Quote:
Originally Posted by Frequitude
A smarter idea IMO from a land use perspective would be to replace the grandstand with a stadium that 11 days a year has the chucks run around/through it and a rodeo/grandstand show in it. Build it one side at a time to reduce Stampede interruptions (i.e. the side inside the track first, then demo the grandstand and build the side second).
There would certainly be some challenges turning it into an intimate rodeo/chuckwagon/grandstand venue 11 days a year, but you've gotta think there's a way for that to be resolved. First thing that comes to mind is mass seating on one side ala the current grandstand and roll-in fancy suite seating ala the current infield.
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I've been saying just that for years. Now that horse race betting is not really a thing with satellite race/betting, that Grandstand is only used for 2 weeks a year. Make it multi-functional, get some good box/luxury seating in it that can be used for both Chucks/Rodeo and Football/Soccer and you get more event dates out of the facility in one footprint.
Anyway, I'm far from an expert, but I played around with a free online autocad program and did up a rough brainstorm a couple weeks back.
I'm sure an actual designer/architect could fancy that up. But the rodeo infield would fit nicely inside a football/soccer footprint. Event deck and dirt for the chucks/rodeo, and for football, close in the endzones with party deck seating like the Cabin area they have at TD Place in Ottawa. I'd say the East grandstand could be much like the Ottawa 'small side' with more box/luxury and a smaller footprint, and the West side grandstand (that would replace the current Grandstand) would be the bigger of the two. The pic above is actually my first draft. I did another where the big screen went in the other endzone, that opened up the north side so you'd see the Chucks come around the final corner to the line more clearly, and also not have sun shining directly on the screen.
Anyway, feel free to discuss, disparage, design, iterate.
I think it's something worth exploring, and added bonus, the Stampeders would play at the Stampede. Just seems fitting somehow.