Halifax Stadium Discussion

[Empire]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I found the following information to be interesting and bodes well for a Maritime CFL team. In my opinion, if Maritimers will buy a significant amount of merchandise for a team hundreds of miles away in Boston then they will support a local CFL team.

(source: http://canada.nfl.com/2013/10/21/canadas-favourite-nfl-teams-2/)

The "Atlantic Patriots"

[Keith P.]

That's due to getting their games on TV all the time.

[teddifax]

All I want for Christmas is a new stadium
A new stadium, yes, a new stadium...

[ILoveHalifax]

Hello Fenwick,
The man who knows all things stadium.
I am guessing the Armoury and parking is too small for our new stadium?
Possibly it could be accomplished with a slight diversion of North Park St towards the commons?

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

Hello Fenwick,
The man who knows all things stadium.
I am guessing the Armoury and parking is too small for our new stadium?
Possibly it could be accomplished with a slight diversion of North Park St towards the commons?

Leaving aside that the armoury ain't going anywhere, that would mean dropping a stadium directly adjacent to a dense residential area. Like, literally within a few feet of people's houses in some cases. Never happen.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

Hello Fenwick,
The man who knows all things stadium.
I am guessing the Armoury and parking is too small for our new stadium?
Possibly it could be accomplished with a slight diversion of North Park St towards the commons?

Dimensionally, you "might" be able to fit 1/2 of a football field on the Armoury site.

That doesn't leave much room for the required 20,000 seats.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

Hello Fenwick,
The man who knows all things stadium.
I am guessing the Armoury and parking is too small for our new stadium?
Possibly it could be accomplished with a slight diversion of North Park St towards the commons?

That popped into my head when I heard that the Armoury land was becoming surplus. But when I looked at the map I could see that the Armoury land area was smaller than the Metro Centre land area.

Personally I think that the Commons area would be a great location for a stadium.

In any case, I would be saddened to see the old Armoury demolished.

[xanaxanax]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

That popped into my head when I heard that the Armoury land was becoming surplus. But when I looked at the map I could see that the Armoury land area was smaller than the Metro Centre land area.

Personally I think that the Commons area would be a great location for a stadium.

In any case, I would be saddened to see the old Armoury demolished.

The commons is the worst horrible suggestions that shows lack of consideration, there are far more reasonable places on the peninsula if you are going to use recreational land, like in point pleasant, needham park, Seaview Lookoff Park, even near africville road beside the Container Terminal or build over one of the many cemeteries. In all honestly lots of cities have large public facilities in their parks the vancouver aquarium in Stanley Park for example. The commons is used by thousands of more people than will ever attend a cfl game.

Personally I think the Holy Cross Cemetery along queen and south is the best spot for a stadium if we had one in a central location for the city, aside from the fourth Prime Minister being buried there its probably the cemetery with the least historical significance to the city spread across more than 8 acres or 350000. They could name stadium after the fourth Prime Minister, call it the John Sparrow David Thompson stadium or some abbreviation of it. Maybe that could get it some federal founding with the current government since he was a Conservative Prime Minister.

(This is mostly satire as I really don't care about a stadium and will never attend a game in one.)

[RyeJay]

It's okay if you don't outright support a stadium, xanaxanax. The discussion about where one could be constructed is still a conversation worth having.

With all the new residential buildings proposed and underconstruction in the North End, I'm wondering if the population that migrates to this area will help make a business case for a stadium in this area as well.
These residential projects are intended and marketed to young professionals, mostly, I believe.

Should these 6, 7, 8-storey developments (and around the 20-storey range on and around Young St.) change our considerations for a stadium's location?

This very central destination is about to get richer with residents, many of whom will be of the age to attend games, hopefully in extremely high frequencies; this, and the university students via public transit; this, and HRM suburbanites and out of town guests via the MacKay and Macdonald bridges and the Bedford Highway and the 102.

If you take MSVU into account in the grand scheme of universities and colleges in this city, this is one of the most central locations for post secondary students.

Empty fields and rundown industrial lands, galore!
Not only is there ample room for a stadium here, but this investment gives reason for future projects and proposals. A stadium in the North End would help stimulate redevelopment of all these underused and underappreciated sites. Kempt Road would be a developer's gold mine: a local population boom with new entertainment/community infrastructure -- and no downtown height restrictions -- no Citadel viewplanes -- no Friends of the Sidewalk Clover Patch.

Cranes in Halifax? Oh you just wait.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by xanaxanax

The commons is the worst horrible suggestions that shows lack of consideration, there are far more reasonable places on the peninsula if you are going to use recreational land, like in point pleasant, needham park, Seaview Lookoff Park, even near africville road beside the Container Terminal or build over one of the many cemeteries. In all honestly lots of cities have large public facilities in their parks the vancouver aquarium in Stanley Park for example. The commons is used by thousands of more people than will ever attend a cfl game.

Personally I think the Holy Cross Cemetery along queen and south is the best spot for a stadium if we had one in a central location for the city, aside from the fourth Prime Minister being buried there its probably the cemetery with the least historical significance to the city spread across more than 8 acres or 350000. They could name stadium after the fourth Prime Minister, call it the John Sparrow David Thompson stadium or some abbreviation of it. Maybe that could get it some federal founding with the current government since he was a Conservative Prime Minister.

(This is mostly satire as I really don't care about a stadium and will never attend a game in one.)

yawn. If I want satire then I will read Tim Bousquet (but I don't and won't).

[robotropolis]

Omg NIMBY! Don't put a stadium in the north end. The traffic, the drunk dip*****, the traffic, the parking, the traffic, the drunk dip*****, nightmare! Downtown is already unbearable during a mooseheads game. I used to live right next to the Alouettes stadium and it was THE WORST. And that was a small stadium.

Have you walked around many downtown areas near a stadium? They are not generally nice places to be. I believe stadiums are neighbourhood killers. Build it if you have to but NImBY.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by robotropolis

Omg NIMBY! Don't put a stadium in the north end. The traffic, the drunk dip*****, the traffic, the parking, the traffic, the drunk dip*****, nightmare! Downtown is already unbearable during a mooseheads game. I used to live right next to the Alouettes stadium and it was THE WORST. And that was a small stadium.

Have you walked around many downtown areas near a stadium? They are not generally nice places to be. I believe stadiums are neighbourhood killers. Build it if you have to but NImBY.

I love that you literally self-identified, correctly, your post as a NIMBY complaint. Saves us from having to point that out.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by robotropolis

Omg NIMBY! Don't put a stadium in the north end. The traffic, the drunk dip*****, the traffic, the parking, the traffic, the drunk dip*****, nightmare! Downtown is already unbearable during a mooseheads game. I used to live right next to the Alouettes stadium and it was THE WORST. And that was a small stadium.

Have you walked around many downtown areas near a stadium? They are not generally nice places to be. I believe stadiums are neighbourhood killers. Build it if you have to but NImBY.

A stadium in the North End wouldn't be near any of the established neighbourhoods. We're talking about the undeveloped regions beyond Young Street, on Kempt Road and Windsor Street. The empty sites and warehouses.

People don't live there. (Yet.)

Established residents will appreciate the increased number of amenities a short walking distance away.

Parking garages will be built, perhaps underground options for some projects. This central location means a reduction in traffic as more people will be able to walk.

Traffic fears shouldn't kill developments. We need to be saying yes to development, as we wisely invest in more and better public transit options to accomidate a growing city.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

A stadium in the North End wouldn't be near any of the established neighbourhoods. We're talking about the undeveloped regions beyond Young Street, on Kempt Road and Windsor Street. The empty sites and warehouses.

People don't live there. (Yet.)

Established residents will appreciate the increased number of amenities a short walking distance away.

Parking garages will be built, perhaps underground options for some projects. This central location means a reduction in traffic as more people will be able to walk.

Traffic fears shouldn't kill developments. We need to be saying yes to development, as we wisely invest in more and better public transit options to accomidate a growing city.

Agree. The WORST stadiums/arenas for traffic, are ones located in the suburbs, where EVERYONE has to drive. Driving to an Ottawa Senators game is hell on earth.

[GlassCity]

BC Place is right downtown, and there aren't really any problems with it. People learn to take transit. Which you should be doing anyway if you're gonna go to a football game...

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

BC Place is right downtown, and there aren't really any problems with it. People learn to take transit. Which you should be doing anyway if you're gonna go to a football game...

Exactly.

Perhaps a stadium plan should be done in coordination with transit option expansion; like a LRT that comes to the stadium from various suburban zones.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

BC Place is right downtown, and there aren't really any problems with it. People learn to take transit. Which you should be doing anyway if you're gonna go to a football game...

The games also tend to be held in the evenings or on weekends, precisely when the large transportation capacity in downtown Vancouver is underused. It makes perfect sense, and would be similar in Halifax, although the transit there is much worse and needs to be improved.

The idea that traffic problems get fixed by moving things out to the suburbs isn't supported by what we've seen happen in practice for the last 50 years. The suburbs can be fine for sparse areas without much traffic but as soon as you add a large number of people you need to build a ton of infrastructure to support thousands of vehicles. This is why Bayers Lake is awful and why they needed to spend around $15-20M there for a single new route into the area. These areas are neither convenient nor cheap and at the end of the day they only look attractive if you ignore most of their real cost.

[c-way-dude]

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/mayor-of-halifax-says-decision-on-stadium-coming-this-year-1.1668879

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Agree. The WORST stadiums/arenas for traffic, are ones located in the suburbs, where EVERYONE has to drive. Driving to an Ottawa Senators game is hell on earth.

Don't you mean watching a Sens game is hell on earth?

(Seriously, it's trying to get away from the stadium after an event that's the real nightmare.)

It's instructive reading Michael Lightstone's piece in this weekend's Herald, regarding the impending demolition of the St. Mary's stadium. Have no fear, however, SMU is on the case of a replacement, which will no doubt include coming hat-in-hand to the taxpayers for massive cash injections.

Regarding the resurrection of Huskies Stadium, “we’re currently underway with a needs-assessment phase to ensure that a future stadium is aligned with Saint Mary’s needs,” [spokesman Travis] Smith said in the email.

“We will take the time to prepare to build a structure that is in keeping with the high standards of infrastructure development on campus, and that aligns with our needs.

“Currently, there’s not a time frame scheduled for building a new stadium, but we look forward to proceeding as soon as funding allows.”

Note the conspicuous lack of any suggestion of cooperation or collaboration with the municipality or the city's three other universities with sports programs. Nope, it's all about our needs.

HRM and the Province should make it absolutely clear now that there will be no public funding for institutional stadiums. The universities should play together or not at all.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

Don't you mean watching a Sens game is hell on earth?

(Seriously, it's trying to get away from the stadium after an event that's the real nightmare.)

It's instructive reading Michael Lightstone's piece in this weekend's Herald, regarding the impending demolition of the St. Mary's stadium. Have no fear, however, SMU is on the case of a replacement, which will no doubt include coming hat-in-hand to the taxpayers for massive cash injections.

Regarding the resurrection of Huskies Stadium, “we’re currently underway with a needs-assessment phase to ensure that a future stadium is aligned with Saint Mary’s needs,” [spokesman Travis] Smith said in the email.

“We will take the time to prepare to build a structure that is in keeping with the high standards of infrastructure development on campus, and that aligns with our needs.

“Currently, there’s not a time frame scheduled for building a new stadium, but we look forward to proceeding as soon as funding allows.”

Note the conspicuous lack of any suggestion of cooperation or collaboration with the municipality or the city's three other universities with sports programs. Nope, it's all about our needs.

HRM and the Province should make it absolutely clear now that there will be no public funding for institutional stadiums. The universities should play together or not at all.

Most university infrastructure is raised through fundraising and donations and I am sure that the funding for the small stadium that Saint Mary's is considering will be raised in the usual way - through individuals who want to give funds.

Can you give examples of Saint Mary's and Dalhousie University buildings that have been built with taxpayers money? Is there some reason why Saint Mary's should not be allowed to rebuild their stadium through their own initiative and fund-raising?

Does it make you feel clever ns_kid when you try to mislead people with such a straw man argument?

People probably have a reason for being concerned about the construction of an extravagant municipal stadium. But a small university stadium that will be built through donations shouldn't be a concern to anyone.