Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thurmas

so Halifax the hub of Atlantic Canada has a porto potty temp stadium for the wanderers, an inadequate pool and no stadium on the horizon at all for cfl and a metro centre arena from the 70s. Whereas Regina a city almost half its size could soon have a brand new WHL arena, brand new baseball stadium and it currently has the most modern stadium in Canada for CFL.

It boils down to where you want to spend your money... there is a pretty strong sports culture on the prairies, so a lot of money (some might say it's a disproportionate amount) gets spent there.

[WhipperSnapper]

Re: pool

It's possible I mixed them up.

[phone]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Re: pool

It's possible I mixed them up.

Saskatoon is in the initial planning stages for a new leisure centre that would include a pool, in partnership with the YMCA. The current YMCA pool is 50+ years old and was recently shuttered. Coincidentally, the YMCA is right next to TCU Place/one of the proposed arena locations (the superior one). So a relocated YMCA and new (recreation, not competition) pool could easily play into the scheme.

[phone]

Originally Posted by esquire

It boils down to where you want to spend your money... there is a pretty strong sports culture on the prairies, so a lot of money (some might say it's a disproportionate amount) gets spent there.

Sure, but that doesn't account for all the money Saskatoon has been piling into other areas -- arts & culture (new art gallery and library), transit (incoming BRT), infrastructure (three new river crossings in the last 10 years)... to say that it's all sports sports sports is not really capturing what's happening. What we do have is a fairly aspirational city hall with a willingness to do things in spite of the BANANA crowd. Council was handily re-elected almost ward for ward in 2020 after four years of griping and moaning from various comments sections, which I think put some wind in the sails to actually move ahead with some of these larger ticket projects. That said, the longer this goes on, the more serious the funding challenges become.

[esquire]

^ For sure, I meant the high spending levels across the prairies in general terms.

I don't think anyone would accuse the City of Saskatoon on overspending for sports facilities. On the whole it's a pretty nice set of venues. SaskTel Centre was maybe a bit of a splurge but that was 35 years ago.

[phone]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ For sure, I meant the high spending levels across the prairies in general terms.

I don't think anyone would accuse the City of Saskatoon on overspending for sports facilities. On the whole it's a pretty nice set of venues. SaskTel Centre was maybe a bit of a splurge but that was 35 years ago.

Gotcha. Yeah you are likely correct in the prairies having comparatively high spending levels on sports facilities. Check out the Town of Aberdeen's hockey rink if you want to read a tale of woe and possible redemption in that regard.

One thing that's getting missed here is that the Sasktel Centre gets a lot of community use aside from its use as a hockey/lacrosse/basketball arena. This is obviously true of most similarly sized facilities, but it has the usual slate of touring acts that come through, as well as fairs/markets, pow wows, and miscellaneous things like equestrian shows, monster truck rallies, etc. So operational revenue will likely be higher than some might think, and anyone who thinks that it will sit empty whenever its not a game night is just plain wrong. I would imagine that there would be something happening there pretty much or close to every day if this was to come to fruition, given Sasktel Centre's level of use combined with a superior downtown location.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by esquire

It boils down to where you want to spend your money... there is a pretty strong sports culture on the prairies, so a lot of money (some might say it's a disproportionate amount) gets spent there.

Not sure if it's confirmed but there were going to be upgrades for Wanderers including more permanent facilities. It will still be a modest stadium though.

I agree with your point. Usually people start by picking out one good thing in one place and comparing it with another place instead of looking at the wider context. Halifax has a fairly new convention centre for example and the Cogswell interchange redevelopment is one of the big capital outlays happening right now (money to actually demolish it and rebuild the infrastructure).

I do think that HRM does a poor job of focusing (capital budget is $200M or so a year but it goes to tons of different little things; they claim they are spending > 1/4 of the budget on "climate change" which I guess is probably mostly transit/AT), is often extremely risk averse, and NS is allergic to be seen investing in gold-plated projects in the capital. And of course NB and PEI do not send cheques to Halifax for stadiums; the regional revenues are just a small factor.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by JustForTheHalibut

yep and I just checked, wouldn't you know it, but Regina is planning a new indoor competitive pool too,
apparently to compliment their newest outside pool they built this year.

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/council-to...ding-1.5928659

To answer the Regina part of your post, the Lawson in Regina would be entirely replaced by a new competitive pool. There have been numerous issues with ventilation, etc. with the current facility, so it definitely wouldn't be kept post-new build (if that were to occur). The U of R has a pool of sorts but nothing even close to approaching what the U of S has in Saskatoon in terms of amplifying the other numbers you quoted.

The current outdoor pool under construction in Regina actually replaces something from the 50s/60s and adds slides/other more rec features. It was heavily criticised though. IIRC, the original Wascana pool had 50m lanes vs the replacement only having 25m lanes.

[JustForTheHalibut]

^ Right, i didn't even think to check what the Universities in each Saskatchewan city have for pools.

Both the Education and the Kinesiology pools at U of S in Saskatoon look to each have competitive lane swimming.

https://rec.usask.ca/activities/swim...ursandLocation

Originally Posted by some123
I do think that HRM does a poor job of focusing (capital budget is $200M or so a year but it goes to tons of different little things;

Quick look shows Saskatoon's annual capital budget is $300 million each year so maybe that's where Halifax's short fall for amenities is.

Originally Posted by phone
Saskatoon is in the initial planning stages for a new leisure centre that would include a pool, in partnership with the YMCA. The current YMCA pool is 50+ years old and was recently shuttered. Coincidentally, the YMCA is right next to TCU Place/one of the proposed arena locations (the superior one). So a relocated YMCA and new (recreation, not competition) pool could easily play into the scheme.

https://www.ymcasaskatoon.ca

Your definition of shuttered and my definition must be two very different things. At least the downtown YMCA pool in Saskatoon is continuing to allow pool entry well into September. Also it looks like the new pool planned in Saskatoon is suppose to be part of a two high schools complex just like the other competitive pool built 13 years ago.
Is the city moving away from having competitive swimming & diving pools at it's high schools and turning to have high school students using recreational water slides and wave pools during spare breaks between classes instead of competitive swim pools these days? bizarre


"It (new pool) would be similar to the model used by the Shaw Centre, which is joined to Tommy Douglas Collegiate and Bethlehem Catholic High School."

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...-neighbourhood

[phone]

Originally Posted by JustForTheHalibut

Your definition of shuttered and my definition must be two very different things. At least the downtown YMCA pool in Saskatoon is continuing to allow pool entry well into September.

I got mixed up -- it was the YWCA pool that was recently "closed permanently" (i.e., shuttered): https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/after-n...ntly-1.6020567

But the YMCA is still thinking of either relocating, or opening a second pool facility in the medium term future.

[MonctonRad]

Nice (but somewhat oversaturated and overexposed) aerial of the Avenir Centre in downtown Moncton:


Source - https://www.facebook.com/infinityaerials.ca

[esquire]

^ Back in July I had the chance to poke my head inside for a first-hand look around the arena thanks to a friendly Wildcats staffer, I was impressed. It is a lovely facility and the location is great. The entrance hall is pretty grand.

I would love to go for a skate on that rink out front!

[JHikka]

re: new Ottawa arena

@SunGarrioch
Anthony LeBlanc says no decisions have been made but a rink capacity in the 16,000 to 16,500 would probably be ideal. #Sens

It's Garrioch and LeBlanc so take it with the world's largest grain of salt but that size would make far more sense than what they're currently stuck with.

[J.OT13]

The Sens have provided an update on the LeBreton arena development.

The Senators President of Business Operations Anthony LeBlanc and Chief Financial Officer Erin Crowe toured Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and Rogers Place in Edmonton to give Government officials an idea of what a new LeBreton arena could look like. The group will also visit Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the UBS Arena in Belmont, N.Y., and the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

They are looking at a bowl capacity of 16,000 to 16,500, which could suggest a total capacity of around 17k to 17.5k when we include suites and standing room.

Number of suites has not been discussed, but it will likely be fewer than the Corel Centre, which had a count of 180 suites when it was first built and that number has been lowered to 123.

A practice rink attached to the new facility would be desirable, but they may not have space for it. However, the arena will likely include a hotel and/or residential.

As for the current arena, they will be introducing a new menu to better the fan experience. A new “Grab and Go” concession will also be available, which involves some technology apparently to make the process faster. Article doesn't go into detail on that one.

https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/hoc...ld-at-lebreton

[esquire]

^ Interesting that Ottawa got rid of nearly a third of its suites. Usually when a team is selling the idea of a new building, that's one of the first things that typically gets cited. "We need more suites" or whatever other types of premium seating areas the current building is lacking. I've never heard of a team moving in the opposite direction, i.e. reducing the suites in the existing building and then again in the new one.

So what happened to all those suites?

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Interesting that Ottawa got rid of nearly a third of its suites. Usually when a team is selling the idea of a new building, that's one of the first things that typically gets cited. "We need more suites" or whatever other types of premium seating areas the current building is lacking. I've never heard of a team moving in the opposite direction, i.e. reducing the suites in the existing building and then again in the new one.

So what happened to all those suites?

Because the corporate community is so small in Ottawa and I believe even smaller than Winnipeg it makes some sense.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Because the corporate community is so small in Ottawa and I believe even smaller than Winnipeg it makes some sense.

Right, but what I'm getting at is what do they use that former suite space for? Was it turned into restaurants, lounges, expanding the remaining suites, etc.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by esquire

Right, but what I'm getting at is what do they use that former suite space for? Was it turned into restaurants, lounges, expanding the remaining suites, etc.

Museum for Rod Black puns while he called Ottawa Red Blacks games?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by esquire

Right, but what I'm getting at is what do they use that former suite space for? Was it turned into restaurants, lounges, expanding the remaining suites, etc.

I think fan decks, party decks, club seats, that kind of stuff. Things that are more expensive than regular seats, but cheaper than suites.

Moslon Canadian Fan Deck:



Club Bell:



Brookstreet Lounge:



https://www.fromthisseat.com/index.p...-seating-chart
https://architizer.com/idea/1909216/

And here's a seating chart that shows some of those areas.

http://ottsenators.com/seasonseats/

EDIT: images didn't embed for some reason, but those websites have images and that first one breaks down the perks of those areas.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

They are looking at a bowl capacity of 16,000 to 16,500, which could suggest a total capacity of around 17k to 17.5k when we include suites and standing room.

Probably fine in the end and definitely better than the 20K they are saddled with in Kanata currently.