Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Maybe I'm overestimating how much less it is to build a 10,000 or so arena is compared to an NHL scale 16,000+ arena, but I'm sure it would be quite a lot less.

If you listen to Ottawa, it's apparently $100 million more to go from 6000 to 8000 seats lol. Back when London built what is now Canada Life Place, it was something like $40 million 25 years ago for the 9000 seats we got. The question was asked about making it larger and they said something along the lines of 50% more seats was more than double the cost. Something I think many wished today they had decided to do. As it was, the London Knights already thought 9000 was way too many seats (coming from their tiny 5000 seat arena out in the sticks) although I think they too in hindsight wish they had that 50% more.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

I really think maintaining Sasktel Centre (and maybe renaming it the Gordie Howe Arena) while also investing in a more reasonably sized downtown arena is a better plan.

Like, Saskatoon isn't going to grow into an NHL market by the time this new, downtown arena reaches its expiry date either, so it just seems excessive to spend a huge amount more on a 16,000+ seat hockey rink, when they could build something really nice with around 10,000 seats for a lot less, without demolishing Sasktel Centre.

Personally, I think an NHL team could actually work in Saskatoon (if they called them the Saskatchewan Roughriders) because Sask is that crazy for the Riders and Sask probably is the most hockey crazy province in all of Canada... but the NHL doesn't think that way.

Regina's stadium for the Riders being largely funded by taxpayers was incredibly divisive and many people were against the idea from the get go, even some very big Rider fans. Maybe I'm overestimating how much less it is to build a 10,000 or so arena is compared to an NHL scale 16,000+ arena, but I'm sure it would be quite a lot less.

Still think it's outrageous that Regina built the nicest football stadium in the country and couldn't even get a single World Cup match out of it. Yes, I've heard all the "not enough hotels" argument, but I counter that with there's more than enough Rider Fans across the province to fill up their stadium for a few football matches in the world's biggest sporting event.

Canadians was let down by Toronto and Vancouver getting all the matches, but I get that's mostly due to FIFA and their excessive requirements for host cities.

A World Cup game in Regina; seriously? The city is too small; as is the stadium; plus no suitable hotel and not enough hotel rooms. Winnipeg doesn't even have a suitable hotel for visiting NHL teams.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

A World Cup game in Regina; seriously? The city is too small; as is the stadium; plus no suitable hotel and not enough hotel rooms. Winnipeg doesn't even have a suitable hotel for visiting NHL teams.

Yes, seriously. Where are the best football fans in Canada, and where is the best football stadium in Canada? The answer to both those questions is Regina, Saskatchewan.





Mosaic is Canada's nicest stadium, and Rider fans are Canada's craziest football fans. It's ridiculous to suggest Regina and surrounding areas don't have enough hotel rooms to host a few matches between Canada and two or three other countries.

I'm not suggesting they should have hosted the semi finals there, but Regina could have got one or two games in the qualifying round.

If people are going to travel all the way to Canada to see the World Cup, they should come to see the best Canada has to offer, both in terms of our nicest stadium, and our greatest football fans. 🏈 (Since Canada doesn't really have much of a football culture, yet. ⚽️)

I think European or South American fans that bothered to travel all the way to Canada to see a World Cup qualifying match would have been far more impressed with Regina's Mosaic Stadium more than half filled up with the loudest, craziest football fans Canada has to offer, instead of the corporate stiffs that will end up with most of the tickets for these games in Toronto and Vancouver.

• Video Link

Start the video at 1:55.



You can't tell me Vancouver and Toronto will have an atmosphere that could compete with that. Rider fans would come out in full force for even a single game in the World Cup and welcome the world to "Rider Nation". FIFA and Soccer Canada should have realized the opportunity, but they're too busy counting money to give a crap about which stadium in Canada has the best atmosphere or is known to have the best fans.

Games in Vancouver, Regina, and Toronto would have been a lot more like Canada hosting the World Cup. Instead, it feels more like the US and Mexico are hosting the world cup, while Toronto and Vancouver are just getting some games.

If Canada was to ever get a major soccer event like the Copa America, I'd hope most if not all CFL stadiums would host games, and that by then Olympic Stadium in Montreal will have been fully renovated as Canada's largest soccer/football stadium.

Canada's best football fans might be from Saskatchewan, but many of Canada's top rising soccer stars are from la belle province. I still think it's a mockery that Montreal is not getting any games for the World Cup. Renovating Olympic Stadium to be ready to host games in the 2026 World Cup should have been a priority, but given the state of Olympic Stadium, I understand why they're not getting any of the games.

Mosaic Stadium in Regina, however, has no major issues, and if you fill up 75% or more of the stadium up with Rider fans, there's no "problem with hotels" for Regina to host a single World Cup game.

For the wealthy/lucky few from around the world that would have made it to a World Cup game at Mosaic Stadium 85% full of Rider fans, they would have experienced the best football atmosphere that Canada has to offer for a "World Cup of Football". Too bad the people deciding the venues couldn't see past a number on a spreadsheet and realize the best football stadium in Canada should have at least got a single game.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

A World Cup game in Regina; seriously? The city is too small; as is the stadium; plus no suitable hotel and not enough hotel rooms. Winnipeg doesn't even have a suitable hotel for visiting NHL teams.

Winnipeg and it's lack of NHL suitable hotel; apparently NHL players used to go to the Fairmont (70s slab at the Richardson Centre), now they are at the Delta. Can confirm that they are both rundown "luxury" hotels. Fort Garry might have few stars, but it's actually far nicer, though probably too far from the arena. Alt is very nice, but maybe not amenities of "stars" rating for the NHL. Let's hope Sutton Place actually gets completed someday.

(Winnipeg in general is underrated. Very much enjoyed both stays there).

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Yes, seriously. Where are the best football fans in Canada, and where is the best football stadium in Canada? The answer to both those questions is Regina, Saskatchewan.

Random question; how can it expand from 33,350 to 40k? Around the scoreboard? Looks like an amazing stadium, modern NFL vibes. Winnipeg has a bit of that too. Commonwealth has a classic NFL vibes. BC Place has more of an international soccer stadium look to it.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

If people are going to travel all the way to Canada to see the World Cup, they should come to see the best Canada has to offer, both in terms of our nicest stadium, and our greatest football fans. ������ (Since Canada doesn't really have much of a football culture, yet. ⚽️)

I'm assuming you've never been to Toronto/South Western Ontario during the World Cup. This area has, by far, the largest concentration of soccer fans in Canada.
Having the "greatest football fans" doesn't equate to having a bigger interest in the World Cup/soccer.

[Coldrsx]

^^

Edmonton continues to face challenges bidding/hosting major events due to a lack of 4*+ hotel rooms and is one of the (many) reasons our WC 'bid' failed.

Even the long awaited All-Star game/Draft won't come here partially due to a need for one more upper-end hotel.

It's a REAL THING.

[TorontoDrew]

I doubt fans who will be travelling for the World Cup would have much interest in a CFL stadium. Even the best CFL stadiums look cheap compared to other football stadiums globally. You can tell it's a low-budget league, having only nine teams it doesn't have the budget to build anything impressive. Even the Commonwealth Stadium pales in comparison to many College football stadiums in the US.

Here are the 10 largest College Football stadiums in the U.S.

1 Michigan Stadium Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 107,601
2 Beaver Stadium Penn StateUniversity Park, Pennsylvania 106,572
3 Ohio Stadium Ohio State Columbus, Ohio 102,780
4 Kyle Field Texas A&M College Station, Texas 102,733
5 Tiger Stadium LSU Baton Rouge, Louisiana 102,321
6 Neyland Stadium Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee 101,915
7 Bryant-Denny Stadium Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 101,821
8 Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Texas Austin, Texas 100,119
9 Sanford Stadium Georgia Athens, Georgia 93,033
10 Rose Bowl UCLA Pasadena, California 91,136

CFL: (cute)
1 Commonwealth Stadium Edmonton Elks 56,302
2 BC Place Vancouver, British Columbia BC Lions 54,300
3 McMahon Stadium Calgary Stampeders 35,650
4 Princess Auto Stadium Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33,422
5 Mosaic Stadium Saskatchewan Roughriders 33,350
6 TD Place Stadium Ottawa Redblacks 25,000
7 BMO Field Toronto Argonauts25,000
8 Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Tiger-Cats 24,390
9 Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Montreal Alouettes 20,025

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

I really don't get why there's such a need for thousands of hotel rooms and 4+ star hotels to host a few soccer matches, when there's more than enough fans in Saskatchewan to fill up their stadium for one or two world cup matches at exorbitant prices, with seats reserved for fans from around the world equivalent to how ever many hotel rooms there are in Regina or something like that.


For the teams. They could have built a luxury high rise with 4+ star hotel amenities, which could be converted to mostly residential housing post World Cup.

I just think lack of hotel rooms is a really lame reason to exclude the best football stadium in the country from hosting even a single match of the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup of Football.

Not only is Mosaic Stadium the best football stadium in the country, Rider fans provide the best atmosphere, and they would be the majority of the fans in the stadium. I get Regina is a smaller city, but we're talking about one or two soccer matches here, not Regina hosting an entire World Cup lol.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I doubt fans who will be travelling for the World Cup would have much interest in a CFL stadium. Even the best CFL stadiums look cheap compared to other football stadiums globally. You can tell it's a low-budget league, having only nine teams it doesn't have the budget to build anything impressive. Even the Commonwealth Stadium pales in comparison to many College football stadiums in the US.

Here are the 10 largest College Football stadiums in the U.S.

1 Michigan Stadium Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 107,601
2 Beaver Stadium Penn StateUniversity Park, Pennsylvania 106,572
3 Ohio Stadium Ohio State Columbus, Ohio 102,780
4 Kyle Field Texas A&M College Station, Texas 102,733
5 Tiger Stadium LSU Baton Rouge, Louisiana 102,321
6 Neyland Stadium Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee 101,915
7 Bryant-Denny Stadium Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 101,821
8 Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Texas Austin, Texas 100,119
9 Sanford Stadium Georgia Athens, Georgia 93,033
10 Rose Bowl UCLA Pasadena, California 91,136

CFL: (cute)
1 Commonwealth Stadium Edmonton Elks 56,302
2 BC Place Vancouver, British Columbia BC Lions 54,300
3 McMahon Stadium Calgary Stampeders 35,650
4 Princess Auto Stadium Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33,422
5 Mosaic Stadium Saskatchewan Roughriders 33,350
6 TD Place Stadium Ottawa Redblacks 25,000
7 BMO Field Toronto Argonauts25,000
8 Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Tiger-Cats 24,390
9 Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Montreal Alouettes 20,025

Those stadiums in the US for college football have HUGE capacities but are mostly bench seats so they can pack them in which is not a fair comparison (except mcMahon and McGill)

[elly63]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Even the best CFL stadiums look cheap compared to other football stadiums globally. You can tell it's a low-budget league, having only nine teams it doesn't have the budget to build anything impressive. Even the Commonwealth Stadium pales in comparison to many College football stadiums in the US.

What a ridiculous comment. Aside from the American ass licking which is gross at a time like this, it's inaccurate. Many of those oversized US stadiums are old, with bench seating to start with. The CFL (like the NFL) doesn't build stadiums, cities do. And they do that for the civic good not one pro sports team (at least in Canada). No sports team in Canada CFL/MLS/CPL is going to draw over 40k fans regularly so why would we build them? If the America that you love with ten times the population wants to frivolously build stadiums so be it. Aside from US worship BS there is nothing wrong with most of our stadiums for a country our size.

Would you say our arenas suck too? Canada has to support winter sport as well.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

I really don't get why there's such a need for thousands of hotel rooms and 4+ star hotels to host a few soccer matches, when there's more than enough fans in Saskatchewan to fill up their stadium for one or two world cup matches at exorbitant prices, with seats reserved for fans from around the world equivalent to how ever many hotel rooms there are in Regina or something like that.


For the teams. They could have built a luxury high rise with 4+ star hotel amenities, which could be converted to mostly residential housing post World Cup.

I just think lack of hotel rooms is a really lame reason to exclude the best football stadium in the country from hosting even a single match of the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup of Football.

Not only is Mosaic Stadium the best football stadium in the country, Rider fans provide the best atmosphere, and they would be the majority of the fans in the stadium. I get Regina is a smaller city, but we're talking about one or two soccer matches here, not Regina hosting an entire World Cup lol.

This cost benefit for 1 or 2 games does not make sense. 1) these would need to bring capacity to 45,000. 2) add a grass field and 3) the CFL configuration for the stands is 150 yards where, soccer needs 120ish yards so the end zones, which are some of the best seats, would be 20ish yards from the nets. 4) the media / press box is not large enough 5) there are not enough private suites. The amount of money to spend on that and then to have FIFA all approve that is not going to happen. Mosiac is a great stadium and has great fans but your argument makes no sense what-so-ever

[Calgarian]

What is the nicest hotel in Regina and how many hotel rooms are in the city? I'm sure they could sell a ton of tickets locally, but thee are a ton of people who will travel very far to watch their country play. I imagine airport connections are also a factor...

[elly63]

Because of the crazy costs involved in staging a World Cup game ie security cities like Montreal and Chicago dropped out early. Let's remember Vancouver dropped out as well before possibly some FIFA political shenanigans got them to come back in.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

I think European or South American fans that bothered to travel all the way to Canada to see a World Cup qualifying match would have been far more impressed with Regina's Mosaic Stadium more than half filled up with the loudest, craziest football fans Canada has to offer

Misinformation, that is Winnipeg

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by elly63

What a ridiculous comment. Aside from the American ass licking which is gross at a time like this.

Would you say our arenas suck too? Canada has to support winter sport as well.

What a disgusting comment elly63.

And no, I would only say our CFL stadiums are basic compared to other major leagues globally (not just American, which I never just stated American did I? Was I licking the ASS of Europe as well elly63?


Again, with an absolutely grotesque comment like that elly63 and no moderation to be found on SSP please go and F yourself. You're comment was very un-Canadian of you.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Not only is Mosaic Stadium the best football stadium in the country, Rider fans provide the best atmosphere, and they would be the majority of the fans in the stadium. I get Regina is a smaller city, but we're talking about one or two soccer matches here, not Regina hosting an entire World Cup lol.

Regina and Winnipeg have the best Football stadiums in the country, Montreal has my favourite just for its location.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I doubt fans who will be travelling for the World Cup would have much interest in a CFL stadium. Even the best CFL stadiums look cheap compared to other football stadiums globally. You can tell it's a low-budget league, having only nine teams it doesn't have the budget to build anything impressive. Even the Commonwealth Stadium pales in comparison to many College football stadiums in the US.

Here are the 10 largest College Football stadiums in the U.S.

1 Michigan Stadium Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 107,601
2 Beaver Stadium Penn StateUniversity Park, Pennsylvania 106,572
3 Ohio Stadium Ohio State Columbus, Ohio 102,780
4 Kyle Field Texas A&M College Station, Texas 102,733
5 Tiger Stadium LSU Baton Rouge, Louisiana 102,321
6 Neyland Stadium Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee 101,915
7 Bryant-Denny Stadium Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 101,821
8 Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Texas Austin, Texas 100,119
9 Sanford Stadium Georgia Athens, Georgia 93,033
10 Rose Bowl UCLA Pasadena, California 91,136

CFL: (cute)
1 Commonwealth Stadium Edmonton Elks 56,302
2 BC Place Vancouver, British Columbia BC Lions 54,300
3 McMahon Stadium Calgary Stampeders 35,650
4 Princess Auto Stadium Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33,422
5 Mosaic Stadium Saskatchewan Roughriders 33,350
6 TD Place Stadium Ottawa Redblacks 25,000
7 BMO Field Toronto Argonauts25,000
8 Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Tiger-Cats 24,390
9 Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Montreal Alouettes 20,025

Almost all stadiums worldwide pale in comparison to the beheamoths of NFL football stadiums. And while College stadiums are massive due to absolute fanatasism of college football, the majority aren’t first class.

And while Toronto may be considered a world class city, the stadiums themselves are some of the most mediocre of them all in Canada. I still question how Toronto was able to land the World Cup in its less than mediocre BMO field with its enormous capacity of 25,000 that requires temp seats to get to 40,000, in a metro of 8,000,000. It is rather cute how they Lego ‘d it all together in the 2 decades it’s been around, starting out as a couple of grandstands. I mean, the Toronto stadiums pale in comparison to little old Regina with a population of 293,000.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

What is the nicest hotel in Regina and how many hotel rooms are in the city? I'm sure they could sell a ton of tickets locally, but thee are a ton of people who will travel very far to watch their country play. I imagine airport connections are also a factor...

The Delta is the largest at 274 rooms. The Hotel Sask is a tier above Marriott wise if renovated recently, the Hotel Saskatchewan. Total is close to 4000 hotel rooms.

• Full Service | 1130 room
• Limited Service | 1250 room
• Select Service | 1500 room
• Motel & Other | 1200 room

Regina might be in the running as the worst 100,000+ people city tourism market in the country. In a summer of massive tourism, occupancy in Regina was 67%, 2 points lower than Saskatchewan as a whole and 5 points lower than Saskatoon. (granted, I wasn't thinking about London Ontario when I wrote this)

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

The Delta is the largest at 274 rooms. The Hotel Sask is a tier above Marriott wise if renovated recently, the Hotel Saskatchewan. Total is close to 4000 hotel rooms.

• Full Service | 1130 room
• Limited Service | 1250 room
• Select Service | 1500 room
• Motel & Other | 1200 room

Regina might be in the running as the worst 100,000+ people city tourism market in the country. In a summer of massive tourism, occupancy in Regina was 67%, 2 points lower than Saskatchewan as a whole and 5 points lower than Saskatoon. (granted, I wasn't thinking about London Ontario when I wrote this)

There's not much to do here. We're no Okotoks.

[trolledbypro]

Originally Posted by ericmacm

After the craziness of what has happened during this Post Season/World Series in terms of fan support and viewership numbers, I am 100% confident now that the MLB is going to be looking into Montreal more seriously. The prospect of having another team with giant corporate and media conglomerate backing like the Blue Jays, with potential for nationwide support (especially if an Expos revival were to be in the NL) and 2 potential opportunities per season to have this sort of frenzy instead of 1, is just too good of a prospect to pass up. You simply would not be able to get a team with marketability like this in Nashville, Portland, Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, or SLC.

The same all applies to Vancouver too IMO.

Do you think the arrival of the new mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada will change anything? Still have zero stadium sites since the Peel Basin will be redeveloped.