Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[tomthumb2]

Originally Posted by esquire

I get that the stadium wouldn't have been designed to CFL or MLS specs, but come on, my junior high school had better dressing rooms than that. I'd be shocked if the CFL teams and Edmonton FC used those.

That looks like the dressing rooms are part of the public washrooms - what a joke!

[esquire]

Originally Posted by tomthumb2

That looks like the dressing rooms are part of the public washrooms - what a joke!

It's an odd mismatch... on one hand the developers of Shell Place thought there would be sufficiently high-level sporting events to justify the construction of a pro-calibre field and seating grandstands, but they put in dressing rooms barely worthy of an atom-level hockey team.

[Dirt_Devil]

Quebec City's Videotron Centre is nearing completion.















































All pictures from Construction amphithéâtre de Québec's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Construct...%A2tre-de-Quebec/805734972788630?fref=ts

[Berklon]

The interior looks fantastic.

I like that they've let in a lot of natural lighting - gives it a vibrant feel.
I also like that the seats are blue instead of black. Black seats give the interior a more gloomy look - which is a negative in nice arenas like the Consol Energy Center and the Sprint Center.

[itom 987]

A solid looking arena, lets hope Quebec gets an NHL expansion team some day.

[king10]

I know its been said. But wow the interior is top notch.

[Brik Chithaus]

That arena looks like a typical 90's arena. Basic bowls for seating. An already outdated scoreboard. And a seemingly cold and sterile feel. Kinda boring. It's definitely not revolutionary by any means. Will look dated in ... well, right now actually

[TownGuy]

^ I agree to a certain extent. There is only so much you can do with an arena though. It's not like building a baseball stadium where you can essentially create anything.

That said I've begun to really appreciate the ACC. It's now 16 years old but holds its own to any new arena being built or in the league. It is also somewhat unique with the gondolas on either end of the arena.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by tomthumb2

Curious to know if anyone agrees with me on this: if the San Francisco 49ers can move to Santa Clara and still be called "San Francisco", maybe its time the Argos move to London or possibly Mississauga? Not even sure if going to BMO can save them at this point. That's where they played for like 30 years and everyone back then said it was a horrible location.

I'm not sure what the point of that would be. The Argos' profile is no higher outside the GTA than in the city.

Originally Posted by osmo

The ideal move us the Argos in Vaughn by the Subway expansion in Vaughn's new downtown. The reality is that is the Argos strongest and wealthiest support base and for Vaughn its a easy way to brand the city and draw attention to the new downtown. You can keep the Toronto name by Vaughn can aggressively brand the Stadium (ex Sun Life Park @ Vaughn Center City). This has worked for Arlington who aggressively forces the Cowboys and Rangers to use Arlington when referring to where the team plays its games and not " Suburban Dallas". This would expose a Toronto suburb to many Canadians who outside of Ontario likely have never heard of or knew that Vaughn is bigger than most Canadian cities.

The Bills, Patriots, Cowboys, 49ers, Cardinals, Dolphins, Redskins all play in the suburbs and with football as a destination sport with 10 home dates its easier to pull off. It is the best move for the Argos in Vaughn, Toronto does not deserve a team it doesn't want

The majority of the fans of the Leafs, Blue Jays, and Raptors are from the suburbs as well yet they all play downtown. I have yet to see any evidence that Argos fans are any different. Downtown is the most accessible location to the majority of the residents of the GTA and it will only become more so as the GO RER system gets established.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Brik Chithaus

That arena looks like a typical 90's arena. Basic bowls for seating. An already outdated scoreboard. And a seemingly cold and sterile feel. Kinda boring. It's definitely not revolutionary by any means. Will look dated in ... well, right now actually

Not every scoreboard need to be a mammoth beast like they have in the states. Those massive ones in Tampa and Cleavland look dumb IMO. I don't see how that scoreboard is outdated. It's similar to the one in San Jose and better than the ACC, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton. On par with MTL, Van and Ottawa.

Also simple clean interior seating bowl is best for sightlines. When you have a seating bowl with tons of suites and levels the views are shit. Not sure how the heck an interior bowl can be built to be revolutionary. Theres only so much you can alter.

The the interior is not a 90s design. There are no portals for entrance to the bowl. it's all open concept with people walking in from the open concourse, this is a great change since the 90s. Allows for constant view of the games from the concourse, while not wasting space for the portals.

And it probably looks cold and sterile because you know its still under construction with concrete exposed, no lights on, plastic covering the seats. No finishings are up, nor any advertising or fans in the seats.

Having said all that about the interior, I'm still not crazy about the exterior.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Mister F

I'm not sure what the point of that would be. The Argos' profile is no higher outside the GTA than in the city.


The majority of the fans of the Leafs, Blue Jays, and Raptors are from the suburbs as well yet they all play downtown. I have yet to see any evidence that Argos fans are any different. Downtown is the most accessible location to the majority of the residents of the GTA and it will only become more so as the GO RER system gets established.

Most of the Argos fans come from outside the downtown core in the burbs. Specifically North of the 401 in Vaughn.

[Brik Chithaus]

Originally Posted by king10

Not every scoreboard need to be a mammoth beast like they have in the states. Those massive ones in Tampa and Cleavland look dumb IMO. I don't see how that scoreboard is outdated. It's similar to the one in San Jose and better than the ACC, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton. On par with MTL, Van and Ottawa.

In all fairness, those mammoth scoreboards ARE the new generation of scoreboards whether you like them or not. I personally like them. Whatever the case, the future is now. Anyone without one of those big bastards will be upgrading in the next 5-10 years.

Good call on all your other points though.

[Coldrsx]

QC interiors are vey impressive indeed.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by king10

Most of the Argos fans come from outside the downtown core in the burbs. Specifically North of the 401 in Vaughn.

That's just my point though. You could say the same of the Jays, Raptors and Leafs - most of their fans are from the suburbs too. As for Vaughan, I've heard that before but I've never seen a source for that claim. More people watch the Argos on TV than even live in Vaughan. Even if the fan base is as Vaughan-centric as I've heard, you can't bring the team back to relevance by just focusing on them. There's far more room for growth downtown, which is, as I mentioned, more accessible to more of the GTA.

[The Fisher Account]

Yeah, count me in as someone surprised that QC didn't get a Tampa or Denver style scoreboard. Call it too big or ridiculous, but it's the new standard

[king10]

Originally Posted by Brik Chithaus

In all fairness, those mammoth scoreboards ARE the new generation of scoreboards whether you like them or not. I personally like them. Whatever the case, the future is now. Anyone without one of those big bastards will be upgrading in the next 5-10 years.

Good call on all your other points though.

Ya it's become the norm in the states, but not yet in Canada. I can see QC not wanting to be the first arena in Canada to go with that massive scoreboard. Also the interior looks so clean and sophisticated, I think the scoreboard jives with that. If an NHL team comes they can always upgrade it in 5 years as technology dates fast.

The ACC is replacing their scoreboard this summer, we'll see which route they go. Usually Toronto/Van/Mtl goes with the bigger and better first then the rest of Canada follows.

For comparison, the QC scoreboard is going to look like Columbus and San Jose's relatively new scoreboards. Not all NBA/ NHL arenas are going the route of the ginormous scoreboards. The QC board is hardly dated and would be one of the best in Canada along with Ott.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by Mister F

I'm not sure what the point of that would be. The Argos' profile is no higher outside the GTA than in the city.


The majority of the fans of the Leafs, Blue Jays, and Raptors are from the suburbs as well yet they all play downtown. I have yet to see any evidence that Argos fans are any different. Downtown is the most accessible location to the majority of the residents of the GTA and it will only become more so as the GO RER system gets established.

Majority of fans who catch weekday Leafs and Raptors game a are mostly local from Toronto city proper. Argo fan travel patterns are more from the suburbs. You can see this in action yourself in October during the few dates both the Argos and Leafs play at the same time. Union Station has way more double blue Argo fans filing out to watch the game. Etobicoke and the suburbs are the base for the Argos and sticking a stadium anywhere that is accessible for 10 home games does not matter as much as you think. Football stadiums have shown to have next to no impact on downtowns.

80 arena home dates (NHL + NBA)
80 Blue Jays dates in the spring and summer
30 TFC games (including friendlies and non MLS)

10 Argo games.

It isn't close. Football is always a destination sport. We just don't understand it here in lowly football Toronto. Back in Sask people would drive 6hrs + to go catch a Rider game, you see similar travel in the USA. You are more willing to do that for a sport that only gives you 8-10 dates, because of that location isn't as important as you think. Nobody is driving 6hrs to catch a Wednesday night Leafs vs Wild game in December.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by king10

Ya it's become the norm in the states, but not yet in Canada. I can see QC not wanting to be the first arena in Canada to go with that massive scoreboard. Also the interior looks so clean and sophisticated, I think the scoreboard jives with that. If an NHL team comes they can always upgrade it in 5 years as technology dates fast.

The ACC is replacing their scoreboard this summer, we'll see which route they go. Usually Toronto/Van/Mtl goes with the bigger and better first then the rest of Canada follows.

For comparison, the QC scoreboard is going to look like Columbus and San Jose's relatively new scoreboards. Not all NBA/ NHL arenas are going the route of the ginormous scoreboards. The QC board is hardly dated and would be one of the best in Canada along with Ott.

I am mixed on the "big board" trend. It is great for the fans but looks foolish any other time looking at it. Plus it makes every area look basically the same. It would look good in the ACC as the ACC is somewhat rectangular in its configuration just like Indiana and the Fieldhouse (the board looks great there). You would have to spend the money to make it look a bit different. It's funny no plans have surfaced of these plans, renovations are starting in July I believe.

[blueandgoldguy]

I love the interior of the new Quebec arena as well. Large open concourses by the looks of things. Quality finishes on everything from the support structures to the undersides of the above stands. No exposed concrete in sight based on those pics.

MTS Centre on the other hand has exposed concrete pillars and you can see the exposed concrete stands above you while in the concessions. With Quebec that one pic gives you an idea of the quality finish. Instead of looking at exposed concrete above you you are met with the gentle curve of a wood design accentuated by soft light.

[red-paladin]

It's the same design as BC Place's new scoreboard


From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51447203@N05/7174264500/