New Stadium in Surrey?

Blue In BC · August 25, 2022, 05:02:07 PM

A bold election promise that probably never sees the light of day. McCallum says he wants to build a new all purpose 60,000 seat stadium in Surrey. He bases that on the fact that Surrey is the fastest growing BC community and half the Lions fans travel from Surrey.

No info on what the cost or what stadium would look like yet or even exact location aside next to Skytrain.

I always felt that a new stadium in Surrey would have been a better option in 2010-2011 when BC Place was renovated for some $600M!!! Obviously that didn't happen then.

Two large stadiums and only 1 football team seems counter productive.

Regardless it's an interesting political statement with far reaching change in the dynamic involving the Lions.

LXTSN · August 25, 2022, 05:07:57 PM

I've always thought that from the outside, BC's stadium is beautiful! Building a new stadium in Surrey doesn't make much sense to me really.

I do really like Surrey and White Rock though, rather than Vancouver. Very nice area

Jesse · August 25, 2022, 05:24:03 PM

What a silly campaign promise.

He has no control over that and he would have zero support from anyone who would have power to do something.

What's he running for anyway?

The Zipp · August 25, 2022, 05:25:36 PM

Surrey Seahawks for when all those "fans" realize their team sucks and stop supporting them???

Blue In BC · August 25, 2022, 05:36:04 PM

Quote from: Jesse on August 25, 2022, 05:24:03 PM
What a silly campaign promise.

He has no control over that and he would have zero support from anyone who would have power to do something.

What's he running for anyway?

If he wins the race for mayor he'd have some control / interest. A stadium generates a lot of revenue in a given community. It doesn't make sense when there is already a viable stadium in Vancouver that can't fill more than half the seats at the moment.

He's going to be hard pressed to win his election IMO so he can make any promise he wants to swing the votes. lol

As I suggested it's interesting but not viable financially.

ModAdmin · August 25, 2022, 05:48:54 PM

Let's be careful about talking politics here. Stadium discussion is fine.

Waffler · August 25, 2022, 07:41:20 PM

Pretty sure Empire stadium had a lot of rain games and that's the reason for the cover on this one. Whatever will bring out fans, I am for it.

Blue In BC · August 25, 2022, 07:45:28 PM

Quote from: Waffler on August 25, 2022, 07:41:20 PM
Pretty sure Empire stadium had a lot of rain games and that's the reason for the cover on this one. Whatever will bring out fans, I am for it.

Sure. A retractable covered stadium in any CFL city is not a bad idea when cities decide to build a new stadium. Cost is the caveat. Demand might be a bigger one.

I like BC Place and it's going to be serviceable for 20+ years? Not exactly sure on that but that's a reasonable guess.

OTOH I can see Surrey wanting a venue, but the cost and the demand for it are the questions.

BC isn't big enough for two franchises located that close, but that's another interesting thought.

theaardvark · August 26, 2022, 04:29:26 PM

Last thing we need is to weaken a franchise and have another in the west... that means we move back into the east an the evils of divisional travel.

But hey, whatever... not our tax$

Blue In BC · August 26, 2022, 04:48:11 PM

Quote from: theaardvark on August 26, 2022, 04:29:26 PM
Last thing we need is to weaken a franchise and have another in the west... that means we move back into the east an the evils of divisional travel.

But hey, whatever... not our tax$

I don't know about that necessarily. A small stadium ( 30K ) in the BC interior ( Kelowna ) might be a viable new franchise situation. We hear previous discussions about another CFL team in Saskatoon as an example. It's population is larger than Regina. Saskatchewan fans are very pro football folks.

Any size stadium in Surrey doesn't fall into a logical comparison as a business model. All of the reasons crowd sizes are small at BC Place would be the same in Surrey?

Winnipeg needing to move back to the east is a secondary question.

wpg#1 · August 26, 2022, 05:41:02 PM

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 26, 2022, 04:48:11 PM
I don't know about that necessarily. A small stadium ( 30K ) in the BC interior ( Kelowna ) might be a viable new franchise situation. We hear previous discussions about another CFL team in Saskatoon as an example. It's population is larger than Regina. Saskatchewan fans are very pro football folks.

Any size stadium in Surrey doesn't fall into a logical comparison as a business model. All of the reasons crowd sizes are small at BC Place would be the same in Surrey?

Winnipeg needing to move back to the east is a secondary question.

People keep forgetting that the riders are supported by the whole province of Saskatchewan including Saskatoon. Putting a team in Saskatoon wouldn't make sense. The population is around 260,000, Regina is smaller.
2 teams in the province would not survive.

Blue In BC · August 26, 2022, 06:03:08 PM

Quote from: wpg#1 on August 26, 2022, 05:41:02 PM
People keep forgetting that the riders are supported by the whole province of Saskatchewan including Saskatoon. Putting a team in Saskatoon wouldn't make sense. The population is around 260,000, Regina is smaller.
2 teams in the province would not survive.

Nobody is forgetting that the Riders are supported by the entire province. It doesn't mean that a 2nd team wouldn't also have the same support. Not knocking Saskatchewan but it's not a province with as many places to spend disposal income as some other provinces.

It wouldn't be my 1st choice for a 10 th team, but I wouldn't rule it out either.

blue_or_die · August 26, 2022, 06:42:54 PM

Quote from: Blue In BC on August 26, 2022, 06:03:08 PM
Nobody is forgetting that the Riders are supported by the entire province. It doesn't mean that a 2nd team wouldn't also have the same support. Not knocking Saskatchewan but it's not a province with as many places to spend disposal income as some other provinces.

It wouldn't be my 1st choice for a 10 th team, but I wouldn't rule it out either.

Asinine to think that double the money would flow and fans would travel across the province twice every weekend to support 2 teams.

Although not as asinine as this Surrey proposal...

Waffler · August 26, 2022, 08:48:43 PM

I don't think a 10th team there is a terrible idea. Currently the Lions are the only team without a Labor day game to play because they have no natural rival. The population area is over 2 million. They just better do their home work first and be sure enough people are willing to pay to see it 10 times a year.

Blue In BC · August 26, 2022, 10:53:56 PM

Quote from: Waffler on August 26, 2022, 08:48:43 PM
I don't think a 10th team there is a terrible idea. Currently the Lions are the only team without a Labor day game to play because they have no natural rival. The population area is over 2 million. They just better do their home work first and be sure enough people are willing to pay to see it 10 times a year.

Population size is no guarantee of large crowds. Just look at Toronto or Ottawa.