CFL in the Maritimes

[fenwick16]

Nice Logo. Who ever came up with that is a real CFL enthusiast.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Nice Logo. Who ever came up with that is a real CFL enthusiast.

David 99, one of the contributors to the Moncton thread came up with this. I believe he is a graphic artist.

I love his design, I think it is truly inspired!

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

David 99, one of the contributors to the Moncton thread came up with this. I believe he is a graphic artist.

I love his design, I think it is truly inspired!

The only thing you have to be careful about is the football. Remember the CFL's balls have the bands going all the way around. The ball pictured in the logo is a US college football. It's a pretty good design overall though.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Nat

If you were to look at the attendence for the University of Regina football games you would likely also think a CFL team based in Regina has no chance of being successful. I think we can all agree you would be wrong in that judgement.

I doubt anyone would draw that conclusion. You would be wrong in making inferences about interest in football in Regina by studying Rams attendance figures. You look at attendance figures for the football team a community has. In Regina that's the Roughriders and the Rams. The Roughriders dominate the market for football in that city, so you'd look at those figures.

If you study football markets across the continent, communities that are into football but don't have a pro team, support their college and/or high school teams. That Moncton doesn't support their biggest area football team (Mt. Allison) can't be seen as anything but a negative. Fredericton got 2,500 out to see a first year club team at UNB while much larger Moncton can't even muster 2,500 to Mt. Allison which has a full fledged college football team. Football industry analysts do notice these things.

Moncton has redeemed itself with exceptional sales for the CFL game however. Good show Moncton!

[JayM]

Heres a List on Wikipedia of Canadian Football Fields/Stadiums by capacity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ia_by_capacity

[MonctonRad]

Interesting JayM. Thanks for the link.

To put it in tabular form here.........

1 - Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium)........62,531
2 - Vancouver (BC Place Stadium)...............59,841
3 - Toronto (Rogers Centre).......................53,506
4 - Calgary (McMahon Stadium)..................35,560
5 - Hamilton (Ivor Wynne Stadium)..............30,000
6 - Winnipeg (Canad Inns Stadium)..............29,503
7 - Regina (Mosaic Stadium).......................28,800
8 - Ottawa (Frank Clair Stadium).................26,559
9 - Moncton (Stade Moncton Stadium).........20,641 (configured for the Touchdown Atlantic game).
10 - Montreal (Percival Molson Stadium)........20,202

So, while the Moncton stadium remains smallish, it is not that far off the target for a lot of the other CFL stadiums. Only Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary are significantly bigger!

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Interesting JayM. Thanks for the link.

To put it in tabular form here.........

1 - Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium)........62,531
2 - Vancouver (BC Place Stadium)...............59,841
3 - Toronto (Rogers Centre).......................53,506
4 - Calgary (McMahon Stadium)..................35,560
5 - Hamilton (Ivor Wynne Stadium)..............30,000
6 - Winnipeg (Canad Inns Stadium)..............29,503
7 - Regina (Mosaic Stadium).......................28,800
8 - Ottawa (Frank Clair Stadium).................26,559
9 - Moncton (Stade Moncton Stadium).........20,641 (configured for the Touchdown Atlantic game).
10 - Montreal (Percival Molson Stadium)........20,202

So, while the Moncton stadium remains smallish, it is not that far off the target for a lot of the other CFL stadiums. Only Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary are significantly bigger!

Montreal's Olympic Stadium is still used for games with large attendance.
Olympic Stadium 66,308

I assume that you omitted it because Montreal plays most of their games at Percival Molson Stadium. The Percival Molson Stadium is being expanded and will be 25,000 for the 2010 season (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perciva...morial_Stadium). I think that for the CFL, 30,000 seats is just about ideal. Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto tend to have a lot of empty seats at their games.

PS: More and more, I am starting to believe that the only chance for a Maritime CFL team is in Moncton. There seems to be a complacency in the Halifax area regarding the CFL - mostly because of a lack of a stadium. For that reason, good luck to Moncton in getting a team.

[isaidso]

- Frank Clair is no longer at 26,559 as part of the stands have been demolished.
- Mosaic built more 'temporary' stands, but have left them up for 2 seasons now. Mosaic really holds 30,945.

[JayM]

Originally Posted by isaidso

- Frank Clair is no longer at 26,559 as part of the stands have been demolished.
- Mosaic built more 'temporary' stands, but have left them up for 2 seasons now. Mosaic really holds 30,945.

Well noted Frank Clair (Lansdowne Park) Stadium should not be included into the current list, The lower southside was demolished in 2009 effecting its overall status. Mosaic also noted the capacity had since changed and should be updated.

[Urban_Genius]

Anybody have any updated pictures of the construction?
Thanks in advance.

[MonctonRad]

Interesting aerial photo of the Moncton 2010 Stadium, showing it's relationship to the adjacent CEPS Building.



Please bear in mind that the end zone bleachers are not installed and will not be installed until after the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in July.

The "temporary" bleachers will increase the available seating to 20,600.

As I have stated before, I believe the temporary stands will be left in place as long as the CFL continues to hold annual regular season games in the facility.



This image give you an idea of the scale of the east grandstand:



Just by roughly counting seats, I get a capacity for the east grandstand of about 6400.

[Urban_Genius]

^ Thanks!

[riverviewer]

Doesn't that parking lot look too small to support 20,600 fans? Will they be clearing and paving the forest across the street? Or bussing in the fans?

I drove into campus to see the stadium in person and felt crowded by the CEPS and rest of U de M buildings. The stadium looks great in person, but I was wondering about how they plan to clear the fans after the game.

Is there plans to create a direct road from Morton Ave?

[isaidso]

I'm surprised they built the stadium with little thought to expansion down the road. I suppose they can always remove the track, lower the field to below grade, and build out the stands right down to the side lines for an extra 6,000-8,000 seats.

[mylesmalley]

The stadium could easily have 50,000 seats if it was fully encircled and had a second level on the forest-side. Not that it would ever happen. The biggest constraint would of course be parking.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

The stadium could easily have 50,000 seats if it was fully encircled and had a second level on the forest-side. Not that it would ever happen. The biggest constraint would of course be parking.

If it ever came down to it, there would be lots of room for surface parking on the north side of Morton. It's adjacent to the site and could be connected by pedway.

An investment like that however would likely require an agreement for a CFL franchise (hint, hint),

[fenwick16]

The Halifax area spectators will be bused in, so you won't need parking for them. (To reduce the carbon footprint - they should be bused in but most will probably take their cars.)

How about having people park at a large mall and then shuttle them to the stadium?

[fenwick16]

Regarding the economy of New Brunswick (somewhat related to the CFL) - I am quite surprised by the manufacturing sales being generated by New Brunswick. The latest numbers are out from Statistics Canada and New Brunswick is ahead of NS, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. (source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti...0514a3-eng.htm ).

[fenwick16]

q12 posted this in the Halifax Stadium Discussion Thread. A recent survey shows that the majority of Haligonians support a large outdoor stadium.

(source: http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/loca...sports-stadium )

Majority shows support for outdoor sports stadium

ALEX BOUTILIER
FOR METRO HALIFAX
May 14, 2010 12:28 a.m.
(1)
Print article
Text size
Most Haligonians think the city could use a large outdoor sports stadium.

The CityThink 2010 survey found 60 per cent of HRM residents mostly or completely agree the city needs a new, larger outdoor sports stadium. Another 36 per cent mostly or completely disagree.

“It’s hard to read into exactly what people are thinking, but I think they view it as if this could get done, we’d love it,” said Fred Morley, executive vice-president of the Greater Halifax Partnership.

“If it can be done in a reasonably cost-efficient way ... it is something people have flagged.”

Craig Wight, senior vice-president at Bristol Omnifacts Research, which conducted the survey, said he views the response as a starting point for more debate on the subject.

“I think it shows (that) yes, there’s interest. (But) if it was my money, I would not be going to develop (a stadium) just based on that,” Wight said. “I would take that as, OK, here’s a starting point.

“Yes, there seems to be interest, (but) how much attendance am I going to get, are they really willing to pay for it themselves — because it is kind of a no-money obligation type of question.”

Morley said with the municipality facing a hefty deficit this year, it will take a big event — as well as federal and provincial involvement — to make a stadium a reality. He pointed to the new arena in Clayton Park under construction for the 2011 Canada Games as an example.

“This isn’t a blank cheque to go out and borrow and spend money all on our own,” said Morley. “What it is is (that) we’ve reached the stage where this is something we should consider as a community.”

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Regarding the economy of New Brunswick (somewhat related to the CFL) - I am quite surprised by the manufacturing sales being generated by New Brunswick. The latest numbers are out from Statistics Canada and New Brunswick is ahead of NS, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. (source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti...0514a3-eng.htm ).

Interesting link fenwick, thanks!

Why is manufacturing so important in NB? (adjusted for population, it's more than twice as important as in NS)

Short answer............we have to make a living somehow!

I know I will get some grief for making this generalization, but here goes.....

The Nova Scotia economy is driven by Halifax. The Halifax economy in turn is driven by the civil service (federal & provincial), the military, the universities and the hospitals. These are all well paid jobs in the public sector.......manufacturing doesn't need to be important in Halifax.

New Brunswick on the other hand is not nearly so blessed.........the only city that can claim any similarity to Halifax in this regard is Fredericton. Both Moncton and Saint John actually have to make things or do something else value added in order to justify their existence.

In addition, both the Irvings and the McCain's have very powerful, fully integrated business empires based in NB. There is nothing comparable in NS. Sure, the Sobey's, Jodrey's and Bragg's are rich, but they aren't actively involved in actually making anything, their business empires are built on service provision.

In the long run, the economy in NB is actually more robust and versatile than it is in NS. The economy in NS is perhaps more stable (at least in Halifax), but it is a bit of a house of cards and if anything happens to decrease the influence and spending power of government, Nova Scotia could be in big trouble.