With essentially no on-site parking the fans will have limited access to the new Lansdowne.
The underground Parking still exists. I never had problems finding parking in the past. Same situation in Montreal, you have to pay to park around the stadium. I’m sure there will be parking around the stadium. They are building a huge Cineplex Odeon with Imax as well so there has to be parking.
For GHT - quite so!
In most cases in Canada, football stadia are used for football only, perhaps some soccer and university football. Your point about multi-purpose makes some sense.
In other discussions I have had on this forum about football stadia is their location. Some have suggested that a stadium like PM in Montreal is ideal because before or after the game you can go downtown, to a bar, a restaurant, or a "night on the town". To me, those aren't football fans. Those are people looking for an evening's entertainment which includes football.
In the stats I posted about attendance at NFL stadia, I would like to bring attention to two of them:
Gillette Stadium (Patriots) - Foxboro, Mass
MetLife Stadium (Jets and Giants) - Rutherford, NJ
In both cases, these stadia are located far from the downtown core of both Boston and NYC. Foxboro is 33 miles from Boston, and East Rutherford is also quite a distance from NYC. Look at the attendance figures for both stadia. Those folks are football fans! if they also want a night on the town, they can do so. But getting to and from both stadia involves a commute.
So, the bottom line still is - either you are a football fan or not. I certainly hope that football will catch on here.
I was a little surprised to see that even when they built the new deck of seating, McGill or the Als chose benches rather than individual seats. That seemed kinda of a waste. With that being said, they did a tremendous job of integrating the stadium into a very tight space. Summer games on Mount Royal are incredible.
The Big Owe is a disaster and almost solely responsible for the current stadium mess the city finds itself in. However, the newly minted mayor was the minister for sport (one of the best this country ever had) once upon a time, so he is quite familiar with the challenges sports face in this country. The Province has acknowledged that a large sum of money must be spent to put a new roof on Olympic, so now might be a good time to give the stadium a better football configuration. That way, the Als could continue to play at Percival Molson, and use the Big Owe for "big game/bad weather" games and playoffs.
JKM,
You forget the tailgate parties, which are the equivalent (and more) of a night on the town: When I drove out of the Metlife Stadium parking lot after a Giants game, there were tons of garbage lying around in the parking lot. You had to literally drive over it - quite sad, actually. Using your definition, I’m not sure all those folks qualify as football fans.
jkm: I take exception to your remark that those Alouette fans who wander down the hill to imbibe after a football game, are not really football fans. While living in Montreal, my group of buddies were indeed Alouette fans who enjoyed the downtown trek to a taverne following an Alouette game. Your statement that those who visit such an establishment post game are not football fans discredits these persons.
You are aware that Mr. Wettenhaul is suing the engineering firm that designed the project ? Even using bench seating there is a shortfall of seats on the contract. There is no room at Molson for individual seats…
No, was not aware of that. (the suing part). However, there are some individual seats in Molson currently. And when they built the new tier from scratch they could have added some then too. Someone, or some group chose not to
Niagara:
As to garbage after the game, there is plenty of that in PMS also. Football fans here are not necessarily more tidy than football fans elsewhere. Besides, where can you throw garbage without having fans get up every few minutes to dispose of trash?
As to the "night on the town" comment, that was in response to what a few posters have stated about PMS vice the Big Owe, i.e. that it is too far away, that people would like to go out before or after the game...
My point simply is that football fans in some cities have to do some serious travel - even to another state - to see a football game, and for considerably more than the price of an Als' game, BTW. They may, before or after the game, go to a night spot around the stadium or back home, but the main purpose of the commute is to cheer on their team.
As you say, there are tailgate parties which add to the colour and excitement of a football game. Is there anything wrong with going out before or after the game? Of course not! Let's just say that the Als' football stadium was located in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. How many fans from Montreal would head out there to watch football? IMO, not many. Just my opinion, Niagara, nothing more.
I foresee problems. The underground parking will have about a third of the former surface spaces, and will now also service the numerous stores that will be open through either entire games or at least the start time of night games, as well as a couple of restaurants (I believe) and the promised/potential/unlikely movie theatre complex.
On street parking in the Glebe and Ottawa South will be problematic, with either residents “annoyed” by illegal parking (historically likely, and that was when Lansdowne had 4500-5000 parking spaces) or fans “annoyed” by getting tickets or being towed. And unless the Rouge et Noir sign contracts with Billings Bridge Shopping Centre or Carleton University and run shuttle buses, parking there to go to the game is also illegal.
Sorry for the Ottawa centric post Als fans outside Ottawa.
NO We don't censure here. I was not aware the theatre
wasn't signed . Let's hope it isn't a problem
Absolutely, the OSEG and Hunt had announced this awhile back and now they are beginning to show signs of backing up that commitment. The Ottawa Website is in both english and French like Montreal’s.
If TSN does its part and televises all of Ottawa’s games in French on RDS that will also go a long way into making this happen. I have not heard anything but I would imagine that this would include an English and Frech radio Network home for the newest CFL franchise in Ottawa
It won’t happen overnight with many loyal still to Montreal but Hunt and the OSEG are in this for the long run with a long term plan. So as we go through the next generation of CFL fans who will be growing up and participating in camps and other media events by Ottawa in Gatineau the plan has an outstanding potential to be successful.
Could also spill over into the NASL Fury with the Fury taking a major step up into a modern venue being shared by the CFL team as well as cross promotion of tickets.
JKM : Using your definition of football fan, we should point to Sask where many fans travel from many towns to Regina to attend RR games. A couple of years ago, I have the pleasure to attend a Sask vs Calgary CFL game, What did impress, in my estimation, were the thousands of fans wearing green sweaters and, I gather many RR fans do attend games in Calgary. There was some initial talk in Regina about a covered stadium. This would ensure Sask will be enabled to share the Grey Cup games along with other cities who have such facilities. I'm hoping for decent weather in Regina for the GC. The last championship game I saw on TV was the final game between Laval U and, a Western team in Saskatoon. The weather that day was dreadful- freezing weather with high winds, not at all suited for a Canadian CIS final. Passing was basically shut down and, yards from scrimmage were on the low side. A more appropriate venue for these two teams would have been a hockey arena with the teams wearing skates.
That is truly a concern ever time a Grey Cup hits the prairies. Hopefully at some point the the Riders can take their plans of addind a retractable roof to the new stadium and make them a reality.
With McMahon also on the downside of CFL stadiums now a possible thought of a domed venue should be at least considered even if it does not happen.
from the time BC Place opened in 1983 and hosted its first GC until it hosts its next in 2014 19 of the 31 GC games during that span were played indoors at one of the three indoor venues.
This brings to the importance of getting Olympic up to winter standards with at least a long lasting solid roof and keeping RC in the Mix for GC action even though it will no longer be the Argos new home.
On another point there are still seats available for the WSF at Mosaic. I highly doubt that you would be able to get one of those 44K plus seats if the weather conditions are in the realm of dangerous to bring your kids or the ederly or even anyone who just does not want to get frost bite.
So the Als regular season games at McGill are still a great experience that all enjoy but at current time another great experience is that for now future Als playoff games of 5oK plus or Grey Cups will not be a part of the Als or the CFLs future
Keeping it central is certainly key, and I do agree that diehards won’t care about the seating, especially when there is a great atmosphere, but how do you convert a casual fan into a die hard that will come into the forums to even discuss such things? You take steps to further increase the fan experience, people watching on TV will see it as well and get caught up in it. It’s the difference between watching a habs home game vs a calgary home game. The alouettes do definitely need better player and managers facility, and even though I’d like a new stadium for them to happen, it likely won’t until/unless Quebec(Stadacona Chiefs) become/get a team
Niagara:
Football, to me, isn't merely a sport - it's a "happening". Tailgate parties, marching bands, half-time shows, hoopla... That's one of the reasons I'm a big fan of NCAA football, a ND fan specifically.
Regina's fans are similar to those south of the border; they have embraced their team as their own. When they win, an entire province rejoices, when they lose, everyone feels the pain. Nowhere else in this country do I see the same degree of loyalty, and I find that a shame. Some cities have great stadia which they can never fill unless it's in the post-season. Montreal gets good attendance in a small stadium, The other large cities, i.e. Toronto and Vancouver, never sell out during season play.
So, building a new stadium for the Als is a great idea, but anyone, even someone with the deep pockets to do so, had better take the above into consideration. It has been suggested that any new stadium be multipurpose to be able to stage other types of revenue-making events. In the current context, that would make eminent sense!
I simply can't put the finger on the reason most CFL teams don't regularly sell out, so the only conclusion I can come up with is that football just isn't that popular in Canada.
Compare the population in the States to the population in Canada. It's not hard to figure out why we don't draw crowds of 60,000 to any sporting event with regularity.
If we consider the population of the country, d&p, no question.
Some interesting stats from the 2011 census. Populations of metropolitan areas:
Toronto - 5,500,000
Montreal - 3,800,000
Vancouver - 2,300,000
Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary - 1,200,000
Green Bay, Wisconsin - 300,000
Our largest cities should be able to draw more fans than they do. So the question remains - why don't they?
I’ve travelled a lot to the States and they are a more sociable culture and they like to gather and celebrate who they are much more than we do. You can spend a whole day walking in Toronto and Montreal and not have one person say hello to you. That has rarely happened to me in the States.
I take agreement anywhere I can find it, but I was referring more to surrounding a stadium complex with other revenue generating projects: condos, malls, restaurants, office towers, theatres, etc. The stadium has to be able to host concerts and other events, but without making it into the 70s style multi-purpose circles that were OK for everything but good for nothing.