New Stadium?

[hyper316]

SkyDome is here to stay, there is no room for the retractable grass either. I have been suggesting to evict the Argos to BMO field, get it expanded, and make SkyDome only for Jays with the real grass.

As for the Bills, my idea is instead of eventually building a stadium in Burlington or in the middle of nowhere, let's incorporate the the stadium in the Toronto skyline. Where the space? Toronto Islands. There is an island I think southern of the airport which is a "park" that anyone hardly visits. It's not Centerville. Build a 70,000 seat stadium there with an exclusive bridge from the mainland.

This would be big budget project but will also have the potential to be a landmark similar to the Sidney Opera House.

I don't know where to start here; this is just about the dumbest idea I have ever heard. I'm willing to bet that you are either 14 or live in the 'burbs.

First, just because you don't use the island, it doesn't mean no one else does. A couple thousand people live on it, plenty of folks do use the island for things other than centreville, and I don't care how nice of a stadium you make, it is going to be uglier than parkland.

Second, there really, really isn't room.

Third, having everyone go across bridges to get there is a traffic nightmare. Also, the bridges would be a nightmare for shipping lanes.

Fourth, there is plenty of land available just as close to downtown that doesn't ruin a great part of the city, and that the city has been trying to redevelop for years. If you can't figue out where, take a look at the google satellite map of the city. Or look at the pan-am bid proposal, or Olympic bid proposals, and you will see an area that makes about 1000 times more sense.

Seriously, baseball isn't that important.

i can't agree more with urs response here... i just can't imagine how someone could be saying things like just because it's hardly visited.. let's tear it up and build another stadium in the city. Modern_epic, go and read the history of skydome/rogers centre on wiki, and u'll realized how much crap the gov't got into just building it and the money spent there is crazy.

[evilRyu]

whoever asked if some yankee or red sox hurt themself on it.

the answer is yes, the first week that the new scoreboards on the OF walls were in use... Johnny Damon ran into the plasma wall and gashed his arm open for 3 or 4 stitches very first play of the game.

i had a feeling it was Damon, but wasn't 100% sure...

it's pure crap that they wasted so much money on this scoreboard when it's so dangerous for the players, and takes away their aggressiveness on defense...

[J.Kim]

Even if the east end of downtown needs redeveloping, I can't imagine that the process of getting a stadium will be easy, considering how quickly that area is becoming residential...

Realistically, the new Bills Football stadium, if they move, will need to be placed at an empty lot, far from residential areas, just like how the Bills are at Orchard Park instead... Maybe somewhere like Downsview Park or even more north...

[Ramako]

Any new stadium could easily fit in the Donlands. They're being redeveloped anyway and the City owns a lot of land there.

[Geddy]

After Damon crashed into the scoreboard I think they put on some kind of protective shield over it so that players won't get hurt. I guess it's not as bad as before.

The east Don lands would be a good spot to put a stadium because that whole east end of downtown needs some life. However, this city is full of too many people who are scared of development and would probably bitch and moan about a new stadium, and want everyone to stick with skydome.

[evilRyu]

After Damon crashed into the scoreboard I think they put on some kind of protective shield over it so that players won't get hurt. I guess it's not as bad as before.

The east Don lands would be a good spot to put a stadium because that whole east end of downtown needs some life. However, this city is full of too many people who are scared of development and would probably bitch and moan about a new stadium, and want everyone to stick with skydome.

i remember hearing that as well.

But still, I think (by the looks of it from TV) that it's shielded by some sort of plexi glass? how is that supposed to help? Back when it was the blue-padding, you'd see outfielders leaping up to catch fly balls against the wall.. you do'nt see that anymore, and it's really bugging me that this new "enhancement" is hindering the player defensively...

[J-Roc]

The SkyDome won us those two World Series. With the money generated by leading the league in attendance, Gillick was able to buy the extra pieces for those championships. Just imagine if we have to wait for the next stadium to win again.

[EventHorizon]

Yeah, thanks for the attacks.

[Maternal]

The SkyDome won us those two World Series. With the money generated by leading the league in attendance, Gillick was able to buy the extra pieces for those championships. Just imagine if we have to wait for the next stadium to win again.

So you're sayig if we built a new stadium people will come? I doubt that. It may go up, but not by that much.

[Huskies1947]

There was a good turnout today..

[hyper316]

There was a good turnout today..

If only Doc can play every single game....

[victor page]

I don't know why anyone would think about replacing the SkyDome now. A stadium's useful life is 30-40 years. All those artificial turf multi-purpose stadiums in the US were built in the 60s and 70s and now they're all being replaced.

The Dome is 20 years old so about halfway through its lifespan. It doesn't matter how much it cost to build because the current owners of the building didn't build it. I think Rogers paid $25M for it.

The SkyDome has pretty good sightlines - the only crap areas are down in the corners on the 100 level (sections 113, 114, and 129 and 130).

The turf sucks but hopefully a viable real grass alternative can be found in the near future.

[J-Roc]

The SkyDome won us those two World Series. With the money generated by leading the league in attendance, Gillick was able to buy the extra pieces for those championships. Just imagine if we have to wait for the next stadium to win again.

So you're sayig if we built a new stadium people will come? I doubt that. It may go up, but not by that much.

That's why people came to the Dome when it was built. It's why owners try to get taxpayers to cover the cost of new stadiums and arenas. Attendance gets artificially jacked up for a while. Winning (which is hard to do) doesn't matter. But when the luster wears off, it's time to sell.

One thing about the DOme. It was known as the world's largest entertainment centre. It needs to get back some of that catchet. It needs to be known for something.

[YogiStewart]

Any new stadium could easily fit in the Donlands. They're being redeveloped anyway and the City owns a lot of land there.

Donlands is being used for PanAm residence and then for mixed housing.

the Centre Island recommendation is sad and horrible - especially if you love the island for being what it is - an urban utopia. i hate the airport there and i hate how there are concerts there. a stadium there would only work if there was a bridge that connected mainland to the island, and even then....50 000 people leaving the stadium at once would be a traffic nightmare. won't work.

the Skydome is here to stay...for 10 more years. then there will be talk. but Rogers bought the stadium literally for free; there needs to be a reason for them to spend $500 million on a new facility. no good reason comes to mind.

i would paint that horrible concrete on the inside. or put some facade on it that makes it look more regal and less sparse. and the skydome concessions and walkway areas are a joke

[chargerxthirty]

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the head architect of the ACC is, but his name is Bob Hunter. It may be a stadium for Basketball and Hockey but if I had to make the decision to put someone in charge of building a new stadium it would certainly be him.

He is a genius when it comes to building large venues. He is very aware of all of the factors and I have more than faith in the fact that he would probably architect us a field that would be well worth the money.

[Modern_epic]

Just don't have Daniel Libeskind do it.

[J.Kim]

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the head architect of the ACC is, but his name is Bob Hunter. It may be a stadium for Basketball and Hockey but if I had to make the decision to put someone in charge of building a new stadium it would certainly be him.

He is a genius when it comes to building large venues. He is very aware of all of the factors and I have more than faith in the fact that he would probably architect us a field that would be well worth the money.

Could've sworn it was HOK that did the architecture for ACC.

In either case, HOK does a fantastic job on all sporting venues (Pretty much all of the recent Baseball Stadiums were designed by HOK), so it'd be great if they did the new one for the Jays in the future.

[s e n s i]

Does anyone know what they're planning to do with the huge lot at DVP and Eastern?

[Geddy]

Does anyone know what they're planning to do with the huge lot at DVP and Eastern?

I think they are going to develop housing there and make a new neighbourhood out of it.

In the future when they do get around to making a new stadium i just want a plain, gimmick free park unlike many of the new stadiums being built these days. The stadiums in Houston, San Fran, Detroit and a few others are going to look very cheap and tacky once they get a little older.