Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Franco401]

You want weird temporary seats? I'll give you weird temporary seats.


from the Yekaterinburg in the 2018 World Cup

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm fairly sure that one of the selling points of Mosaic Stadium was the ability to expand to 40,000 seats by putting temporary stands in the endzone with the scoreboard. I don't ever recall seeing a diagram of what that would look like so I can only guess... I would assume there is room for seats on either side of the scoreboard, as well as possibly in front of it.

I know with Winnipeg in 2015 they ended up adding temporary seats in only one endzone despite both ends being capable of accommodating temporary stands. The setup worked and it looked OK inside the stadium, but I recall the outside was like a big awkward labyrinth of scaffolding. Here's a picture of the temporary stands:

That's my understanding as well, Mosaic Stadium in Regina is capable of adding ~12,000 seats or greater for events that warrant 45,000 or more seats.
Grey Cup 2020 in Regina had reported no seats would be added before they even started selling tickets to the cup, presumably to see how ticket sales go to plan ahead of time if indeed there would be a need for extra seats.

Due to expensive ticket price and the fact Regina had the Grey Cup less than 7 years ago, there has been no demand this Grey Cup for the extra seats.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by esquire

Grey Cup. That was the only time IGF had temporary seats installed.

Wow something must have happened to me in 2015 because I cannot remember WPG hosting that Grey Cup... I honestly didn't think WPG has hosted a GC since moving to IGF

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Wow something must have happened to me in 2015 because I cannot remember WPG hosting that Grey Cup... I honestly didn't think WPG has hosted a GC since moving to IGF

It was the drugs, man

But seriously, don't feel too badly about it. I was there and I can barely remember it. It was a giant meh game, my predominant memories can be summarized like this:

• Man I've never seen these concourses so crowded
• I can't believe Ottawa is in this
• Who actually picked Fallout Boy as the halftime act?
• Edmonton wins, shocker there

That's it, don't ask me anything else about it... it was kind of forgettable as far as Grey Cups go.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Franco401

You want weird temporary seats? I'll give you weird temporary seats.


from the Yekaterinburg in the 2018 World Cup

haha, gotta love the Russians!

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

haha, gotta love the Russians!

Granted this was FIFA's fault because IIRC the stadium was already there and too small but I can't imagine this getting built here

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Franco401

You want weird temporary seats? I'll give you weird temporary seats.


from the Yekaterinburg in the 2018 World Cup

That just looks like a freakin disaster movie waiting to happen lol.

[The Fisher Account]

Next big step with the new Calgary Event Centre:

Calgary Munic Land Corp announces that HOK and Dialog will design Calgary’s new arena. CANA Construction and Mortenson Construction are the companies that will build the new $550M event centre. Project starts next summer and will open in 2024.

https://twitter.com/CBCScott/status/1275782387243384834

[Coldrsx]

Plan for new Edmonton Prospects ballpark unveiled for Spruce Grove

by Kevin Reichard on June 16, 2020 in Summer Collegiate, Summer Collegiate News



Plan for a new Edmonton Prospects ballpark were unveiled today by parent Gold Sports and Entertainment Group, calling for a modern urban ballpark in Spruce Grove, Alberta to house the summer-collegiate team.

The ballpark for the Western Canadian Baseball League team, set for a 2022 opening, will feature a 360-degree wraparound concourse, suite, party decks and a merchandise store. Housing and a microbrewery/pun (shown below) will be located off left field, with a amphitheater located on the opposite side of the brewery.

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/06/1...park-unveiled/

[MalcolmTucker]

That size of ballpark is really nice. A lot like Seaman Stadium in Okotoks.

Other news that hasn't probably been shared here, the proposed Sylvan Lake Stadium, a lower capacity stadium.

[esquire]

^ Very nice. But what would it mean for Telus Field? Or are they being forced out of Telus Field?

[craner]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Next big step with the new Calgary Event Centre:



https://twitter.com/CBCScott/status/1275782387243384834

I wonder if only every 4th seat will be installed to maintain social distancing ? Total capacity 4500.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by craner

I wonder if only every 4th seat will be installed to maintain social distancing ? Total capacity 4500.

I hope we don't get stuck with a ridiculous name for the arena.

Amazon buys naming rights to KeyArena, will call it Climate Pledge Arena

Amazon has purchased the KeyArena naming rights, but an unprecedented sports-world twist will see the venue become known as Climate Pledge Arena rather than using the company’s name.

The arena, home to the city’s incoming NHL franchise and WNBA’s Storm, will be powered 100% by renewable electricity when it opens by late-summer 2021 and seek to achieve a zero-carbon footprint. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos broke the news Thursday on Instagram.

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/...box=1593109559

[JHikka]

Amazon's investment into Seattle's arena is one of the very many obvious reasons why the NHL was so keen on moving into that market.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Amazon's investment into Seattle's arena is one of the very many obvious reasons why the NHL was so keen on moving into that market.

I am not familiar with Seattle's building... however, I find it very interesting/peculiar that it is basically being totally rebuilt for the second time. I can't think of any arenas in North America that have undergone similar treatment other than Oracle. (I'm not thinking so much of general refreshes and renovations as I am major structural alterations to the seating bowl, that kind of thing.)

How is it that Seattle has kept the same building going as their main basketball/hockey venue since 1962?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by esquire

I am not familiar with Seattle's building... however, I find it very interesting/peculiar that it is basically being totally rebuilt for the second time. I can't think of any arenas in North America that have undergone similar treatment other than Oracle. (I'm not thinking so much of general refreshes and renovations as I am major structural alterations to the seating bowl, that kind of thing.)

How is it that Seattle has kept the same building going as their main basketball/hockey venue since 1962?

Madison Square Garden? Not sure if they made any changes to the seating bowl, but they did invest $1B in the building.

Due to land prices and lack of space, New York has a far better business case, though Seattle is also very expensive.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

How is it that Seattle has kept the same building going as their main basketball/hockey venue since 1962?

It was rebuilt in 1994 for the Sonics and is being rebuilt again for the NHL (and presumably the NBA). Both times the arena was closed for at least a year so it could be rebuilt.

There were plans for a new arena in 1990/1991 for NHL expansion but IIRC the prospective owners walked away from the NHL's expansion demands and the arena was never built.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Madison Square Garden? Not sure if they made any changes to the seating bowl, but they did invest $1B in the building.

I was thinking about whether to include MSG when I wrote my post, but I don't recall any major alterations to the seating bowl. I was thinking more of the types of reno projects where they totally change the interior configuration. For instance, if you look at pictures of Oracle Arena in its initial configuration compared to how it looks today, it looks as though they are two totally different buildings on the inside. MSG now still looks pretty much as it did before... the changes are much less obvious, despite the massive pricetag for MSG's renovations.

[Djeffery]

Without looking back, I think the story is Key Arena is some kind of historic site. Or at least the roof is. So they essentially jacked the roof up, demo'd everything below it and are building the new arena under that. At least that gives them some weather protection during construction I guess lol. I'm not familiar with the city at all, I wonder if the location is worth all this trouble?

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Without looking back, I think the story is Key Arena is some kind of historic site. Or at least the roof is. So they essentially jacked the roof up, demo'd everything below it and are building the new arena under that. At least that gives them some weather protection during construction I guess lol. I'm not familiar with the city at all, I wonder if the location is worth all this trouble?

I'm pretty sure there's nothing special about the location. The arena is located where the 1962 World's Fair was held. There have been plans to build new arenas elsewhere but they always fell through for one reason or another including locations hassles. So the city basically asked for proposals to redevelop the existing arena. The city declared the roof and exterior a landmark in 2017. In 2018 the exterior was listed on National Register of Historic Places. If a new arena had been built elsewhere I wonder if the city would have declared the exterior and roof a landmark?