Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
'88 has 46 events compared to 102 this year. All 4 of the costly events above were around in '88 , so at least it could be argued that new events aren't quite as demanding for specialized venues.
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Except that in 1988 and earlier, you only needed one large-capacity arena and one smaller one for all the indoor events (which were only figure skating and men's hockey).
For most host cities, the large arena had a capacity of 10-15,000 and the small arena had a capacity of 4-6,000. In Lake Placid, the large arena held less than 10,000 and the small was only 2,000.
Now, with the addition of women's hockey, short track, curling, and the addition of some figure skating events, you need two large and two small arenas. Those facilities are a significant expense for any host city, even if they're built as temporary "pop-up" buildings.
That's one reason why 2026 makes sense for Calgary. The new arena should be open by then to host the big hockey games and the Saddledome can be kept around for an extra few years to host the figure skating and short track events. If we wait until 2030 or later, the financial viability of keeping the Saddledome active doesn't make sense and you really would need Edmonton as a co-host.
Even with the new arena and the Saddledome in place, the two small arenas are still question marks. The Corral could serve as the small hockey venue, but it will require significant renovations to make it suitable, and it's still scheduled for demolition whenever the Stampede Board gets the funding for the BMO Centre expansion. The Flames will most-likely want an on-site practice rink alongside the new arena, so I think there's an opportunity to build that with an eye to serve as the small hockey venue for the Olympics.
The Curling venue is the toughest one. The big arena at Winsport could work, but its capacity is a little small. There's also a people-moving challenge at Winsport if they're going to have sliding events as well as freestyle and/or snowboard events at COP. That's also another reason why, even if they could make the ski jumps workable, they'll likely not look to COP for yet another event.
I've suggested before that the Centrium in Red Deer would make sense for the Curling venue. It's a good size for Curling and it's not too far away from Calgary. They could easily offer bus service between Calgary and Red Deer throughout the games to minimize traffic on Highway 2.