News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
A Message to Our Readers
 11K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
EarthCam Time-Lapse Documents Rafael Viñoly-Designed New Stanford Hospital Construction
 43K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
Resort Town
 6.4K     0 

I think the best chance we have will be when Cavalry FC needs a new stadium in the future. The southerns have the Canada Ring penned as the spot for their next stadium, but if CSEC can interest them in a decent stadium central in the city they might jump on and help fund it.
 
It would be very easy to modify the infield at the Stampede Grandstand to fit a CFL field and save a whole bunch of money. Having everything at Stampede park would also make Calgary an awesome Grey Cup site for the future. Stampede can still have it 2 weeks a year monster-jam style.
 
Surrealplaces said:
I'll probably take some flack for this, but I'm not sure it makes sense to build a new stadium these days. Even to build a nice compact stadium like they have in Winnipeg or Ottawa would likely cost upwards of $500 million, and to do a retrofit type reno like Hamilton would be probably something upward of $250 million. The retrofit might make sense, but $500 million for a venue that gets used 8-10 times a year is a an awful lot.

Not that I wouldn't love to to have something like the Winnipeg or Ottawa stadium, but it's a steep ask given the attendance and the amount of days of use season. I'd like to see a smaller ~20-25,000 seat stadium built in a more central location that could host both the Stamps and the Cavalry.
Click to expand...
The elephant in the room is the CFL. While overall attendance for the league has been up slightly of late, it has dropped over the years and I feel like there’s no will to spend $400 mil on a stadium when people aren’t certain about the league’s future.
 
Atticus said:
The elephant in the room is the CFL. While overall attendance for the league has been up slightly of late, it has dropped over the years and I feel like there’s no will to spend $400 mil on a stadium when people aren’t certain about the league’s future.
Click to expand...
I hate to say it but you’re right. It’s a lot of money to invest if you’re not sure about the CFL’s future.
Either way a small stadium in the $200-$250 million range should be feasible though.
 
Forget about the CFL, it has been constantly dying for decades but those predictions never come to pass. Smaller, sure. The US expansion era was by far the worst era but I feel like it is remembered so fondly. Its succeeding in big markets like Montreal, Toronto, and BC. That matters. We don't need something capable of hosting the World Cup final, if the Grey Cup really does bring 50 Million in economic benefit the one in 2026 is pretty much a down payment on a new stadium. Especially considering you'd be guaranteed a Grey Cup early in the new stadium's life.

One thing that needs to be considered is building a stadium with good bones that can be easily upgraded. Commonwealth in Edmonton is huge but because of its size the cost to renovate it is the cost of a new stadium. In that sense it is a blessing CalgaryNEXT didn't happen. Updating a fieldhouse, running track, etc, etc would've cost a lot over its lifetime.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
One thing that needs to be considered is building a stadium with good bones that can be easily upgraded. Commonwealth in Edmonton is huge but because of its size the cost to renovate it is the cost of a new stadium. In that sense it is a blessing CalgaryNEXT didn't happen. Updating a fieldhouse, running track, etc, etc would've cost a lot over its lifetime.
Click to expand...
BMO Field for Toronto FC in Toronto is actually a reasonably good example of having upgradability in mind and it's the way to go for a new McMahon.

Get a quality location for the stadium so that it's a good option for whatever sport / event needs it. Plan the stadium as 2 or 4 separate stands, where they are inter-related but not dependent on each other. That way you can phase, redevelop and scale each of the 4 sides to meet the needs of today without limiting the possibilities for tomorrow or "overbuilding" for a one-off event that will never make sense to dump a bunch of money into it.

Priorities for me:
  1. Transit-adjacent and in the city centre so you can walk between restaurants and bars and the event.
  2. Soccer/football/concert optimized. It should be multi-use but not everything use. Pick these 3.
  3. Scalable and modest capacity - keep the footprint tight, we can always expand later.
Whether that's 10,000 seats or 30,000, I don't really care. The bigger problem isn't stadiums, it's getting alignment between all the little empire builders here.

The Southern Family seem keen on building their little cluster out in the boonies at Spruce Meadows, the soccer club is theirs. CSEC is keen on building their little tax-payer funded stampede arena, they own the Stamps and haven't really shown much interest in investing anything material. Meanwhile, the Stampede is keen on keeping their grounds empty of more structures so it can be paid parking most of the year and the 10 day area event. The result of all this is the fans suffer for each - structures are dilapidated or not as nice as they could be because they don't each get used much and the taxpayers have to backstop upgrades because individually these little empires can't and/or won't do it alone.

If we can get the Calvary and Stampeders into the same structure, in a good location, then we have a good place to start.
 
Chinese_T said:
A friend sent me some details on that Quadreal site Michael mentioned, near Currie Barracks.

The original proposal from 2018 was 891 units. They now want to double that to around 1800 units. Rutland Park Community Association is opposed.

View attachment 595318

This is the original outline plan from 2018, expect to see it doubled.

View attachment 595319
Click to expand...
Let’s hope these people are ignored and it goes full steam ahead.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
Forget about the CFL, it has been constantly dying for decades but those predictions never come to pass. Smaller, sure. The US expansion era was by far the worst era but I feel like it is remembered so fondly. Its succeeding in big markets like Montreal, Toronto, and BC. That matters. We don't need something capable of hosting the World Cup final, if the Grey Cup really does bring 50 Million in economic benefit the one in 2026 is pretty much a down payment on a new stadium. Especially considering you'd be guaranteed a Grey Cup early in the new stadium's life.

One thing that needs to be considered is building a stadium with good bones that can be easily upgraded. Commonwealth in Edmonton is huge but because of its size the cost to renovate it is the cost of a new stadium. In that sense it is a blessing CalgaryNEXT didn't happen. Updating a fieldhouse, running track, etc, etc would've cost a lot over its lifetime.
Click to expand...
It didn’t phrase my post very well. I don’t think the CFL is going to fold anytime soon, the point I meant to get across was that $400-500 million is a lot of money for a stadium whose main anchor tenant averages 20,000 people a game for eight games a season.
The uncertainty is what kind of average attendance the Stampeders will see in the future. A better product on the field will bring higher attendance but we might be talking 24-25k range.

IMO the goal should be to build a stadium around the 20-25000 seat range for around $250 million. Something that can be expandable say up to 30k for larger games like a Grey cup, etc.
And as per CBBarnett’s post, if we can build something in a more central transit oriented location even better.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top