Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderball
You're right, I did take a little dramatic license. Its likely not going to collapse any time soon.
However, is a 50 year old, spartan, outdated facility with inadequate washroom facilities, narrow passages, bench seating and lousy concession facilities actually acceptable for the richest and 4th largest metro in Canada? Its at the end of its lifecycle and Calgary needs a facility that recognizes that our climate is not compatible for sitting outside unprotected from March to May and October to December. (even that varies)
It suits the CFL... today. But what in 5 years when McMahon becomes, bar none, the worst facility in the CFL West, and second worst in the league (unless Montreal moves to a different facility). Hamilton, Winnipeg and Regina are all getting new government funded facilities. Vancouver's just got a facelift. Rogers and Commonwealth are decades newer and better built. If Winnipeg can build a new NHL arena without a tenant, surely Calgary can build a 30-40k facility in the same caliber of BC Place?
Adding more attractions would be the basis of a new facility, be it MLS, NASL, Canadian National Mens and Womens Teams, concerts, outdoor lacrosse, or any other sport. Right now, McMahon CAN NOT do more than it does, not that they wouldn't like to... save for the random event like the Heritage Classic where the NHL/Flames will drop a pile of money (wasnt it something like $1m) to temporarily raise it to minimum acceptable standard.
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Surely Calgary can, but it would be stupid to do so.
What's the upside of that massive expenditure? A pipe dream MLS team? An occasional national team game? One or two concerts every couple of years? Lacrosse? (Seriously? Lacrosse?). There is quite simply no need for Calgary to have such a stadium, it would be an absolutely massive waste of money.
It needs some upgrades, the washroom facilities for instance, but I think you're completely out of touch with what passes for a solid football stadium in North America. This is not an NFL stadium. It shouldn't be. Look at the stadiums that the majority of NCAA programs play in. Look at the Big House, Spartan Stadium or Notre Dame Stadium. All of those are much larger and much higher profile, and all of them have similar quality washroom facilities, concession facilities, almost exclusively bench seating and the other qualities that somehow make McMahon completely unacceptable. The only real difference with those stadiums is the press/luxury box component, and I'm not sure that's really applicable to a CFL stadium. You'll also note that all of them are located in climates that aren't all that different than Calgary.
The only argument I see being made is 'hey, they got a new shiny thing so we should too'. That's simply a poor basis for spending hundreds of millions of dollars.