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Originally Posted by Benched
Came back to this this morning.
The thing that still bothers me is that the Stamps new stadium is crammed in this project. They basically are looking for a way to cut the cost of building that stadium. Someone knew the city wanted to build a 'fieldhouse' and was budgeting for 200million, so the Flames/Stamps said 'hey lets incorporate that into our design and we'll get the city to build us our stadium since they were going to build something similar anyway! that'll save us 200mill!'
The other big issue, West Village. Until East Village is 'done' and the revitalization is complete, I just don't think we need to revitalize the other side of the city as well. I worry that this will split the 'revitalization' and that people may choose West over East and then we'll end up with a ghost town on the East Village. All those businesses and developers and people who moved out there on the promise of it being the new up and coming area get left holding the bag.
Seriously think, if the Stamps don't economically justify building a new stadium on their own (and they don't)....then scrap that part of the plan. They can continue to play at McMahon stadium, it'll continue to be old, we'll continue to be cold. So be it. The city sponsored fieldhouse is indefinitely on hold it sounds like, so again, no worries. It's debatable how much the city needs it right now anyway.
Go back to building a single new arena for the Flames. The demand is there. Economically if you had more seats you'd make more money. More boxes, more money. Do your ticket tax to help pay for it. Build it with concerts in mind to help keep the space booked for added revenue.
Project is an overreach. West Villeage doesn't NEED to be cleaned today, it's sat there for years already. Doesn't need to be revitalized immediately. Stamps don't support building a new stadium no matter how 'blah' the old one is. These extras are just sales wrapping on building the arena that the Flames need and can be justified, while trying to sneak in a stadium build on the cheap.
PS. I still have serious concerns about transportation to/from the site. "Just take the train". yeah not sure on the math, but 18,000+ people, about what 300/train?.....sure. I love standing around like a sardine for an hour on the platform, pushing and shoving with drunk people, so that I can go home after your event...
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You raise some valid concerns, but if now isn't the right time, when is? When is the right time to spend money on new stadium ventures? When is the right time to finally clean up the west village?
There will always be a reason not to spend money on a football stadium. McMahon stadium is an absolute POS. Location and access sucks, the stadium itself sucks, and it isn't use for anything more than Stamps games. You can't even have concerts there.
A new well suited location could be vastly more useful not only for stamps games, but much more.
Might as well look at a solution that address multiple needs for Calgary as a city. The Dome and McMahon are way past their best days, and it gives an impetus to clean up the west village sooner rather than later.
What future proposal is going to come along at the right time that people won't just find more reasons to "leave it alone"?