Moncton is rewarded for being proactive. Halifax has lost the Uteck Bowl. Perhaps this will be the last straw and people will demand something gets built in Halifax. At least alot of comments about these stories show the vast majority of people in Halifax are pissed with city council and the mayor.
If Halifax ever wants a CFL team they had better get off the stick and get something done about building a stadium. If the CFL ever does expand to Moncton, Halifax can kiss any future hopes for a team good bye. Atlantic Canada will only have one CFL team and it looks like Moncton has the inside track right now. Halifax can't complain, they have had plenty of time to get something done. If they lose out to Moncton, it will have been their own fault.
Moncton has proven it is a can-do town. Halifax has proven the opposite (which also partly explains its tepid population growth over the last 100 years or so). There will likely NEVER be a team there. And though I have never been there (though I will visit some day), I get the distinct impression that most Haligonians (via their elected officials) believe money mostly comes from individual taxes, and therefore it is better to spend it on anything other than progressive ventures which can attract more business to their city. That's what building a stadium is all about, attracting business, revitalization, increased opportunity for you citizens. Halifax sees it has an expense, not an investment in the future. Halifax is wrong and will never have a big-league team.
It's no surprise this game has been moved to Moncton. Last week-end I attended the Laval demolition of St. Mary's and I have to say Huskies Stadium really needs alot of renovation or outright replacement. I had to dodge water as it dripped from overhead on a sunny day no less. There were people sitting on grass where seats used to be but were removed because they were falling apart. This week-end I will be in Moncton to see The Eskimos and Argos play in a new stadium. Pretty sure I'd be making the same move as the AUS did.
I can only hope that losing this traditional Halifax game as well as all the positive publicity that Moncton has and will continue to receive will wake those HRM clowns and the mayor up and perhaps something positive can come from this. Once again Moncton shines and Halifax becomes even more irrelevant.
I've heard through the grapevine that Halifax is a weird city with who runs it and how it's run and the CFL is much better off trying to work with Moncton. Just what I've heard.
Hmmmm…Hali is my second favorite city in Canada, first is Montreal. and it’s really close. More like 1a-b flip flopping.
Great food,
every venue has live music, great vibrant populace.
People love to live and enjoy.
Home of a high end IT development.
Host to great music events, concerts
Super beaches
Love amateur BB 8)
Just because that they are not clamoring for CFL doesn’t minimize them.
I LOVE Halifax.
For those of us who haven’t been there it most certainly does minimize Halifax as a go-to place.
Having a CFL team is about more than just entertainment, which lots of cities can claim. It’s about civic profile, media focus, name recognition and brand awareness. If you want to grow your city you market it like you market anything else, and the CFL provides year-round media mentions. Having a team elevates the city to Canadian top-tier status, and that translates to greater brand and market awareness. It also directly stimulates local business, and provides occasional bonanza (Grey Cup festival) income that benefits the entire city.
Moncton gets it and has done a great job of getting it’s name out there. It has already benefited by having the game on Sunday, and it will benefit even more in the future. Halifax, for all it’s local splendour, will remain mired in obscurity because of it’s seeming inability, or unwillingness, to market itself.
Let me ask you guys this coming from someone that is in the construction field which is, are there a lot of jobs in Halifax?
Is Halifax a booming city?
And how does Halifax compare to other maritime cities in those regards?
i love the CFL…just don’t agree it defines Canada…or its cities
hali…never obscure. you better travel more
Saskatoon is a more enjoyable city to me than Regina…
Love Victoria …they could care less about CFL still a great city
best burger I ever had plus best biker party: Brandon
Montreal was great without CFL as is Quebec City…the 3rd great canadaian city
Halifax is a nice city, so is London,Ontario etc most cities in Canada are nice and having a CFL team is not required at all to be nice and a great city to live in, work in etc. Or any sports team. But, for me, having something beyond sports that get little national TV exposure and recognition with a sport that does get such exposure is an added bonus that adds to the character of a city. The key is that if you're a CFL city, you're in the running to host the Grey Cup championship which again, is an added bonus to the character of a city whether someone hates football or the CFL or Grey Cup or not. The Grey Cup does get millions of viewers exposing a city to the nation on national TV.
Sorry if I came across that Halifax isn't a real nice city, didn't mean that at all.
I travel plenty. I have lived in eight different cities in Canada and the U.S. I have seen time and time again what a pro franchise can do for a community. I have also seen what happens to a community when it loses that opportunity.
I never said a CFL franchise defines a city (though the league very much is part of what defines Canada), but not having one prevents many people from even thinking about what defines a city. It prevents them because they simply don't think about it, and why should they? Sure you love the place, because you've been there. Can you say the same for the tens of millions of other Canadians and Americans? I don't think you can.
And what about the stagnant population growth in Halifax (look it up). Your population stagnates when your young people leave. Why do they leave? For opportunities elsewhere of course. If you want them to stay you do everything you can to maximize the benefits of staying local. That includes high-profile, on-going marketing efforts to attract businesses, which provide jobs and tax revenue.
I love great bars and beaches as much as the next person, but I'm not going to get on a plane and fly 5000k to Halifax to have a drink and catch a few rays. I might if there is a big game to watch though. I'm going to Edmonton for that very reason in November, and I went to Toronto last year for the same reason.
Events mean people visiting your city and spending money there. The CFL provides fantastic on-going marketing value that lasts decades. It's another part of an entertainment portfolio that successful, growing, vibrant cities provide.
Construction in Halifax is booming, mainly because of internal migration. As the rest of the province is litteraly “dying” people move to Halifax to find work. Only other area that I can think of that is growing are retail and care of the elderly. Construction trades are fully employed.
That's great Hf for Halifax and does make it booming in some respects for sure. It's too bad that all that type of booming rather than booming punts and football games don't get on national TV week in and week out and show a city to tens and hundreds of thousands of people.
I had a long drawn out post that said exactly some of the same things but I decided not to post it…Even the bars Flag speaks of are dying as most young people can’t afford them, young people increasingly can not afford to stay in Halifax, there is very few jobs that will pay enough for them to even contemplate living out here. Real Estate is in the same prices as Ottawa and Calgary, our sales tax has just been increased to 15 percent, probably the highest in Canada. Our hydro rate is roughly 15 cents per kilowatt and fuel prices are also the highest in the country short of maybe Newfoundland. As the populace ages and young people continue to move away this will continue to get worse. And since there are not enough young people sticking around they don’t have enough numbers to effect any political change, the old wealth that control politicians in Nova Scotia is only concerned with keeping property taxes low and spending more and more in health care. What 70 year old is interested in a stadium, summer day camps for kids or jobs ??? Its a dead end here unfortunately. I am relocating our office to Moncton and have just purchased a home in Saint-Lazare just outside of Montreal and can not wait to get out.
The last five years despite our office being in Halifax, 65 to 90 percent of our revenues (depending on the year) have been generated from New Brunswick projects. In fact over a quarter million of this year's numbers are from the Moncton stadium. I feel that by having a local presence in Moncton we can grow our New Brunswick numbers further, in addition I have enough evidence that the tenders that have been put out by the city of Halifax and Nova Scotia have been less than clean, in fact some have been legally challenged successfully in the last 24 months. So the new tenders issued by the city of Halifax require that the supplier responding to a tender sign a waiver of his rights to litigate the city ! I just can't be bothered.
There are other anciliary benefits: It will be 3 hours closer to the factory for our haulers and a much more central location to service the maritimes, just about every location can be reached in less than half a day. While Halifax can require a whole day of travel to get to Northern New Brunswick or Saint-John.
Also our price per square foot in Dieppe 10.00 is half what we are paying in Burnside/HRM.
No brainer...
Here is the list:
1- Gov. conduct business more openly and cleanly
2- Closer to factory
3- Central
4- Cheaper fuel,energy costs.
5- Cheaper taxes
6- Cheaper rent
7- Bilingual installers and technicians a plenty (facilitates communication with mostly francophone staff at factory)
And to be clear I think cities with CFL franchises are fortunate and that the game enhances the life for many in that city.
Just wanted to stress that outside of the 9 cities we have a great many more locations that have much to offer. There are many things that help make a city livable. For some, and all on here, pro sports is a key ingredient. I, for one, only go to Regina so I can wear a watermelon on my head.