Big O roof irreparable/stadium repairs to cost over $500 mil

[b]CFL News ?@CFL_News 32m32 minutes ago
Experts tell the government the Olympic Stadium roof is at the end of its life and can no longer be repaired. - @CJAD800 #CFL #AlsMTL

CFL News ?@CFL_News
When you add the roof into it, fixing Olympic Stadium could end up north of $500M. #CFL #AlsMTL

CFL News ?@CFL_News
Forget the roof, fixing up the rest of the Olympic Stadium will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. - @CJAD800 #CFL #AlsMTL[/b]

[b]The government has planned $213 million for repairs to the envelope of the stadium's tower and major renovations to the promenade, tourist hotspots in the Olympic Park and to the parking structure.[/b]
why even bother?

For $213 million they could build a brand new football specific stadium that would not require gobs of taxpayer money for yearly maintainance bills like the Big Owe accrues.
…and that amount still falls a whopping $300 million short to bring Olympic Stadium to adequate structural standards for Als playoff games, Grey Cups or other large events.

unfortunately, Olympic Stadium has become a bottomless pit and is unsustainable for the public purse to continue funding.

Your topic says the stadium is no longer repairable

Its the roof that is no longer repairable

This has nothing to do with football. But more to do with Mayor Coderre’s dream of bringing MLB back to Montreal.

At this point. The roof is toast, The computerized winch system to open and close the thing never worked properly, The concrete structure has water infiltration all over the place and has become dangerous. The HVAC, Multimedia, Lighting and seating is over 40 years old and most of it completely trashed.

The truth is there is nothing worth saving at this point. The building has outlived its operational life. Putting 700 million dollars in the thing without a tenant does not make much sense. Hosting another Olympic Games same thing. Costs have sky rocketed to the point where there is no return.

Province should consider filling it with dirt, covering it and converting it into a snow park and use the tower to anchor the mini ski lift. No more money thrown over board, no need to blow it up and take it away and the subway station and offices can stay in business.

I don't know what the point of spending that much on fixing it is, when you could demolish it and build something better for that kind of money.

I mean, there's people who still want to get Baseball back in Montreal. You're not doing it successfully at the Big Owe.

Je ne crois pas qu'"irréparable" veuille dire "irremplaçable".

Cela dit, remplacer le toit serait une mesure beaucoup plus économique à court terme que de démolir le stade. La démolition coûterait au-delà de 2 milliards. C'est l'arbitrage que sont en train de faire les pouvoirs publics actuellement... et ça va être long : quelle que soit la décision, elle sera controversée.

Demolishing it is not an option. Would cost as much if not more than doing a complete refurbish. The city and province does not have the money for either.

Ça n’arrivera pas. Desjardins vient de signer un bail à long terme pour la location de l’ensemble des bureaux du mât du stade pour y loger ses activités relatives aux cartes, à AccèsD et AccorD. Avec ce locataire de qualité (et fortuné, par surcroît), le paradigme vient de prendre une autre tangente. Mais je ne crois pas que cette donnée suffise à rentabiliser l’exploitation d’une franchise MLB à Montréal. Quand les nouveaux Expos auront croupi quelques saisons dans les bas fonds de la ligue, le stade sera vide et l’équipe déménagera. Ce serait arrivé aux Alouettes si U2 n’était pas venu faire un spectacle au Stade Olympique.

Got to wonder how the hell the CFL can even contemplate hosting a Grey Cup there.

Also interesting to hear people who have never seen the thing up close, who think this can just be blown up and carted away. To understand what this implies. New York Twin Towers mass was 500 000 tons. The concrete ALONE in the Big Owe is 960 000 tons.

The Olympic Stadium: Fact and Fiction

Thanks Charuk, that is a very good info find.

Interesting facts. I guess it will come down to econ 101.
Is it generating enough $$$$, to justify paying $$$$ to keep it up.
Tear down is going to cost to much $$$$, so I guess they will figure something out.

I was searching the web for an article I read, stating the Als are hoping to host Grey Cup 2018 if the roof is fixed. Now , I can not find it.
I thought Hamilton would be in for 2018, but I guess that will be a debate for later.

I have a feeling this is the motive here too. Though is it really clear who these experts are?

Wouldn’t be surprised if this is the city setting up the justification for trying to redirect money to a place that will bring 81 events per year. At least that will be the sell.

problem is this latest report by the Quebec Minister of Infrastructure states that the roof can no longer be repaired.

a new roof will cost at minimum $215 million but the stadium repairs require an additional $300 million or so to be structurally sound. (and lest we forget maintenance/taxpayer bills in excess of a mil a year)

the money allocated for Olympic Stadium would be better served by building a brand spanking new stadium for a fraction of the cost with much much less maintenance fees for ongoing structural/damage repairs.

Why would you even consider it? Rip it down.

The Olympic Stadium last year was booked for 168 days, it is one of the busiest stadiums in North America and it does not even have a tenant, Would have likely been booked even more if it was able to book during winter months without possible cancellations due to snow… plus all the office space being rented out, Als being one…

One thing is for sure, they need to make a decision. Right now they have ordered another round of studies ! and will look at it again in the fall. The last study stated five years for completion. This stadium will not be refurbished at the earliest until 2022…

Got any idea how to “rip down” 960 000 tons of concrete, 2300 kilometers of steel cable ? If you do there is probably a cool 50 million in there for you. :wink:

I agree it’s a waste. But it is also the lesser of the evils.

There are several issues at play. To get the massive amount of funding there needs to be a big event for the Big O to host ie (World Cup) that has to be at a large seating capacity. But for its legacy, the building needs to be much smaller (between 30 to 40k).

It can't be torn down because it is an iconic landmark on the Montreal skyline. it is identified with Montreal like the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

Montreal needs to be smart like Vancouver was in how they do this project and can't be hurried or under pressure to make a decision that will inevitably turn out bad.

Good to know. Didn’t think the venue was that busy, not so much of a white elephant after all.

But yes, very expensive to tear it down. Looks like eternal studies is in order!

It can’t be blown up and I doubt it could be demolished, the thing is massive. I think they are stuck with it forever the Quebec government will pay for a new roof, they have no choice. I think BC Place got a new roof for around $500 million.

It wouldn’t surprise me if they also build a baseball stadium downtown. There is huge interest in baseball in Montreal, not only people following the MLB but a record number of kids registered to play baseball in the city.

[url=http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2016/04/01/can-major-league-baseball-really-return-to-montreal.html]http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... treal.html[/url]