is economically feasible. Which is a shame.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

I'd love to see a revival of the CBL, but I doubt a nationwide baseball league is economically feasible. Which is a shame.

Really is. The capitals were thriving in Edmonton while the leagues they played in died around them. This country has some really decent baseball stadiums. Edmonton and Winnipeg are living proof that baseball can work with the right venue and ownership

Edmontons telus feild


Winnipegs shaw park


Ottawas Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park


Okatoks seaman stadium


Calgarys foothills stadium


Vancouvers Nat baily stadium


hamiltons Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium


Quebec cities stade municiple


fort macs shell place (thanks craner)


feel free to add more i know their is decent stadiums in moncton and sask as well cant think of many others, im sure ontario has a few more

[Coldrsx]

PCL! Miss those Traps.

The Capitals were just picking up speed...

[craner]

Doesn't Ft. Mac have a nice new ball park ?

[Coldrsx]

Yup, actually a new amazing facility in general, Shell Place.


http://ymm-magazine.balsomcommunicat...ll-place/2.jpg

[Coldrsx]

A look inside:


http://assets.rogersplace.com/wp-con...ionupdate1.jpg


http://assets.rogersplace.com/wp-con...ionupdate2.jpg


http://assets.rogersplace.com/wp-con...ionupdate3.jpg

DAMN!

http://assets.rogersplace.com/wp-con...ionupdate4.jpg

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

You think so? I don't think its economicly feasible for a league to include Edmonton. Traveling teams would lose their shirt. if canada doesn't start a league to itself Edmonton won't see pro baseball again anytime soon

Calgary and Vancouver need to get their shit together to make it work..After all it was their failure that screwed Edmonton out of the PCL. I'm really hoping the resurgence in baseball (seriously....every 1/3 people in Edmonton is rocking a Blue Jays cap these days) will create enough interest to get some sort of decent pro league back in Western Canada.

Ironically, I'm less likely to attend a Prospects game at Telus these last couple of years because I've been glued to the TV watching jays games 6 days a week.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SHOFEAR

Calgary and Vancouver need to get their shit together to make it work..After all it was their failure that screwed Edmonton out of the PCL. I'm really hoping the resurgence in baseball (seriously....every 1/3 people in Edmonton is rocking a Blue Jays cap these days) will create enough interest to get some sort of decent pro league back in Western Canada.

Ironically, I'm less likely to attend a Prospects game at Telus these last couple of years because I've been glued to the TV watching jays games 6 days a week.

It's funny you should say that... the last real wave of minor pro baseball mania and ballpark construction coincided with the Jays' powerhouse days in the late 80s and early 90s which got the whole country watching and playing baseball. I wonder if their current run might have a similar effect now?

That said, if someone is a huge Jays fan they may not care to watch minor pros. I went to a Winnipeg Goldeyes game earlier this month and the typical 18-35 year old Jays fanatic wasn't represented in the audience... it was the usual Goldeyes crowd of families and older folks.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by SHOFEAR

Calgary and Vancouver need to get their shit together to make it work..After all it was their failure that screwed Edmonton out of the PCL. I'm really hoping the resurgence in baseball (seriously....every 1/3 people in Edmonton is rocking a Blue Jays cap these days) will create enough interest to get some sort of decent pro league back in Western Canada.

Ironically, I'm less likely to attend a Prospects game at Telus these last couple of years because I've been glued to the TV watching jays games 6 days a week.

The PCL left Vancouver because they wanted a minimum 10K stadium in AAA Ball, so they upped and moved to Sacramento who built a new stadium. Vancouver now has a single A NWL team (short season), which is perfect and better ownership and sell out almost every game a Nat Bailey.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

The PCL left Vancouver because they wanted a minimum 10K stadium in AAA Ball, so they upped and moved to Sacramento who built a new stadium. Vancouver now has a single A NWL team (short season), which is perfect and better ownership and sell out almost every game a Nat Bailey.

In some ways the low minors might be a better fit for Canada...between the shorter summers here and the fact that most people don't really give a crap about the ins and outs of a team and just want to sit in the sunshine, drink beer and cheer, a A or AA team lets you do that.

To get a AAA team is a pretty big outlay given the franchise fees (teams are worth around $15-$25 million) plus the fact that AAA stadiums are big and expensive these days (probably at least $75 million for a new one). $100 million is a lot for minor league baseball.