Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by elly63

Hmm! What happened to the roof?



Artist Rendering of McMahon Stadium for Opening Ceremonies, Calgary, Alberta
Date of creation 1986-87

It was left on the design room floor. Your actual photo is what was done (plus some temp stands).

[Hackslack]

I agree. But to be clear, I am in no way defending Murray and the Flames to get a publicly funded gift of an arena. That should not, will not, happen. There are certainly benefits to both sides, with both private and public funding, under the right circumstances. I was simply defending Edwards from being called an "awful" person.

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't know if Murray Edwards is an awful person or not. Just because he "donates" millions doesn't preclude him from being an awful person.

[WhipperSnapper]

They don't need to sell property or other assets they don't live in or use if they surprisingly don't have tens of millions in cash on hand. They just sell a few shares. It's more wealth than can be reasonable spent in a lifetime. There's no comparison. It's foolish to even try.

[elly63]

Stadium talk dominates CFL expansion discussion
FRANCIS CAMPBELL The Chronicle Herald December 28, 2017

[Rollerstud98]

Yeah everything seems to work including all the port-a-potty’s. Lol.

[elly63]

Can't help but notice that a lot of the posters with Calgary in their avatars have a decidedly negative bent. What happened to that can-do attitude that the west was so well known for?

One thing I would be vocal about was if the city was to go it alone on a new field house costing over 200 million, I'd be pushing for why a deal with the Stamps can't be negotiated when the original idea was a combo field house stadium.

It's easy to have a hate on for the millionaire/billionaires but looking at how Halifax is handling the stadium discussions vs the city of Calgary, I'd say the city of Calgary ain't lookin' too good in this discussion either.

[GernB]

Originally Posted by elly63

Can't help but notice that a lot of the posters with Calgary in their avatars have a decidedly negative bent. What happened to that can-do attitude that the west was so well known for?

One thing I would be vocal about was if the city was to go it alone on a new field house costing over 200 million, I'd be pushing for why a deal with the Stamps can't be negotiated when the original idea was a combo field house stadium.

It's easy to have a hate on for the millionaire/billionaires but looking at how Halifax is handling the stadium discussions vs the city of Calgary, I'd say the city of Calgary ain't lookin' too good in this discussion either.

The original idea wasn't for a combo stadium/fieldhouse, that was the Flames/Stamps ownership trying to piggyback on the original idea of a stand alone fieldhouse, as well as wanting to move it from the originally proposed location in Foothills Athletic Park to just west of downtown.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by GernB

The original idea wasn't for a combo stadium/fieldhouse, that was the Flames/Stamps ownership trying to piggyback on the original idea of a stand alone fieldhouse, as well as wanting to move it from the originally proposed location in Foothills Athletic Park to just west of downtown.

True, but that field house has apparently been one of the top infrastructure needs for quite a long time and the city seemed to be in no hurry to build it. I didn't see anything wrong with the Stamps trying to piggyback on the idea. The only issue was who would pay for what and where, not so much that the idea was bad.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by elly63

Can't help but notice that a lot of the posters with Calgary in their avatars have a decidedly negative bent. What happened to that can-do attitude that the west was so well known for?

One thing I would be vocal about was if the city was to go it alone on a new field house costing over 200 million, I'd be pushing for why a deal with the Stamps can't be negotiated when the original idea was a combo field house stadium.

It's easy to have a hate on for the millionaire/billionaires but looking at how Halifax is handling the stadium discussions vs the city of Calgary, I'd say the city of Calgary ain't lookin' too good in this discussion either.

Interesting perspective to say the least. I find Calgary posters as optimistic as every despite a core industry falling on hard times. Their unwillingness to shell out for a stadium for a multi-million dollar corporation actually supports their optimism and can do attitude. They're very confident in their position as a strong NHL market that either the Flames or someone else will reach an agreement with the city on an appropriate cost structure.

There's nothing new happening in Halifax either. It's just another group looking towards the city and province to speculate on financing a CFL a stadium with a cheap rendering and some market analysis.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

There's nothing new happening in Halifax either. It's just another group looking towards the city and province to speculate on financing a CFL a stadium with a cheap rendering and some market analysis.

I would agree with that. The proposed ownership group has sports management experience but I doubt their pockets are very deep. I don't think this project will get very far unless the government kicks in significant financial support for the construction of a stadium (at least half).

Will the government do this? I'm not sure. At least NS is currently running a balanced budget, so judicious borrowing to help fund construction wouldn't break the bank (so to speak). How will this play with the taxpayer? If properly marketed as Halifax being on the cusp of being a "big league city", this could play well in HRM. There may be a lot of antipathy in the rest of the province however since Halifax always seems to get everything anyway (at least as far as the rural folk are concerned)..........

[elly63]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The proposed ownership group has sports management experience but I doubt their pockets are very deep. I don't think this project will get very far unless the government kicks in significant financial support for the construction of a stadium (at least half).

I don't know if that is a fair statement to make. My original thought was they were something like the Brad Waters group but since then we know they've been vetted by Ambrosie (a well versed financial guy). Also they somehow managed a 50 million dollar payroll at Phoenix instead of a 5 million dollar CFL payroll. Not sure what they got in the Coyote sale perhaps near 150 million for their remaining 46 percent.

[FutureSmith]

Was someone in here looking for a shot of the concourse in McMahon stadium? I was looking around and managed to find this:

[craner]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

There's nothing new happening in Halifax either. It's just another group looking towards the city and province to speculate on financing a CFL a stadium with a cheap rendering and some market analysis.

Was there a rendering of a proposed Halifax stadium for this current CFL bid ?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by craner

Was there a rendering of a proposed Halifax stadium for this current CFL bid ?

Not as far as I know.

They also have not settled on a site for the stadium.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They also have not settled on a site for the stadium.

There were three or four sites that the potential ownership group were looking at for a stadium which they shared with the City and presumably also the Province. No renders or any other information were made available.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by craner

Was there a rendering of a proposed Halifax stadium for this current CFL bid ?

'Defining moment': CFL commissioner sparks expansion hope in Halifax
Randy Ambrosie says it’s the unfilled part of national dream
Devin Heroux, CBC Sports Nov 25, 2017

LeBlanc said he's hired an architect in Los Angeles to produce a stadium rendering that was presented to Halifax council.

"They went to the Atlantic Schooners wikipedia page and saw the old colour scheme and took it and made this rendering look like it. The councilors just loved it," he said.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

There's nothing new happening in Halifax either. It's just another group looking towards the city and province to speculate on financing a CFL a stadium with a cheap rendering and some market analysis.

Proof?

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by elly63

Proof?

We've been through this before. It's all over the article you posted. If you don't see it that doesn't mean it isn't there. The obvious choices are they produced a rendering, name and, "real money on economic an impact study " and presented those to council. First, all of those are nominal expenses compared to the cost of a stadium. "Real" is overkill. Second, the only purpose to present concept renderings, team names and an impact study to council is to swoon them over. You only need planning approvals if you're self financing. You don't need to do a whole stick about the investment paying for itself.

[speedog]

Hah, that picture of McMahon does not convey the real experience. It is way less spacious than that Ivor Wynne shot and McMahon, it's just been all bandaids over the years. I guess the one good thing about McMahon is that the washrooms provide a warm respite on cold days as the concourse certainly does not unless you're volunteering/working in a concession and even in the concessions it's often cold enough to require coats or more.

Now I realize that comfort in a concession stand is most likely not a priority when it comes to building a stadium but the fans should deserve a bit more than they're currently getting at McMahon.