Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by esquire

Commonwealth has a certain grandeur coming from its sheer size that only Canada's domed stadiums can match. When it's full (or close to it), it's pretty damn impressive.

My university years in Edmonton coincided with a a run of good attendance for the Eskimos when they had a few sellouts and near sellouts, so I got to experience that a few times.

You must've been in Edmonton for the Warren Moon years. I wasn't around for that but my Dad said the stadium was electric when he was here.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by TimB09

You must've been in Edmonton for the Warren Moon years. I wasn't around for that but my Dad said the stadium was electric when he was here.

No, it was in the 2002-05 stretch. They were routinely drawing 30-45 thousand fans a game with some games over 50 thousand and even a few 60 thousand plus sellouts.

Not quite the same as the Wilkinson/Moon years when the Eskimos were selling out every game, but it was still pretty impressive.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by esquire

No, it was in the 2002-05 stretch. They were routinely drawing 30-45 thousand fans a game with some games over 50 thousand and even a few 60 thousand plus sellouts.

Not quite the same as the Wilkinson/Moon years when the Eskimos were selling out every game, but it was still pretty impressive.

Wilkinson/ Highbauh Lemerman. The stadium was always full. The Moon years the seating was already reduced I believe.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ZeDgE

IMO Mosaic is the best looking stadium in the country, followed by IGF in Winnipeg, which reminds me of a smaller Century link, and also more like an NFL stadium.

Beautiful!


https://www.bluebombers.com/stadium-history/

A bowl, even a small, short one, goes such a long way in making a stadium feel more "big time".

There is something high school-ish about have one or both ends of the field completely open, with a city street or people walking their dog in a park in view.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Wilkinson/ Highbauh Lemerman. The stadium was always full. The Moon years the seating was already reduced I believe.

It wasn’t. Don’t forget that the original capacity for Commonwealth was ~45k then it was expanded for ‘83 university games. I think the expansion was completed for the ‘82 season and that’s when they were getting in the high 50’s for attendance.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

A bowl, even a small, short one, goes such a long way in making a stadium feel more "big time".

There is something high school-ish about have one or both ends of the field completely open, with a city street or people walking their dog in a park in view.

I think most fans would agree with you. One of the selling points of IG Field's design early on was that it would feature a 360 degree seating bowl.

The interesting thing about that view is that in Canada, the selling point used to be how many of your seats were between the goal lines. Which is why we had multiple stadiums that added upper decks between the goal lines in the 70s (Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina) when one or both end zones were wide open or had at most small temporary-type stands.

I suppose that the NFL influenced Canada in that regard, because the bowl is now the gold standard to some extent. The interesting thing about that is because the CFL field is bigger, endzone seats are less desirable than they are in the US. You really have to sit fairly high up in an endzone to get a decent view of the whole field. Sitting low in an endzone doesn't give you much of a view at all when the ball is on the other half of the field... you're basically watching on the jumbotron.

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by esquire

Commonwealth has a certain grandeur coming from its sheer size that only Canada's domed stadiums can match. When it's full (or close to it), it's pretty damn impressive.

For sure, can't argue with that.

Originally Posted by Acajack

A bowl, even a small, short one, goes such a long way in making a stadium feel more "big time".

There is something high school-ish about have one or both ends of the field completely open, with a city street or people walking their dog in a park in view.

Indeed.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by Acajack

A bowl, even a small, short one, goes such a long way in making a stadium feel more "big time".

There is something high school-ish about have one or both ends of the field completely open, with a city street or people walking their dog in a park in view.

I never played at a high school that had anything more than a couple loose bleachers kicking around - so having permanent stands on two sides of the field is already well beyond "high-schoolish" to me

[craner]

Originally Posted by esquire

The interesting thing about that view is that in Canada, the selling point used to be how many of your seats were between the goal lines. Which is why we had multiple stadiums that added upper decks between the goal lines in the 70s (Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina) when one or both end zones were wide open or had at most small temporary-type stands.

You can add Calgary to that list. While it wasn’t an “upper deck” they added more rows to the upper east grandstand at McMahon in about 1978 I think. They did a similar expansion to the west side as well as adding sections at the north & south ends of both grandstands in preparation for the 1988 Olympics bringing capacity to 38,000. That capacity has since been reduced to about 35,000 by replacing benches with seats and private boxes.

Scrolling through here made me realize we do have some very nice stadiums in Canada. IGF, Mosaic, BC Place & Commonwealth (minus the track) are my favourites.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by esquire

No, it was in the 2002-05 stretch. They were routinely drawing 30-45 thousand fans a game with some games over 50 thousand and even a few 60 thousand plus sellouts.

Not quite the same as the Wilkinson/Moon years when the Eskimos were selling out every game, but it was still pretty impressive.

Ahh yes. Being a season seat holder with my Dad, those were good times to go to games. Tons of fun.

I still remember that Labour Day rematch when there 60,000+ in the stands, I think it was 2003...I could be wrong. The stadium was buzzing all night.

The CFL really missed out on those fans and then some

[Coldrsx]

When Commonwealth is on it is hard to beat, but that's so infrequent these days that I'd really love something 30-37k.

[esquire]

The football atmosphere was great in Edmonton in those years. It was right around the time that the Roughriders were coming on strong and turning into a winning team, so any game vs. Calgary or Saskatchewan was a real event.

[Djeffery]

Just listened to Eugene Melnyk on Bob McCown's podcast and he talked a bit about his arena plans. He said Lebreton is dead except for the $700 million lawsuit. He is 85% set on building a new arena on his land in Kanata, presumably beside the current building. He says the demographics of that area have been changing, with larger population getting closer. He also mentioned he has had talks with Gatineau and that there is another piece of federal land near downtown Ottawa that might also work. Mentioned he needs a new arena in 5-7 years (then changed that to 5-10 years) because the current one is going to be needing a lot of expensive work done by that timeframe, but also said he hopes to have a final decision on location in 3-5 years.

He also had some choice words about a $2.6million tax break for a new Porsche dealer in Ottawa. Something like "What economic impact, they sell god damn cars. I'm out here dying with no fans, give me some money. Now they probabl won't sponsor me either" lol.

[JHikka]

If Melnyk says anything I just assume the opposite is either true or more likely to happen.

[DLLB]

Originally Posted by ZeDgE

IMO Mosaic is the best looking stadium in the country, followed by IGF in Winnipeg, which reminds me of a smaller Century link, and also more like an NFL stadium.

Beautiful!


https://www.bluebombers.com/stadium-history/

I think IGF is the best looking stadium in Canada. It looks like what a foot ball stadium should look like

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Just listened to Eugene Melnyk on Bob McCown's podcast and he talked a bit about his arena plans. He said Lebreton is dead except for the $700 million lawsuit. He is 85% set on building a new arena on his land in Kanata, presumably beside the current building. He says the demographics of that area have been changing, with larger population getting closer. He also mentioned he has had talks with Gatineau and that there is another piece of federal land near downtown Ottawa that might also work. Mentioned he needs a new arena in 5-7 years (then changed that to 5-10 years) because the current one is going to be needing a lot of expensive work done by that timeframe, but also said he hopes to have a final decision on location in 3-5 years.

He also had some choice words about a $2.6million tax break for a new Porsche dealer in Ottawa. Something like "What economic impact, they sell god damn cars. I'm out here dying with no fans, give me some money. Now they probabl won't sponsor me either" lol.

He is the #1 reason why the Sens are so unpopular in the Ottawa Valley.

[Tg11]

It is just too bad that the 3 stadiums that are being used for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are BMO Field (Toronto), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton) and Olympic Stadium (Montreal)

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

He is the #1 reason why the Sens are so unpopular in the Ottawa Valley.

He does have a certain Harold Ballard-ness about him.

Except Melnyk's team doesn't have the die-hard loyalty to keep the cash rolling in while he runs the team into the ground. When the locals start taking out billboards calling the owner out, it's a bad sign. It's rare to see such an incompetent, chintzy owner these days. It's almost like he wants the team to fail.

Another arena in Kanata! That'll fix it! Of course the demographics are shifting towards there - nobody else in the damned city wants to drive to the other end of it to sit in a suburban arena parking lot pre-game.

Anyway, I don't know why he doesn't try and unload the team to someone who actually wants to do something with it. Hubris or something, I guess.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Just listened to Eugene Melnyk on Bob McCown's podcast and he talked a bit about his arena plans. He said Lebreton is dead except for the $700 million lawsuit. He is 85% set on building a new arena on his land in Kanata, presumably beside the current building. He says the demographics of that area have been changing, with larger population getting closer. He also mentioned he has had talks with Gatineau and that there is another piece of federal land near downtown Ottawa that might also work. Mentioned he needs a new arena in 5-7 years (then changed that to 5-10 years) because the current one is going to be needing a lot of expensive work done by that timeframe, but also said he hopes to have a final decision on location in 3-5 years.

He also had some choice words about a $2.6million tax break for a new Porsche dealer in Ottawa. Something like "What economic impact, they sell god damn cars. I'm out here dying with no fans, give me some money. Now they probabl won't sponsor me either" lol.

What an ass.

I've been to a Sens game in Ottawa, and the location of the arena in Kanata is a big problem. A downtown location would be infinitely better - and he wants to build a new arena next to the old one?? Why????

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

What an ass.

I've been to a Sens game in Ottawa, and the location of the arena in Kanata is a big problem. A downtown location would be infinitely better - and he wants to build a new arena next to the old one?? Why????

Suburban arenas have been colossal failures in the NHL. I think only a handful remain and unsurprisingly are home to struggling teams attendance wise - Phoenix, Ottawa, Carolina and the New York Islanders.