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Originally Posted by Muta
Well, I don't buy that. The city itself is definitely the strongest feature, but I'll say that a new arena and high quality professional sports facilities do help to sway people's decisions to play here. We wouldn't know because we haven't had new facilities in over 30 years. If facilities didn't matter, no one would build them. And we wouldn't be where we are today with this impasse.
Also, the functional design of the arena doesn't change whether it's in Victoria Park or the West Village. It will feature best practices in sports design and innovation regardless of its geographical location. A dedicated sports district is much, much more ambitious and world-class. We need more than just an arena (we need a stadium and fieldhouse too), and the Victoria Park location doesn't include either.
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I'm not arguing that a new arena of high standard is a factor in a players interest. That we agree on. I'm arguing that it's irrelevant that if it's part of a sports complex or sports district.
The function, and size of an arena is different from a stadium, and even moreso than a public feildhouse. An arena is an event centre that provides both sporting and entertainment amenities. Whereas a fieldhouse is a recreational facility. Considering the arena should have a fair amount of events in it's nightly calendar, it's fitting for it to be located in a area that's trying to establish a social/cultural district that is already shovel ready.
The city does need a fieldhouse, badly. But I'm of the opinion that it would be better served as it's own entity in the original location across the university. Access, parking, and usage (both with the public and the university) I feel is improved there rather than downtown. I also wasn't keen on the idea of it being a stadium hybird, since I think you wouldn't be getting the best of either worlds with that combination.