Basically every team will have great new stadiums or refurbished ones to some extent except Toronto. I've said it before that I don't mind where the Argos play just the owners. Too bad we didn't own the dome. Maybe the Argos should have a lottery for a few years to get the money for a combination stadium and practice facility.
i cant wait till the stadium is done and I can road trip to ottawa for an argos game.
What's the latest on Ottawa and its court mess?
Here is the latest as of the end of August: http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/...n-almost-over/
I believe that the city council is supposed to take one final vote to rubber stamp the Lansdowne Live deal either later this month or next month and then hopefully the shovels will be in the ground shortly after and the "conditional" tag can be removed from the expansion franchise granted to Ottawa.
Cameron Dukes + Dan Adeboboye + Kevin Mital + David Ungerer + Damonte Coxie + DaVaris Daniels + Dejon Brissett = Unstoppable Force
I thought it was a done deal already. Just get going and lets get Ottawa back in the CFL and send Winnipeg packing back to the west for good.
TD Place Ottawa June 5/2014
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Looks nice. But so does anything compared to Rogers centre.
Remind me again how much the TD stadium cost?
Of course in T.O. it wont only be the stadium that has a price but land one chose would be costly in the centre of the city.
Tim Hortons Field June 7/2014
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Recently on PTS they were talking about the 25th anniversary of the SkyDome and how it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and then along came Camden Yards and the retro look. Now with many of the new stadiums "going old" by copying Camden Yards, the retro look has now become (pardon the expression) passe.
One point that was mentioned was that you never hear about a stadium when the team is winning and it is full. Much of the complaining about the SkyDome began when the team (Jays) started to tank. Same with Camden Yards, doesn't matter how nice it is if the team is losing.
Why would you make that comparison when Ottawa already had a stand ready to be refurbished and already started refurbing before Hamilton even got started. This project has been plagued by haters and conspiracy wingnuts since day one. Still don't know why because if you follow modern stadium construction (and planning for the future) it is way ahead of the curve.
It may not be fully completed by July 26, you may have to drink your beer from a bottle poured to a cup and you may have a long lineup to take a leak in one of the possibly few finished cans, but you'll have a seat and watch players playing on their new FieldTurf Revolution field.
I think the difference, though, is that Camden Yards is still a charming, fun place to be even if the team isn't good and the crowd isn't huge. I've been there as well as Wrigley Field with less-than-full attendance, and both offered an enjoyable experience. Whereas SkyDome with 13,000 Jays fans has virtually no charm unless the roof is open and you are sitting in the priciest seats behind home plate.
They're installing about a section of seats per day and the gravel that was brought in and graded took about two days so that's about half completed. They've really picked up the pace and some of the things that were not thought to be completed by the opening game will be completed. They have inspectors on site to expedite licenses and permits and all is looking good.
It was looking at one point to be about six weeks away from July 26 to be fully completed, but they may have gained on that schedule.
Stadium Renovation and Parking
The Lansdowne Partnership Plan requires the City to fund $106.2M for the stadium renovations and $23.1M to construct 660 of the approximate 1370 below-grade parking spaces. The City’s financial exposure is limited, as OSEG is assuming the risk for any potential cost escalations.
This includes the cost of refurbishing the Ottawa Civic Centre (TD Arena). Tack on another 17 million on top of the above after additional roof costs to the arena were incurred.
Lansdowne Park Redevelopment: Project details
It's somewhat more difficult to get a good breakdown on the costs of the stadium and arena alone, separate from the whole development. As opposed to Hamilton where it was very easy to track the cost and was very transparent.
The Money (Hamilton)
• Overall cost is $145.7 million
• $119.1 to be spent on the stadium construction and design
• $26.6 million to be spent on “soft costs” such as project management, transaction fees and a contingency fund
• City contributing $54.3 million
• Province contributing $22.3 million
• Federal government paying the remaining $69.1 million
• Ticats to pay city $450,000 a year in rental costs
Rectangular end zones on Edmonton Eskimos’ home turf safer for receivers, defensive backs
CFLPA asked for Commonwealth Stadium field to be modified after Eskimos star Fred Stamps was hurt last year
Norm Cowley, Edmonton Journal June 2, 2014
EDMONTON - The changes to the end zones at Commonwealth Stadium look cosmetic, but were instigated by concern over player safety.
After star receiver Fred Stamps suffered a season-ending hip injury when he fell awkwardly on the concrete track that skirts the field while trying to catch a touchdown pass deep in the end zone in October, the Canadian Football League Players’ Association approached the Edmonton Eskimos.
“They asked if we could do something to modify the field to mitigate the concerns they had with the lack of the corners,” Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes said Monday on Day 2 of the CFL team’s training camp at Commonwealth Stadium. “As most people know, those corners haven’t changed since 1978.”
Rhodes approached the City of Edmonton, which owns the facility, and city council provided almost $400,000 worth of funding to make the end zones rectangular, instead of rounded on the corners, with another six feet of FieldTurf outside the boundary lines. The worn-out track was also resurfaced with a new paint colour.
“It’s a significant difference versus what we had up to last year,” Rhodes said. “For the players who are accustomed to having square end zones, they know what to expect, and we feel that’s really going to make a difference for them.
“Functionally, which is the most important one, it’s much more safe for the players.”
Stamps, who led the CFL with 1,259 receiving yards despite missing three games, has skidded on the track several times over the years because he’s always running the deep corner routes, but last season marked only the second time that he fell.
“I fell on the track over there (in the northeast corner) in 2012,” he said. “One of the signs caught my fall.
“I’m glad to see they added more turf. It gives me more room to catch the ball.”
Shamawd Chambers, a third-year receiver out of Wilfrid Laurier University, hurt himself in his first practice as a rookie at Commonwealth Stadium.
“I was attempting to catch a ball,” he recalled. “Literally, because of where the end zones were in my first year, like two steps out of bounds, you were sliding on the track.
“Immediately, I was just running and I slid on the track and I slit open my leg, my side, everything. It was bad.”
“Those cleats slip on that (track) pretty quick,” said veteran slotback Adarius Bowman. “I’m pretty sure it’ll probably prevent not bad injuries, but the little nicks and bruises you get from falling on that stuff.”
Both Chambers and Bowman also like the new end zones, which Chambers called “amazing,” because there’s another five or more yards for receivers to make plays.
“I’m very excited we’ve got that there,” said Bowman. “We can catch that corner ball instead of being on the track when you get your corner ball.”
Bowman said he used to adjust his pass routes so he didn’t risk running out of room in the corner of the end zone.
“The addition will help me a bit more,” he said. “I feel like I will have a lot more time, I probably can burst out of my route a little bit further, but it definitely will make the game a lot safer.”
It’s not just the receivers who like the new end zones. Fourth-year CFL veteran Chris Rwabukamba, who is competing for a job at the safety position, is also excited.
“I definitely feel it’s going to be better for us. Player safety is No. 1,” he said. “We already play a very violent game, so any rule that helps the players and keeps them safe and keeps them playing a longer time, I’m all for it.
“I definitely feel like it’ll help the players, help receivers and DBs, to make plays,” he added.
While the receivers see more room to get open, Rwabukamba takes a different viewpoint.
“I look at it like the longer the ball hangs in the air, it’s my ball, so it gives me a little more time to go get it as well,” he said. “I feel it’ll give DBs more chances to make plays.”
Rwabukamba hasn’t had any bad experiences deep in the end zone at Commonwealth Stadium, but he felt the rounded end zones at Montreal’s Percival Molson Stadium cost him an interception last year “because I was worried with the way the end was.”
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