New BC Stadium Being Pushed as a Means for CFL Expansion
Last year, I wrote an article about the amazing low cost of the new temporary stadium that the B.C. Lions are using this year for their home field.
The new facility, called Empire Fields, took only 111 days to construct, seats just over 27,000, and only cost $14 million dollars.
I stated that this new facility should be used as a blueprint to be presented to non-CFL cities for possible expansion teams.
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Based on the evidence of the BC-Saskatchewan game, I was not the only one to notice the possibilities.
It was mentioned several times during the TSN broadcast that the local fans were impressed with the stadium and wished it was permanent.
The announcers mentioned several times that the CFL should pitch the idea to Canadian cities, currently without a football team. Certainly, the cities of Moncton and Quebec were mentioned.
What wasn't explained is what the difference was between a "temporary" stadium and a "permanent" one and why it was so much costlier to build the latter.
The announcers went so far as to pitch the idea of building a temporary stadium to start with and then converting sections of it to permanent status as the money became available.
Certainly, it would be a way of speeding up expansion if the idea was taken up.
The obvious candidate is Moncton, which has a new stadium of half-temporary and half-permanent seating.
The success of the upcoming Touchdown Atlantic game is already guaranteed, which might be a tempting bait for an investor to pursue.
Half of a permanent facility is already in place. Converting the rest and attracting an investor would complete the picture.
The CFL is already getting new facilities for Winnipeg and Ottawa, as well as an expanded Montreal stadium.
New facilities for Hamilton and Saskatchewan are on the horizon.
But this is a league that seems to be able to make progress only by baby steps.
Bold ideas seem to be doomed to destruction.
Ex-Commissioner Larry Smith saw his American expansion experiment quickly terminated, and ex-Commissioner Tom Wright had his tenure ended before adding the 10th eastern team that was his stated goal.
But if the CFL is to progress by only small stages, what better means to do so than pushing the temporary stadium idea, and gaining a foothold in new Canadian markets.
Right now, the CFL seems happy just to be able to say that Ottawa will return with a new stadium in 2013 and that Moncton has sold out Touchdown Atlantic.
But with a little push, perhaps much more could be accomplished.
BC fans have said "yes" to cheap stadiums. Why won't any other Canadian cities who have football ambitions?
