I've done a 180 on what I want. Originally I was totally on board with the concept, thinking we'd get something really cool on the football stadium side of things by combining it with an arena project, but after seeing the underwhelming renderings I really think even if this goes through it'll be a watered down everything sold as amazing because it's one thing.
I know on Calgarypuck the Stamps stadium aspect is throw away which is pretty clear by the majority of comments, but as a Stamps fan a few things have soured me on that aspect, it's like we're being offered the worst of both worlds for a field house and stadium.
Cons
-running track around the field (always a huge annoyance at old stadiums, takes away a lot of the intimacy)
-Citizens using the facility have to go downtown and pay for parking, how brutal is that if you have kids that will get dedicated use out of it?
-It won't be available to the public anytime the Stamps are playing, practicing or training. They're selling it as only 8 - 12 dates a year, but realistically they'll be practicing daily during the CFL season, which will limit what can be used by the public most days.
-It doesn't seem like it would be a very good stadium style concert venue, as the capacity isn't much more than a hockey arena and the whole seating area looks kind of awkward. I don't think a caverness field house with extra fields and badminton courts all over and forced in roll away seating will be a very inspiring music venue.
-The capacity; I don't buy King's quick dismissal of the small 25k capacity, pointing to Hamilton's 23k as the new normal in CFL. I believe this whole project has been based on selling "something for everyone" to get as much funding as possible and the field house/stadium combination caused them to have to go with a smaller capacity, awkward football aspect to this project.
The Stamps attendance has dropped but they still don't dip below 26k and often have around 30k.
Which brings me to my point, I'm now fully on board with parting this project out. Let the city take care of a new field house with their own $200mil, and just build a really nice new hockey arena by itself. Then when the Flames (who now own the Stamps) realize that renovating McMahon will be as much as a new stadium with a lackluster result as would be difficult to make it look modern no matter how much you put in, they'll hopefully look to Winnipeg and pay around $200mil for something similar.
Investor's Group Field is fantastic and would immediately put Calgary back in the Stadium tour game, so we don't have to drive up to Edmonton every Stadium show. IGF looks great for everything, be it football, soccer or concerts. I want that.
When you consider the new normal for CFL attendance with the fact that Calgary's too big a city for a bare bones Hamilton style stadium I think around 33k would be perfect.
