Winnipeg Construction IX

[oftheMoon]

Would this new ownership group have the power of Kevin Donnelly's team in terms of courting and booking acts?

[windypeg]

Originally Posted by esquire

Let's say they build a 5,000 seat arena with another 1,500 seats on the floor. Depending on whether one end is curtained off, you could have concerts with 5,000-6,500. Not many MTS Centre shows exceed 6,500 in attendance by a wide margin. So it could work. (And yeah, they probably would book acts that would otherwise go to the Burt or Club Regent...)

And FWIW there are a bunch of places to go after the event right nearby at Kenaston and McGillivray... Moxie's, Joeys, BP, Brewhouse and Mr. Mike's are a few that come to mind.

But you'd have to drive, and that selection wouldn't exactly have a ton of youth appeal. So yeah, it would be just fine for a crowd of seniors going to watch Trooper or something. But a bunch of young people who are going to imbibe and go watch an actual relevant musical act and then after-party are probably going to prefer to be downtown.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by windypeg

But you'd have to drive, and that selection wouldn't exactly have a ton of youth appeal. So yeah, it would be just fine for a crowd of seniors going to watch Trooper or something. But a bunch of young people who are going to imbibe and go watch an actual relevant musical act and then after-party are probably going to prefer to be downtown.

"Seniors" watching Trooper? Hey WE just want to raise a little hell!

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

They will need to do something with Mcgilvary, I've been to the new DeLuca grocery a few times and it's a nightmare trying to get in and out.

Going to beat the crowd on this one -- any upgrades to McGilvary beyond perhaps the addition of left turn lanes as needed effectively won't happen in any of our lifetimes unless something significant changes in terms of provincial infrastructure spending on roads. It is basically in the same pool of money as Perimeter improvements, the new by-pass highways, twinning rural highways, and rural grade separations. It is so far down the list it is more likely personal transportation will change to teleportation before it gains traction on receiving funding.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by drew

^ but again, they likely don't care about the other 80% of the city. They know where their bread will be buttered. And a short hop down from Costco is basically like shooting fish in a barrel for SW Winnipeg.

You think they will draw 4,000 a game 40 nights a year focusing only on people who live in the south. I have no friends who live in the south and all my buddies are all saying, I’m not driving out there, kenaston is already a carpcalypse. Imagine trying to get there for a 7pm game from North Kildonan.

I get that the population of the south is bigger than most WHL markets, but not being the only game in town changes the interest level. I’m a big jets fan. I will not follow a WHL team. I go to a couple moose games a year because it’s a good experience for my boy in the same arena as the jets. I’m not sure a smaller arena and a team with no connection to the one everyone really cares about will have the same allure.

I feel like the Market is die hard adult hockey fans, not kids. Most kids won’t care. Are there enough of those fans in a city overwhelmed by the Jets? I don’t know.

If the moose leave, maybe. Even then I’m not sure the market exists for a completely independent team in the long term. Starting at the terrible arena at U of M, which is the worst venue in my beer league is a really bad idea I think. There will be no honeymoon period.

[trueviking]

Maybe I’m totally wrong.

[blueandgoldguy]

Winnipeg's only sports team with FREE PARKING! This alone will entice thousands to come 36 nights a year for the chance to indulge in something no pro team can provide - over a thousand free parking spots - a Winnipegger's wet dream!

I guess they will have to put up a few extra traffic lights on McGillvray too? To accomodate the left turn into the arena parking lot,

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Winnipeg's only sports team with FREE PARKING! This alone will entice thousands to come 36 nights a year for the chance to indulge in something no pro team can provide - over a thousand free parking spots - a Winnipegger's wet dream!

I guess they will have to put up a few extra traffic lights on McGillvray too? To accomodate the left turn into the arena parking lot,

That stretch needs at least two more sets of lights as it is. Loudin road could use one for sure. The attempt at making the Fort Whyte short cut better was a fail and could use lights. Even Brady could use lights. That area is only getting filled up more and more. The RM will be the one deciding 9n highway safety also. That RM has lots of cash, trust me lol.

As for th3 team and arena. I think it's a great idea.id for sure take in some games. Easy to get to for us south enders, and as you said free parking. So it's just a ticket price which isn't much more then movie and popcorn. That's a pretty good deal in a brand new arena.

Plus all the concerts that can go to it. Ones that would otherwise skip Winnipeg. The Burt and Club Regent and now Mcphilips are great venues. But there is a need for an arena of this size also for concerts and other events. BellMTS Place is usually very booked up being one of the most busy arenas in Canada.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

I get that the population of the south is bigger than most WHL markets, but not being the only game in town changes the interest level. I’m a big jets fan. I will not follow a WHL team. I go to a couple moose games a year because it’s a good experience for my boy in the same arena as the jets. I’m not sure a smaller arena and a team with no connection to the one everyone really cares about will have the same allure.

This would probably be a much better bet if the Jets were not near the top of the NHL these days.

If you flash back to about 3 or 4 years ago I didn't have much interest in going to Jets games because you were basically paying top dollar to watch what felt like a perennial also ran. I'd sooner buy Moose tickets if I wanted a night out watching hockey.

These days the games are mesmerizing by comparison... it feels like every game matters. I attend about 10-12 games a year now, but when I don't have tickets I'd sooner watch Jets games on TV at no additional cost over my cable package than to spend money going to watch the Moose or the dub.

I guess if the Jets were still lousy, or if we had a situation like Ottawa where ownership has done everything it can to alienate itself from the fanbase it might be easier for a competing team to make inroads. But the Jets are basically near the top of the hockey universe these days... trying to distract local fans with a last place major junior hockey team playing in a junior B calibre rink is going to be a damn tough sell.

[blueandgoldguy]

I wonder if the ownership group has quietly sent out questionnaires to various businesses to determine if they would get multi-year commitments for suites/club seats, ticket packages and sponsorships. Perhaps this is why they are confident a WHL team would be a long term success in Winnipeg?

I looked at the Moose Jaw Warriors website under season tickets and club seats are only $795, regular seats are $495 while children's seats are $215 and student's seats are $270. Even if you raised the price 20% here those are very affordable for most middle class families. Add another 20% to single ticket prices and your typical game would cost approximately $20 for an adult, $9 for children, $11 for students. There might just be a market for this.

I think western Winnipeg would also be a market for this team, St. James, Assinboia, Charleswood, Tuxedo would haven't to travel very far to get to the game. Route 90, Moray Bridge, Shaftesbury to Wilkes to Route 90, Perimeter to Mcgillvray, Mccreary Rd. - these would all provide routes from those areas to the new arena.

Many of the concerts at Bell MTS Place draw between 3-6,000. A few I can think of in the past year or so or coming up...Santana, Mellencamp, Illusionists, 90s revival with Aqua and a few others, 80/90s revival with Vanilla Ice and company, Harlem Globetrotters, PBR, Paul Brandt, Dierks Bentley could have all been at this hypothetical arena and would have had similar attendance.

A seating setup for this arena to copy might be something similar to the Keystone Centre with next to no seats at one end. This way you lose a minimal number of seats for concert setups in a 180 degree format.

[windypeg]

Originally Posted by esquire

This would probably be a much better bet if the Jets were not near the top of the NHL these days.

If you flash back to about 3 or 4 years ago I didn't have much interest in going to Jets games because you were basically paying top dollar to watch what felt like a perennial also ran. I'd sooner buy Moose tickets if I wanted a night out watching hockey.
.

There's a word for that, "bandwagoner".

[buzzg]

I think the location is bad enough for hockey, but it’d be downright horrible for concerts. No transit, hell of an expensive cab to anywhere. Because concerts are one offs (or one every few years at best generally) they tend to be much bigger nights nout, which means more drinking. Would be awful going to a concert around there both on transportation and lack of anything nearby. I know TNSE sees 2-4x the amount of alcohol sales per person at concerts (depends on crowd) compared to average Jets games.

I hope this doesn’t get a dollar from government. If they want money from the province, hopefully the province would make them out it at U of M like IGF deal – or at lease somewhere with better access.

[buzzg]

Drill rig on site at the next U of W-assisted residential building, behind WAG.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by windypeg

There's a word for that, "bandwagoner".

Guilty as charged. As a Winnipeg sports fan I've sat in the stands through enough mediocre hockey and football to not have to feel guilty about taking a pass if one of the teams looks like it's headed into a season that's over before it starts.

[trueviking]

I get that it will be cheap. But so is MJHL. At what point does it matter about the actual team and not a night out watching hockey. Don’t the moose have the market cornered on hockey we don’t care about but want to spend three hours sitting in an arena? Can we really support two ‘just want to be in an arena’ teams? We are seeing how far that has gone with the moose and they have players who will or have played on the jets.

Will being ten dollars cheaper really make people choose it over the moose, where you can sit in a better arena and watch players that at least have a connection to the team we care about? I can’t see the business case for cheap and free parking. At some point it has to be about the product. And I just don’t see there being a large group of people actually following the team the way they do in markets where it’s the only game in town.

And to spend $40-50 mil building an arena that will have little use otherwise seems like a crazy risk. It’s not my money I guess. Better not be at least.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Drill rig on site at the next U of W-assisted residential building, behind WAG.

Love to see some pics of this, if anyone is in the area.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by pspeid

Love to see some pics of this, if anyone is in the area.

It's literally just an empty lot with a fence around it and one piece of equipment parked on it.

[blueandgoldguy]

Per True North's agreement with the province and city, I am pretty sure both levels of government cannot contribute public funds to a covered facility that would compete for similar events. This new arena should be 100% privately financed...unless the RM of McDonald with its massive population of 10,000 people decides to contribute millions to this project.

[roccerfeller]

as long as it's entirely privately financed, i have no issue with this

bring it on, let the market decide what it can and cannot support

from what I understand, the Moose are fine as is. They are a net positive for TNSE, and as someone mentioned, they are essentially being "part of" TNSE's entire Jets business, and independently are doing fine - thus even with declining attendance, no outward mention has been made of there being an issue nor is TNSE in any form of panic mode.

From the few people I have talked, all whom are massive Jets fans, are super pumped by WHL news. One of them had no idea of the news and was ecstatic when he found out.

myself, i don't care much for the AHL or WHL. Just the NHL (specifically the Jets) and a few other pro sports leagues. But there are people who will fit different interest groups; some will care for the AHL and will not care for the WHL, others will care for the WHL and not for the AHL.

[buzzg]

I realize TV’s cryptic message was likely for legal or moral reasons.... I asked and exec at Wawanesa if it was true they’re building a new downtown HQ and their response was “I can neither confirm nor deny that ”