Opinion: Toronto needs a new "outdoor stadium"

[Strav]

PNC Park in Pittsburgh, which is an absolutely wonderful stadium, cost $268M USD in 2011 dollars. I had the pleasure of going their this summer.

It is downtown - while the cost of land would be more in Toronto then Pittsburgh, I think a good open air ballpark could be built around $350 million.

The Dome is acceptable when the roof is open on a sunny day. Its a horrible experience when its cold and the roof is closed .. but at the same time the new beatiful open air stadium would not be any more inviting on a cold day. So I would avoid both.

I do think an open air stadium though would have a huge impact on season ticket sales -- even if people don't go to all 81 games.

responding to your last sentence - Jays wouldn't have to ever contemplate lowering ticket prices with a more intimate outdoor stadium. Less seating = more sellouts = better experience.

[sanity]

The steal of the century besides the New Jersey Nets getting Vince Carter for absolutely nothing was how much Rogers bought the Skydome for.

Once the Jays are good again, people will watch.

Making the effort to goto live games in the downtown core is a lot of work for suburbanites. They won't make the effort for semi-watchable teams.