POLL: Continue or scrap the Crestwin Bomber stadium project?

Livio Ciaralli wrote:I'm sure the Chipmans can be made to see things a certain way especially when they come begging for more moeny to expand for the NHL.

Source?

Heh...seriously?

I'll admit I've got no source for this, but my recollection is that any time an official source has spoken about expansion of the building, they've said the ROI is so poor it's not being considered. Spending huge $$$ to make seats that bring in the least amount of revenue.

Are we just being pessimistic here and assuming public money is going to be asked for?

Mantha wrote:Are we just being pessimistic here and assuming public money is going to be asked for?

Is it pessimistic to ask if the sky is blue?

Do Chipman/Thompson have a history of this type of behaviour?

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, so from what I recall....the MTS Centre wasn't entirely funded by private dollars...

That's.... ringing a bell....

I still don't think expansion is going to happen.

not even close to entirely funded by private dollars.

in fact.. In the dieing days of the building they were found to be 1.5 million over budget and the private dollars said, THERE IS NO WAY WE ARE PUTTING IN MORE MONEY, so the city had to cough it up.

Wasn't MTS about $40M in public funding?

lol, ok, so is there any sports facility around here that the public hasn't been held for ransom over? Probably not by the looks of things.

We've got a ballpark, it wasn't solely bought and paid for by private, same goes with the arena...so I guess the continued logic is if those two projects got away with it, why not Asper/Satdium? ....

What bugs me the most about this situation is we have a stadium right now that doens't need much refurbishment (despite what all the new stadium players will tell you) which should at least buy us enough time to find a amecable solution for a new Satdium that will be agreeable to most, if not everyone (as compared to the current clusterf*ck)

I would guess not.. dont know.. here is a good resource to find out though

http://football.ballparks.com/

with emphasis on the cfl ones
future
http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/misc/futureindex.html
present
http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/misc/index.html
past
http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/misc/pastindex.html

Well, let's see....
The city could sell the property near Polo Park for, about, $400 million.
Wow! Can you imagine what a beautiful stadium could be built with all that money?
Yup, It's all in the hands of those greedy moneygrabbers who want that commercial property.
And the Bombers and their fans are gonna be the main victims...

I like the UofM site. I can't see a football stadium downtown without razing a few buildings. Tying it into the convention centre is a great idea. Including ton's of retail to avoid the concrete wall that is most stadiums is also a great idea. Maybe a hotel at one end and an office tower at the other?

"The city could sell the property near Polo Park for, about, $400 million."

They could.. But I could also shoot a moon beam out my a$$, aint gonna happen though. There is no way anyone would pay 400M for that property.

Foot print is way to small at the Convention Centre. But seeing as they are looking at a new Convention Centre at a cost of 200 Million plus, yes, it would be good to incorporate. As for razing a few buildins, no doubt, but it happens all the time. The exchange District would have been a good place, especially if you built it to look "heritage....but it will take a ton of land. Weston yards perhaps would be a prime consideration for land reclamation and with possible LRT tie in to Airport /St.James and continue on to downtown.

BIG time build. But with no numbers or discussion and a rush to do something, another opportunity vanishes.

Build it on enormously tall legs
Right over main street near Broadway.

traffic flow will be perfect as people will have easy exits in all directions.

That would be great Dean. From the Chinese school of planning. Don't try and fix the problem, build over it.

• 
  

At a news conference, Premier Greg Selinger also vowed that the Blue Bombers will be playing in a new stadium, under construction at the University of Manitoba, by 2012.



Well, there you have it. It will be built and paid for by taxpayers. Now pony up.

I will pony up, just like I do for all the other things that I don't use

Word is Asper is out but will be seeking millions to compensate for his time and efforts.

Since any construction costs were being paid by the province through the bridge loan they gave to the Bombers. And since the Bombers were the ones who approved and gave the contract to Asper. Am I correct in assuming it is the Bombers that will have to fork out the money to Asper ( was this type of scenario detailed in the contract )

Further, since Asper completely screwed this up ( not to mention the bomber board ), shouldn't he have to eat the costs for presenting a solution that just didn't work or had very little chance of working.

In the end, someone will bail someone else out. Questions, who should taker the fall

The private who obviously bullshitted and was over his head.

The incompetent Bomber Board for approving and hiring the above.

The province, for providing a loan to the Bombers so they could proceed with a flawed concept.

The City, not sure if we had anything to do with anything , so i suspect, no money should flow out of our hands.

Personally, being involved in hundreds of tenders and projects, if this were to have happened to me, I'd be eating the whole thing.( this is why I am very careful about pricing and contracts )

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/stadium-players-meet-on-creswin-compensation-108625314.html


I find it ridiculous that he is seeking compensation. As part of the original agreement. he put up $10 Million as a "bond" that if he failed in his attempt to build a stadium the bombers would be compensated for lost time and such. He quite obviously failed.

Don't give them a dime. If Creswin and Asper are out then shelve the current project.

If the Bombers/Province/City decide to go ahead put the project out for tender. Let everyone bid, excluding Creswin. If the successfull bidder wishes to purchase all engineering work et al from Creswin that will be their compensation.

David Asper's company is seeking more than $5 million for design, project management and community-consultation work toward the development of a 33,000-seat stadium at the University of Manitoba, a source close to the discussion said Tuesday.
Other sources have pegged Creswin's contribution at below $2 million. The company declined to comment on Tuesday, as the city, province, Winnipeg Football Club and the university are still trying to determine how to complete a project that has increased in cost from $115 million to more than $160 million.

So...just what is a big waterclour drawing, a meeting or two, and a whole lot of verbal blah-blah worth?

IMHO...nothing.

Tell Mr. Asper to go back to TO and stay there I say. He started this nonsense and he should not be rewarded for his misdeed.

grumpy old man wrote:Don't give them a dime. If Creswin and Asper are out then shelve the current project.

If the Bombers/Province/City decide to go ahead put the project out for tender. Let everyone bid, excluding Creswin. If the successfull bidder wishes to purchase all engineering work et al from Creswin that will be their compensation.

We really should look at refurbishing our existing stadium with a little more positive intent imo.

The problem with refurb right now. The board has over the last 5+ years really let the stadium slip downwards and it seems they have neglected to do a fair bit of maintenance. You know, to perpetuate the "stadium is crap" idea.

Although I think refurb is still the way to go. But we need to start with a refurb of the board.

Refurbish the board by making the team fully publicly owned by selling shares (like the Riders, I like that idea, I'd probably buy a few shares for me and my family) and then refurbish the stadium with essential repairs/upgrades. (Essential does not include adding extra or lavish upgrades to private boxes etc.)