Halifax hits the jackpot! New Stadium/franchise soon?

hey HFxTC,

I notice that you are from Halifax so you must have your ear to the ground so to speak, regarding what, if anything is the sentiment for obtaining a CFL franchise there.

Do the local residents wish for a big league stadium and possible CFL team?
Is the majority of council on board to build such a stadium?
Do you believe this is an eventuality?
Will the new shipyard contract help ease council fears?

And do you believe an Atlantic team will be successful?

etc etc etc thanks!

Here is the situation

1- Mayor up for re-election in the spring (will be tough) wants a 25 000 stadium
2- City has no money, highest deficit per citizen of any city in Canada
3- City council is a mixed bag, about two third have supported “studies” but of those, half are just going through the motions saying they will only support it if the Feds and the province pay for it.
4- Province has said NO money for a stadium unless there is a business case. So far no such case has been made. No investors have stepped up, now potential franchise owners. NADA. Mayor says he has secret investors but as the interview with Scott McCain showed it is unlikley and many think the mayor is just trying to ride this to his election in the spring.

My guess is there is a 50/50 chance that a 10 000 seat stadium will be built if Halifax wants to pay for most of it. ZERO chance of a CFL calibre stadium.

Here is the situation

1- Mayor up for re-election in the spring (will be tough) wants a 25 000 stadium
2- City has no money, highest deficit per citizen of any city in Canada
3- City council is a mixed bag, about two third have supported “studies” but of those, half are just going through the motions saying they will only support it if the Feds and the province pay for it.
4- Province has said NO money for a stadium unless there is a business case. So far no such case has been made. No investors have stepped up, now potential franchise owners. NADA. Mayor says he has secret investors but as the interview with Scott McCain showed it is unlikley and many think the mayor is just trying to ride this to his election in the spring.

My guess is there is a 50/50 chance that a 10 000 seat stadium will be built if Halifax wants to pay for most of it. ZERO chance of a CFL calibre stadium.


thanks for the reply HFxTC.

Are the mayoral incumbents in favor of a stadium?
Will the new naval contracts aid in reducing average home debt while increasing disposable income?
And at the same time, do you believe the Province/Feds will acquiesce with some funds now that this massive contract was awarded to Halifax?
Has anyone there spoken of a possible community or shareholder type ownership?
(I would purchase shares, as I’m sure would many diehard CFL fans as well)

I am hoping that strong public support pushes the politicians into building a stadium. I also doubt that it will be CFL-calibre at the start. However, if it is built to be easily expanded, like the Sierra Report recommends, then I will be satisfied. Stadiums in Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Montreal were all built in stages. It would not be the end of the world for Halifax to have to do the same.
A stadium with approximately 13k seats, with sunken decks that could be added to at less cost, would be a great start.
Rather than community ownership, I would prefer to see a large ownership group, made up of 15-20 medium to large businesses. I am thinking of a smaller version of what happened with the Edmonton Oilers. After Peter Pocklington lost the team, it was taken over by a group of 36? local businessmen/businesses. That way, nobody had to incur huge losses when the NHL was struggling with huge salary increases and a low Canadian dollar.
If the mayor's investors drop out, a group like this could step up and finish off a stadium to make it CFL calibre. Perhaps the city and province could also contribute more money to finishing off a stadium if the CFL awards Halifax 2 or 3 Grey Cup games over a 3 to 5 year period. The tax revenues generated would certainly cover a stadium expansion.

I'm always amazed how these broke American cities like Detroit and Buffalo can spend 100's of million upgrading or building new stadiums, while in Canada we can't get one city to build even a spartan 25,000 bench seat open air facility. Shows how important sports are to the Americans compared to this country

I think this is a timely quote from Dr. Darwin Semotiuk about what hosting events like major sporting events can do, and helps justify somewhat the spending on facilities. A healthier populace means less health care costs in the long run as well:

Darwin Semotiuk, a professor at the University of Western Ontario who studies high performance sport and international multi-event competitions, believes the public will come onside provided the marketing is right. But more important than spectator statistics, research shows that people living in cities that host major sporting events generally become more active afterwards.

The stakes are high in Toronto's race to the Games

[url=http://www.thestar.com/sports/panamgames/article/1070207--the-stakes-are-high-in-toronto-s-race-to-the-games?bn=1]http://www.thestar.com/sports/panamgame ... games?bn=1[/url]

Anyone who believes that you have to spend $150 million to get a decent stadium should take a look at these pictures of the University of Akron's InfoCision Stadium. It seats 27880, and cost $61.6 million to build. It opened in 2009. The pictures begin at post #3895.
[url]Halifax Stadium Discussion - Page 195 - SkyscraperPage Forum

You are correct to say that you do not need 150 million to build a football stadium.

But a public infrastructure project football stadium is a completely different story. For every dollar spent on the stadium, two or three more go out the back door.

Yeah but we generally spend far less on other important things, such as public health care. So people can go see a football game but they can’t afford to see a doctor. Then there’s thinks like urban decay, blight, lack of decent public transit in many places. The priorities are simply different. Besides, not everywhere in America is it easy to build a stadium. For example, here in the Bay Area they’ve been trying to come up with a location and a plan and financing for a new stadium for the 49ers for years. Now they’re talking about the Raiders and 9ers playing out of one stadium in San José. The Raiders currently play in a less than adequate multi-use facility with the As and the 9ers are still in freezing Candlestink park. Half the turf for Raider games is dirt because of the baseball diamond until baseball is finished for the season - longer if the As make the playoffs.

It’s all about compromises and trade offs. Not every place is like Texas with billion dollar palaces for the rich and suburban slums and no health care for the poor. Or sweetheart deals that bilk the public purse every 20 years like in Indianapolis.

Give owners a giant pile of TV revenue every year and you’ll see new stadiums in the CFL.

I thought it was “back pocket”… :wink:

Add 150 acres of land in Toronto to your 61 million and I’m pretty sure your back around 130 million…

Even at 130 million, it would be the least expensive new CFL stadium in the country.

But the union heads won’t have any of that. :wink:

I am ordering my tickets today :cowboy:

Rumor the cheer leaders may go bottomless

very neat.
i don’t see why hailfax couldn’t copy this design, adding real seats, for a CFL stadium.

absolutely.

Maybe HFxTC can attend one of the next council meetings and show them this stadium design/budget. :thup:

Does anyone have the link to the Halifax Stadium Development Board? (sounds like something to that effect)
We should all email that specific link to the board members.

I wish them good luck...

The man who made the trip to Akron and posted the pictures is the same man who met with four HRM councillors in January of 2010 about establishing a trust fund that people could have contributed too, that would have been administered by the HRM and used to promote a stadium. He did e-mail the photos to councillor Dawn Sloane, with whom he has exchanged many e-mails over the last couple of years. In fact, Councillor Sloane mentioned him by name at the recent council debate where council voted to set aside as much as $20 million for a stadium as a show of faith before entering negotiations with the other two levels of government.

The city owns land in Burnside, which could potentially be used for a stadium.

The man who made the trip to Akron and posted the pictures is the same man who met with four HRM councillors in January of 2010 about establishing a trust fund that people could have contributed too, that would have been administered by the HRM and used to promote a stadium. He did e-mail the photos to councillor Dawn Sloane, with whom he has exchanged many e-mails over the last couple of years. In fact, Councillor Sloane mentioned him by name at the recent council debate where council voted to set aside as much as $20 million for a stadium as a show of faith before entering negotiations with the other two levels of government.
Well at least the HRMS Committee is active (seemingly) in it's desire to find cost feasible measures to get this accomplished.

Ever since the Atlantic Schooners was broached 20 years ago, this debate has been ongoing. It’s time to complete this study/research with due diligence and get the ball rolling.