mercier-hochelaga-maisonneuve Stade Olympique et site adjacent - Discussion générale

[WestAust]

Entièrement d'accord avec Habsfan. Without a truly solid businessplan for a revamped Olympic Stadium, it is not worth the cost. Even with a brand new roof, it needs a good $100 million + to renovate the interior to bring it up to even the most minimum of current standards.

 

Under the current scenario, spending $300 million for a roof plus at least $100 million on other renovations will only allow the Stadium to host occasional sporting events and trade shows from November-March (i.e. incremental business). We have Place Bonaventure and Le Palais des Congres for tradeshows... the number of NEW events that would come to Montreal (that can`t currently come to Montreal because of the current state of the roof) would likely be nowhere near worth the cost. It might cannibalize a few events that take place in other Montreal venues, but is unlikely to attract many truly new events.

 

A downtown ballpark would bring NEW events to Montreal.

 

It's a difficult discussion. But ultimately I think the future of Olympic Stadium is without a roof. Renovate the interior (let's say $100 million) and remove the roof... it can host occasional soccer and football games. It can be repurposed as an amateur sports training centre when not in use, both summer and winter. If there's a truly profitable alternative, then obviously it's worth a look, but today we don't have such a proposal.

 

Most cities, even in our climate, do not have enclosed/retractable roof stadiums - it's not a necessity, not is it a true selling point aside from a very small number of possible events.

 

It's not as black or white as you put it. Yes a new ballpark would bring new "events" but it would mainly just take a part of the existing sports/entertainment pie, meaning that impact, alouettes or habs might loose customer to a baseball team, it wouldn't only be new money pouring in.

 

Also, there are many events that are not considered or talked about at the moment due to the fact that the stadium is not a suitable venue to host them due to roof condition.

 

Then for the actual investment, yes it's probably either one or the other, but at the moment, we have the stadium and no baseball team or close to, and a decision needs to be taken sooner or later. Can we afford both projects, no, can we gamble on building a ballpark with no roof with no certainty of a team or should we put the money into getting the stadium back in shape, at this moment, i'd rather we go for the stadium!

[budgebandit]

Here's my take on the matter:

 

I say keep the tower, which is much more iconic, but demolish the stadium.

Then, build a smaller, more modern stadium in it's place, which can be used for amateur (or similar) events.

 

Also, a new ballpark downtown sounds like a great idea to me

[Exposteve]

Westaus - I agree it's not as black and white as i've put it. Also agree that Montrealer buying baseball tickets is more of a redistribution of spending than anything else. However, you're adding new visibility, bringing in new tourists (some would come anyway, but baseball is special in that many fans travel given that it's summer and each ballpark is so unique), and of course you're adding player salaries, etc. So unless there's a truly profitable business plan for Olympic Stadium that can compete with an eventual Expos stadium proposal, I sure hope preference is given to a downtown ballpark. And let's also clarify that under no circumstances is anyone suggesting we build a stadium without securing a franchise. An expansion franchise would allow enough time to build a stadium, and relocation would require two seasons at Olympic Stadium (which shouldn't be an issue given games run from April to September, and unlike a Grey Cup they can be rescheduled in the event of snow.

[Habsfan]

Here's my take on the matter:

 

I say keep the tower, which is much more iconic, but demolish the stadium.

Then, build a smaller, more modern stadium in it's place, which can be used for amateur (or similar) events.

 

Also, a new ballpark downtown sounds like a great idea to me

 

Sorry but I disagree with the demolition of the Stadium. It's not a realistic option! We just finished paying for it 7 years ago. It cost us (the smokers) 1.6 billion$ to build and It would cost us 1/2 a billion$ to demolish the Big O. I don't think our city and/or our province is rich enough to waste money like that. We have the Big O, so lets make the best of it!

[MtlMan]

Sorry but I disagree with the demolition of the Stadium. It's not a realistic option! We just finished paying for it 7 years ago. It cost us (the smokers) 1.6 billion$ to build and It would cost us 1/2 a billion$ to demolish the Big O. I don't think our city and/or our province is rich enough to waste money like that. We have the Big O, so lets make the best of it!

 

There is basic common sense!

[Habsfan]

There is basic common sense!

 

Glad to hear i'm not crazy!!!

[budgebandit]

I think you may be reaching a little bit with a $500M price tag for demolition. I know that a number similar to that ($500 - $700 million) was being thrown around in the recent past but there is absolutely no reason why taking down the stadium should cost anywhere near that amount. I remember a demolition expert being interviewed shortly after that article came out and he said it could be done for $50-100 million. Of course, the actual cost of demolition would remain to be seen. However, the Big O is bleeding money at an alarming pace and we need to do something to stop it. $20 million a year in subsidies to keep it operational is not a small chunk of change. Now we're talking about a new roof (how many times have I heard that one before....) that will cost in excess of $300 million, but will that come with a guarantee that this is (finally) a permanent solution? Or will there be more problems 5,10 and 15 years down the line? As well, the inside of the stadium is outdated and somewhat decrepit. It would cost even more money to re-model the stadium in the hopes of attracting large-scale, international events.

 

You're right about one thing, the Big O has cost us A LOT of money. That being said, it may be time to cut our losses and walk away. We may not have gotten the best return on our investment, but at least the stadium wasn't a total loss. It has served us well over the years. Like you said, both our city and our province are not rich enough to waste money. That's why I'm suggesting we part with this constant burden, while keeping the iconic tower that we all know and love. Sure, it will cost us a lot of money to demolish it, but it will cost us even more if we keep it. We turned the Forum into a movie theater/shopping mall for God's sake lol, I think we'd survive without the Big O.

 

Sorry for the long post!

[acpnc]

Même Coderre, selon un article de La Presse des derniers jours, a signifié son intérêt à voir couvrir le Stade de manière permanente et a bien l'intention de remettre ce dossier en priorité sur l'agenda avec Couillard. C'est un dossier indépendant de celui d'un éventuel stade de baseball au c-v et bien sûr il n'est pas question de démolir, mais plutôt assurer la pérennité de cet ouvrage unique au monde.

[budgebandit]

La tour est définitivement unique, mais je ne suis pas vraiment convaincu qu'on peut dire la même chose pour la stade elle même

[acpnc]

Pour être unique il l'est sûrement car personne n'aurait osé le copier ailleurs, même si c'est bien davantage la corruption dans le joli monde de la construction, durant le mandat de Bourrassa qui a fait monter le prix de la facture à des montants astronomiques. Si ce n'avait été de l'échéance extrêmement serrée des Jeux de 76, c'est sûr que les choses auraient été différentes. Maintenant que le mal est fait et que nous avons payés tous les pots cassés, il serait complètement stupide de détruire une oeuvre pour laquelle la population a fait tant d'efforts.

 

C'est premièrement une infrastructure qui couterait une autre fortune pour la remplacer, parce que toute grande ville qui aspire à des événements sportifs ou culturels à grand déploiement a besoin d'une installation semblable. Nous n'avons même pas encore utilisé cet espace à son plein potentiel, alors parler de le démolir n'est absolument pas une option envisageable. Alors cessons de revenir sur le sujet parce que la Ville et Québec sont déjà en discussion pour l'avenir de l'ensemble du parc olympique dans son intégralité.