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Originally Posted by DionTheDman
I was hoping they'd keep the dome around as event space or something if possible. Seems a shame to remove it since it's one of the most recognizable parts of our skyline.
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Yeah I felt that, too.
The Dome's fate will depend a lot on an Olympic bid. If the city wants to go through with it they will need to keep it up until 2026 at least to be the figure skating and short track venue while the new arena takes hockey.
Then you're not only dealing with an iconic part of the skyline, but also a building that has taken part in two Olympic games: whatever push there would be to make it a Historic site before would be given more weight after.
Trouble is that the roof does limit what it can be used for. How much of the main event level can be converted to convention space and what could the upper bowl space be converted to?
Here's what the insides of Maple Leaf Gardens were done up to be
The roof limits some options but the city doesn't really need another small (sub 2,500 seats) hockey/curling venue and one of my thoughts was movie theatres if that was doable but it would all have to work with the Stampede's needs and would require a lot of money that would only realistically come with an Olympic bid and would only make the Olympic costs less palatable to people, so it might not be in the cards.
If it was torn down I would recommend a frame of the roof be erected with a bunch of LED lights so that a 'silhouette' of sorts would always be present in the city's southern skyline.