dowlingm
Senior Member
If a stadium was built on the islands it should be a small baseball park as near as possible to the former Hanlan's Point site to cash in on the Babe Ruth connection ![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
The only way this could possibly happen is if they expected to bring an NFL team to it or it's part of a successful Olympic/World Cup bid.
Well of course they would hope that the seats are regularly filled, bringing in additional revenue. Speaking for myself, I would build a "bare-bones" open-air stadium (no dome) seating 10-15 thousand people, built with room for expansion to as many as 25-40 thousand people if attendance warrants it. I don't know how much this would cost, but it would surely be less than the billion dollars ($700 million from Avcom Investments and another $300 million from unspecified other investors) that the pictured design and the land it sits on would cost. Maybe one-tenth that amount, not counting land costs?
If it turns out that their attendance projections are correct, and hold up for more than a few years, then at that point, building a stadium to this design might be justified.
As for locations, I think you're stuck with the portlands or Downsview purely because of transit connections. Otherwise Mississauga or the Pearson area simply because Brampton has too little transit and too much road congestion already.
Hands off the Portlands - WT is doing just fine on that file. Downsview might not be a bad choice, considering transit access and relative proximity to the cricket demographic.
AoD
Yep, to me this is looking very shaky now, which is too bad. The market is probably there for cricket, but when someone with this kind of history is running things potential investors might get very nervous. But I sure would like to be wrong.
As for locations, I think you're stuck with the portlands or Downsview purely because of transit connections. Otherwise Mississauga or the Pearson area simply because Brampton has too little transit and too much road congestion already.
Just out of curiosity....where in Mississauga (other than on the Lakeshore line which I do not think has an available site) or around Pearson are the transit links superior to Brampton? All suburban areas (again not including the Lakeshore) are served by buses...GO and local....so if that does not count as transit links...then it has to be in the city (not that it will be built anywhere).
There are a lot of Aussies and upper class English in Downsview?
There aren't a lot of Aussies anywhere, and Downsview is certainly closer for the North Toronto crowd than anywhere in the Portlands. Maybe that's why we need the North York Relief Line? Har.
AoD
There are a lot of Aussies and upper class English in Downsview?
You have a very narrow view of the game's audience. The big driver is immigrants from the Caribbean, India, and Pakistan. I was at CCTT a couple of years ago waiting for a GO Bus and someone fitting one of those categories (couldn't tell which) was taking practice swings with his bat.
We've had English people in Canada for centuries; if they were a significant factor in cricket development in Canada, this stadium would have been built decades ago.