Halifax Stadium Discussion

[resetcbu1]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

A few days ago, there was an article in the allnovascotia.com about the relatively small number of people who turned up for the stadium open houses (about a hundred in total). Also there are only a hundred followers of the Halifax Stadium Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/halifaxstadium). The article in the allnovascotia.com was titled Stadium's Business Case Not Sexy Enough - June 30th, 2011 by Amy Pugsley Frazer.

A few people from the advisory committee were asked for the reason for the low numbers at the open houses, and they seemed to think that it was because it is just the business plan stage. I tend to agree, I think the next phase (stadium design phase) will be of more interest. I also think that many people still don't believe that a stadium will be built (since it has been talked about since 1982). One tell-tale sign is that Bruce DeVenne and other naysayers haven't jumped on board yet with endless articles and comments against building it (surely we would have heard more from these people by now).

What are the opinions of others on this forum - of the people that you know, how much interest is there in a stadium for the Halifax area? How many people, other than ones on this forum, actually realize that a study is currently being conducted on building a Halifax area stadium?

Im sure the facebook group has a solid membership

[worldlyhaligonian]

I don't even think the average person has enough time to attend such a thing. The normal Haligonian is too focused on their job, kids, social life.

People aren't informed... and this has been the big reason behind the success of anti-development groups.

[Joshy]

It sure would be nice to have the ability to get out to Halifax and catch their local CFL team in their brand spankin new stadium. Would give me an excuse to explore the East Coast as I have never been there and would like to see it one day. Plus, I really want to hate a maritime CFL team just like I hate all other CFL teams that aren't the Blue Bombers

Good luck guys!

[ewjonsson]

Yea, neither my suburb friends nor my downtown friends are very informed about it. When I ask they mostly think its a good idea though.

[halifaxboyns]

I wonder if someone could suggest hiring a public survey company like ipsos to do a much more detailed poling on support of a stadium or a convention centre? I'm doing a project on signage (which is a totally unsexy topic) and you'd be surprised how we were able to get a lot of detailed survey information out of people, once we got them thinking about city issues.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I wonder if someone could suggest hiring a public survey company like ipsos to do a much more detailed poling on support of a stadium or a convention centre? I'm doing a project on signage (which is a totally unsexy topic) and you'd be surprised how we were able to get a lot of detailed survey information out of people, once we got them thinking about city issues.

I think its really a communications problem. Somebody should negotiate a guarantee from the CFL for the franchise rights, design a logo, and literally start a social media campaign that isn't dependent on the stadium.

I would bet the public would be alot more enthusiastic at that point.

I would buy a jersey tomorrow... especially if the funds went towards the building of a stadium. I would also pay up to $2000 for my own seat in the stadium.

[q12]

Sad story from the Stadium world today.

One dead, 16 hurt in collapse of stadium roof in Netherlands
By MARTIN MEISSNER The Associated Press
Fri, Jul 8 - 4:55 AM
http://thechronicleherald.ca/World/1252373.html

The construction work aimed to increase the stadium’s capacity to 30,000 from 24,000 by adding a new tier above existing seating.

This stadium is interresting though as it has been upgraded a few times with additional upper tiers.


http://www.rickdekikker.com/entry/entry_1655.php

[q12]

Stadium going back to council
Project phase wraps up soon
The ChronicleHerald.ca
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE City Hall Reporter
Wed, Jul 13 - 7:34 AM

A city hall committee examining the possibility of a proposed multi-use stadium for the Halifax area is approaching the end of its work.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1253143.html

Let's get this thing going into Phase 2.

[halifaxboyns]

I'm glad to see this going the next step, but it annoys me how stupid some people can be about beating the 'economics' horse to death. People need to realize that not everything in a city (that the city may operate) makes money. Look at parks for example. How much money does Point Pleasant Park make? Or the Public Gardens? Probably very little - yet it's operating costs are probably huge. Same with rec centres or schools? But no one even bats an eye about supporting these for funding.

But then you talk about the economics of a stadium or convention centre and then it's oh no we can't do that, because it will cost too much or won't make money.

I think we should start standing up and saying the same thing for new schools and parks, because that's how silly the argument is. If you really made the focus on a service making money, you'd have to pay to get in PPP or the PG. I guess this just goes to show how misinformed people are.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by resetcbu1

Im sure the facebook group has a solid membership

Although the HRM facebook site doesn't have a large following yet, this private facebook site created by a person named Scott Smith has 3,524 members - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2248041900&v=wall .

Scott Smith has also created a more current fanpage at this site - http://www.facebook.com/Stadium4halifax?ref=mf which has 800 "likes"

Hopefully the HRM facebook site following and Twitter account following will continue to grow.

[q12]

http://www.cfl.ca/schedule/year/2011/time_zone/0

Just an interesting note that the CFL regular season attendance so far is between 22,000 - 30,000. Averages out to about 26,000 so far. Montreal on the low end and Saskatchewan on the high end.

An affordable expandable stadium in that 25,000 seat range would work nicely in the CFL for Halifax.

[fenwick16]

The University of Connecticut's Rentschler Field is another stadium that can be considered in relation to cost and design. It is larger than required at 40,000 seats, and has a large media tower but no partial roof. Still it gives an idea of cost for a basic sunken-bowl stadium design. It looks similar to a scaled down Stanford Stadium.

The cost when completed in 2003 was $91.2 million dollars. That works out to $2,280 per seat - (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rentschler_Field_%28stadium%29)

Here is a Bird's Eye-view from Bing Maps - http://www.virtualbirdseye.com/map/map.htm?x=-72.618863&y=41.759786&z=1&t=3

[q12]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Here is a Bird's Eye-view from Bing Maps - http://www.virtualbirdseye.com/map/map.htm?x=-72.618863&y=41.759786&z=1&t=3

From that view if you took out the endzones and maybe a little more you could be around 25,000 seats. And if you scaled down the media tower and maybe put in a partial roof it would be an attractive looking stadium for Halifax.

[fenwick16]

It is good to see that there isn't overwhelming opposition to a stadium in Halifax (even Tim Bousquet of The Coast has been subdued in his opposition).

Rick Howe of the local talk show fame has been making statements in favour. This is Rick Howe's column from today:

(source: http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/Blog-Article/b/20312/Ricks-Rants-Monday-July-18th2011 )

Rick's Rants Monday July 18th/2011

Next stop---Canada and maybe Halifax!! and A council size decision today!!

An exciting finish Sunday to the 2011 Women's World Cup soccer championship. Tied at 2 after extra time, the U.S. and Japan settled matters with penalty kicks with the Japanese winning the shootout 3-1 to become the first Asian nation to win the championship. While still nowhere near the scale of the men's world championship, billions around the globe did watch the women's games the last couple of weeks from Germany. Canada will host the 2015 women's championship with Halifax one of 7 cities hoping to land some of the action. Halifax however, is the only Canadian city without a major outdoor sports stadium, but that may change. A stadium recommendation from a citizen's committee will go before city council's first meeting in August. While committee members are closed-mouthed about their recommendation, comments from chair Kim Mason seem to suggest support for the effort. If council approves, the matter will move on to phase two and will look at issues like the cost involved, a stadium location and a design.

I'm excited about the possibility of seeing a stadium built in the city. We're as close as we've ever been to making it a reality. Along with the 2015 soccer championship it opens the door to all kinds of possibilities and perhaps one day a CFL franchise. And wouldn't a stadium on the Shannon Park lands in Dartmouth overlooking Halifax Harbour be a real gem?

Having Rick Howe in favour means one less person in a position to speak out against it. (even better, having a talk show, he is in a position to speak in favour)

[ATL Stadium]

I'm getting very anxious for news related to the next stage of the Stadium and how HRM council will react to moving forward. With the news of the down sizing of CBRM each HRM councilor must be watching their statements extremely closely. Maybe one will be brave enough to jump up and say they are absolutely infavour and willing to push the ball up the hill........

[q12]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

That is an amazing video clip - thanks for posting it; it covers the national ship-building selection (that would be a boom for Halifax); the Nova Center and the stadium. Great find! You should re-post it in the stadium thread also.

The amazing thing is that Peter McKay said that they have approached the CFL about Halifax building a stadium (I think that I heard that correctly??). It also went into some depth about Shannon Park. Peter McKay seems very interested in Halifax building a stadium.

http://atlantic.ctv.ca/?video=504014
CTV ATLANTIC

[hfxtradesman]

There are two posable sites for this stadium, one at the top of Clayton Park area and the second at the Dart. Crossing. Shannon Park is not ,this my source has told me . As it would take to long to get the land from DND. Thus not getting the stadium built in time for 2014.

[q12]

Originally Posted by hfxtradesman

There are two posable sites for this stadium, one at the top of Clayton Park area and the second at the Dart. Crossing. Shannon Park is not ,this my source has told me . As it would take to long to get the land from DND. Thus not getting the stadium built in time for 2014.

They just had a story on CTV Atlantic that DND may be demolitioning buildings @ Shannon Park. The story also finished saying that Peter Mackay really likes this site for the Stadium.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by q12

They just had a story on CTV Atlantic that DND may be demolitioning buildings @ Shannon Park. The story also finished saying that Peter Mackay really likes this site for the Stadium.

Do you have a video link?

It seems to me that the CTV news is more informative and interesting than the CBC news (just my opinion - maybe because CTV has had more relevant news that last couple of days). Also the CTV news doesn't seem to have the anti-development bias that CBC has. However, I seldom watch the two news agencies, except online - so I shouldn't be saying ...

[q12]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Do you have a video link?

http://atlantic.ctv.ca/?video=505406

Starts @ 11:45

It seems to me that the CTV news is more informative and interesting than the CBC news (just my opinion - maybe because CTV has had more relevant news that last couple of days). Also the CTV news doesn't seem to have the anti-development bias that CBC has. However, I seldom watch the two news agencies, except online - so I shouldn't be saying ...

CBC seems to be anti-development and caters to the small groups of whiners.

I'm actually surprised at the Stadium coverage CTV has been giving without any real reason. They seem to pushing the stadium idea and are helping to keep it in the headlines.