CANADA - Stadium and Arena Development News

[adeaide]

[koolio]

That is not the correct render for the blue bombers stadium.

[adeaide]

[blacktrojan3921]

Originally Posted by isaidso

We already have a pro football team, thanks. The oldest pro sports team on the continent, at that. The NFL can go to Mexico if they want.

Have you seen the attendance record at Argo games? XD 20,000-25,000 does not equally spell success for a city of 4 million people.

[warpus]

Originally Posted by drowningman666

how popular are football and soccer in Canada ??

Believe it or not, but soccer is the #1 sport played in Canada, recently edging out hockey.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by blacktrojan3921

Have you seen the attendance record at Argo games? XD 20,000-25,000 does not equally spell success for a city of 4 million people.

And their record for the NFL games so far have also been less than stellar. Yes, it's expensive, but if there were that many diehard NFL supporters there, cost wouldn't have kept them away, since this is likely seen as a test of the market by upper NFL brass. I just think Toronto isn't much of a football city.

Also if you compare the Blue Jays' attendance against other teams in the states (some with much smaller population bases), they are doing pretty horribly there too.

That and the Argos haven't really had great dates for their games, and nor have they had a successful team in a while. But if you look back at Montreal back in the day, or Vancouver a couple years ago, those 2 were doing far worse than the present Argos, and now they are both strong franchises, so who knows what will happen.

Originally Posted by warpus

Believe it or not, but soccer is the #1 sport played in Canada, recently edging out hockey.

Yes, it's #1 for participation, but that participation takes a divebomb in the older groups. It's also taken the least seriously.

People would think it's normal to have 3 practices a week for hockey, but to suggest that many for soccer would have most mothers annoyed. It's #1 because it is by far the cheapest and therefore the most accessable. It's the "fun" participation sport.

At least that's the attitude around here.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by adeaide

Wrong again. That rendering has since been changed (that roof is no longer in the plans)
Here is the latest (and current render)
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/ph...tadium-new.jpg

[JYDA]

Ford nixes Toronto’s nascent bid for 2020 Summer Olympics PATRICK WHITE
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 3:47PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 8:26PM EDT
Mayor Rob Ford has vetoed efforts to land the 2020 Olympics in Toronto out of cost concerns, despite assurances the bid would have come at no cost to city taxpayers.

The mayor’s office confirmed Thursday that Mr. Ford nixed a nascent summer Olympic bid that carried the support of Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Canadian Olympic Committee.

“It’d be nice. If it were maybe two, three, four years down the road, it’d be nice,” said the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford. “But it’s not feasible right now.”

That essentially kills an eight-week, behind-the-scenes effort led by Bob Richardson, head of the Devon Group public relations firm, to assemble broad-based support for an Olympic bid ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s Sept. 1 deadline.

An official bid needs the consent of city government and the domestic Olympic committee.

“The city made it pretty clear that they had tough fiscal challenges right now and were not in a position to support it right now,” said Mr. Richardson, a key part of Toronto’s failed 2008 Olympic bid and winning push for the 2015 Pan-Am Games.

The city’s strained finances have become a singular preoccupation of city councillors as they grapple with a $774-million deficit. But Mr. Richardson said that the financial onus would have rested largely on the private sector. The proposal submitted to the mayor’s office carried no price tag because the IOC doesn’t require a full financial plan until February.

“We viewed the September to February period as the time you do your financial homework and there were all kinds of off-ramps so that if the numbers were too big governments could pull out,” he said. “The upfront costs for the first two or three years are minimal. There would be support from the private sector with something from the federal and provincial governments. We would not have been looking for dollars from the taxpayers of the City of Toronto in that short period of time.”

Mr. Richardson had quietly assembled support from a wide base of influential Torontonians, including former premiers David Petersen and Mike Harris, businessman Paul Godfrey, Olympian Marnie McBean and conservative radio host John Tory.

“I believe these kinds of bids are well worth exploring,” said Mr. Tory, chair of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, on his radio show Thursday afternoon. “But the mayor has said no and I kind of understand where he was coming from in terms of his current preoccupation. But he wasn’t being asked to sign a cheque now. If he wanted to say no to a cheque later, fine. Maybe he decided it was better if this thing didn’t get any momentum up.”

The bridesmaid for 1996 and 2008 Olympic bids, Toronto’s chances for 2020 looked promising. Mr. Richardson said the U.S. is not expected to endorse a candidate and that Rio de Janeiro’s winning 2016 submission cancelled out chances for another South American city.

“We’d almost be the candidate of the hemisphere,” he said. “It was a very, very open race and we thought a strong North American candidate could win.”

What’s more, the 2015 Pan-Am Games have long been seen as an Olympic audition for Toronto. That event is expected to cost the city nearly $100-million.

“That’s something in our favour, the Pan-Am facilities might be adaptable to the Olympics in some cases,” said Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday. “But there’s still financial risk and cost involved in getting the bid, preparing the bid, and then running the event. In our situation right now, we’re not able to proceed and I think it’s the wrong time.”

Rome, Madrid and Tokyo have announced submissions. Turkey and Qatar are also expected to join the race, according to reports.

The IOC will make its final decision Sept. 7, 2013.

Crestfallen as he was, Mr. Richardson said he wasn’t laying blame on any level of government.

“We had a very short period to talk to governments, it’s a very difficult fiscal period of time and we just weren’t able to put together the domestic position,” he said. “I’m not condemning anybody. It was a good idea, we just ran out of runway.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2126777/


I guess if Qatar bids then there's not much point anyway. Tough to outbribe that lot.

[Lord David]

Sucks because this is their best time, what with only 4 bidders so far and the US not bidding.

Rome is compounded by debt of over 1 trillion and couldn't possibly host without spending and adding to their debt.

Madrid is in a similar boat.

Tokyo is cleaning up from the March Earthquake and Tsunami and could get some sympathy votes if they market their bid as such, but Pyenongchang winning the 2018 Winter Olympics makes their chances unlikely.

Istanbul is another new frontier like Rio, unsure if the IOC want to do that risk another time. Has past bids as a good indication of their bid dedication, reasonable chance of getting the games based on that.

And then we have Toronto, if Toronto did bid, we'd be looking at a safe, past nation/region to have the games again, with minimal financial risk and good support from the local and national population.

[koolio]

I'm glad we are not bidding. I don't want canada to be trillions in debt like the rest of those countries. These private parties saying how it wouldn't cost the city anything are a joke. They know that all levels of government will be neck deep in debt when all is said and done.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by koolio

I'm glad we are not bidding. I don't want canada to be trillions in debt like the rest of those countries. These private parties saying how it wouldn't cost the city anything are a joke. They know that all levels of government will be neck deep in debt when all is said and done.

The Beijing Olympics (the most expensive to date) was around 45 Billion. Trillion would definitely be a far stretch even for a hyperbole...

In any case, I'm sort of on the fence about this... it would be nice to host another one, but Toronto/Ontario isn't exactly in the best place right now economically speaking.

[Lord David]

And is Rome? Madrid? Tokyo?

As far as we know only Istanbul seems to be in reasonable economic straits. So what would prevent Toronto from bidding? Is it because they're already paying for that 2015 Pan American Games? Please...

[Nate]

Originally Posted by Lord David

And is Rome? Madrid? Tokyo?

As far as we know only Istanbul seems to be in reasonable economic straits. So what would prevent Toronto from bidding? Is it because they're already paying for that 2015 Pan American Games? Please...

Yes... but in general Canada has been a bit more fiscally conservative that those other countries. Although it is true, almost everywhere in the world (that normally hosts) is in somewhat of a financial quagmire.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by EastVanMark

Wrong again. That rendering has since been changed (that roof is no longer in the plans)
Here is the latest (and current render)
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/ph...tadium-new.jpg

The rest is staying the same though: sunken bowl, 2 decks, 33,422 seats?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by warpus

Believe it or not, but soccer is the #1 sport played in Canada, recently edging out hockey.

That's quite a misleading statement in that it would lead someone to believe that soccer is the #1 sport in Canada. Hockey, football, and baseball still have far more clout in Canada than soccer does. Basketball is the only Canadian sport that soccer might have eclipsed, but even that is a close call.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by blacktrojan3921

XD 20,000-25,000 does not equally spell success for a city of 4 million people.

And someone thinks this lousy football market should get yet another football team.

[krnboy1009]

Originally Posted by isaidso

And someone thinks this lousy football market should get yet another football team.

But its NFL, Toronto seems to only care about the top of the cream league teams. hence, Marlies draw awful, but Leafs have undying support.

[carnifex2005]

Originally Posted by krnboy1009

But its NFL, Toronto seems to only care about the top of the cream league teams. hence, Marlies draw awful, but Leafs have undying support.

Not really. Toronto don't even sell out the Buffalo games when they come and they play only in a 54,000 stadium. Rogers have had to give out thousands of freebees for those games. It's pretty hilarious in hindsight.

[KingmanIII]

Originally Posted by carnifex2005

Not really. Toronto don't even sell out the Buffalo games when they come and they play only in a 54,000 stadium. Rogers have had to give out thousands of freebees for those games. It's pretty hilarious in hindsight.

It's partially due to the fact that Bills fans are largely a blue-collar bunch; you go from paying USD $50-75/ticket to damn-near USD $200 -- Charles Barkley says it best:

[Cjones2451]

This has been dragging on for years and years it seems, but it looks like they will renovate this Stadium and redevelop the whole Landsdowne Park and have a 24,000 seat stadium for CFL football and a USL Soccer team in 2014




These stands are supposed to be covered in all natural wood, very cool looking