Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Speaking of the Bell Centre, when will they be starting the arena's renovations and pedestrianization of L'Avenue des Canadiens?

I haven't heard any news about it since the initial announcement.

And I really don't care all that much, the only news that would have got me excited is if they had said they would re-clad that damn shoebox. The Bell Centre is an embarrassment in every conceivable way, from its exterior appearance, its interior and its main tenant.

The only positive is that it is being quickly masked by towers on all sides.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I haven't heard any news about it since the initial announcement.

And I really don't care all that much, the only news that would have got me excited is if they had said they would re-clad that damn shoebox. The Bell Centre is an embarrassment in every conceivable way, from its exterior appearance, its interior and its main tenant.

The only positive is that it is being quickly masked by towers on all sides.

WTF are you talking about. The bell centre is fine. I actually like the exterior look. in an era of cement prisons at least they added some colour. would you rather united center or wells fargo?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

WTF are you talking about. The bell centre is fine. I actually like the exterior look. in an era of cement prisons at least they added some colour. would you rather united center or wells fargo?

The exterior architecture of the building isn't bad, though I find it a bit cramped on the inside. Its interaction with the street wasn't exactly optimal either, though that's been slowly improving over time.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

WTF are you talking about. The bell centre is fine. I actually like the exterior look. in an era of cement prisons at least they added some colour. would you rather united center or wells fargo?

You're right I suppose, beautiful building.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The exterior architecture of the building isn't bad, though I find it a bit cramped on the inside. Its interaction with the street wasn't exactly optimal either, though that's been slowly improving over time.

It resembles the MTS Centre a bit... MTS Centre kind of looks like a scaled down version of Bell Centre.

And both are cramped... Bell shoehorned in 21,288 seats when 18,500 would have probably made for a better experience, in much the same way that MTS Centre is really a 12,500 seat arena with 15,321 seats jammed in.

I remember going to a game at Bell Centre a couple of weeks after it opened. It was the first time I went to a game at a brand new arena like that... I was floored when the congestion in the concourse was worse than anything I had experienced at the old Winnipeg Arena. It was at that point it became it clear to teenage me that new arenas were not really about enhancing the fan experience

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

You're right I suppose, beautiful building.

It has a few redeeming features, but overall it is deserving to be in the ugly thread.

[craner]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

You're right I suppose, beautiful building.

Yeesh - that is Bad.
The main street elevation doesn't look too bad but this is pretty horrible.

[Jay in Cowtown]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

WTF are you talking about. The bell centre is fine. I actually like the exterior look. in an era of cement prisons at least they added some colour. would you rather united center or wells fargo?

The fucking Saddledome looks better than that... seriously!

Actually the old Northlands does too. lol

[elly63]

Prospect of CFL Team in Atlantic Canada Excites Residents of Halifax
Insights West February 1st, 2018
Half of the city’s residents are in favour of using public funds to build a multi-purpose stadium for the new franchise.

[MonctonRad]

Here are some recent photos of the interior of the new downtown events centre in Moncton NB (from the city of Moncton website). Sorry about their small size.




Arena


Club Lounge




Concourse with concessions (nice windows!!)




Main Lobby




Corporate Boxes


View of the arena from a corporate box

The arena is starting to look mostly finished on the inside (although there is still a lot of work to do). Grand opening is in about five months time.

[EpicPonyTime]

It's a bit on the smaller side, but the U of S is currently in the midst of building a new arena for the Huskies and they released some photos today. The end product will have two rinks, two basketball courts, and a swimming pool. Main rink will seat 2,614 to start, but will eventually be expanded to 3,546, which should make for a pretty decent secondary venue for the city.









More photos can be found here: https://huskies.prestosports.com/gen...tos/0005/index

[Dalreg]

The Merlis Belsher Arena for the U of S will seat 3500 when it opens. They have secured the extra funding and will open with the full compliment of seats.

http://icehockey.wikia.com/wiki/Merlis_Belsher_Place

[esquire]

^ Very nice, 3,500 is a good size. I wish the University of Manitoba had something like that... the Bisons currently play in the Max Bell Centre on campus which is basically a community centre-calibre rink. It doesn't do much to entice people to come out to games.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Very nice, 3,500 is a good size. I wish the University of Manitoba had something like that... the Bisons currently play in the Max Bell Centre on campus which is basically a community centre-calibre rink. It doesn't do much to entice people to come out to games.

Sask's current arena was built in the 1920s and only seats 700 people (it also can't fit a full-sized rink, if I remember correctly), so it is a huge improvement for the university and the city overall. Something like 1,500 hours per year will be committed to minor hockey as well.

[Berklon]

Count me as another who things the Bell Centre is ugly. Embarrassing is overstating it, but ugly is the right word.

It's just a big box... looks like it's a big-ass big box store.

MTS Centre is so much nicer looking.

[WhipperSnapper]

Count me too. Ugly as fuck. Embarrassing is within reason.

[esquire]

I think I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I prefer an arena that looks like a buttoned-down office building and thus blends into its urban surroundings well to the hokey, theme-parky opposite that exists in some places.

Give me Bell Centre's massive blandness any day over stuff like this:

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by esquire

I think I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I prefer an arena that looks like a buttoned-down office building and thus blends into its urban surroundings well to the hokey, theme-parky opposite that exists in some places.

Give me Bell Centre's massive blandness any day over stuff like this:

Yea, you might just be on your own with that opinion.

Those look MUCH better than the Bell Centre.

[Calgarian]

Those are what the Flames were originally looking for when they first started talking about a new arena like 10 years ago lol.

[Oilkountry]

I'm not saying its a staple of beauty. But its middle of the pack in terms of exteriors IMO. It's missing that massive glass front entrance that you see on most rinks but that is being added



I think it looks better than a handful of other 90s arenas. It was built in an era where you went full glass front entrance with a cladding of some sort on the rest of the building or.... full brick and concrete with the odd glass on the exterior. It was privately financed so I can only imagine this was a pure cost decision. I'll take it over a tacky bridgestone or nationwide Arena. i personally like the Brick and glass MTS Centre look. Bell Centre needs an Upgrade/ Face lift thats forsure. They missed an opportunity to change the seating colors instead of going with the boring Red again.