Raise the Hammer

but they're getting a beautiful new publicly-funded facility in a great location.

Except they have laid out explicitly the criteria for a successful stadium. It doesn't matter that it is "beautiful" or "publicly-funded". To remind everyone:

1) Multi-direction highway access within 1km of the stadium Fail. And the city has explicitly said they won't EVER build better highway access.

2) 4-5:1 ratio capacity for parking within 10 minutes Fail. And the city has paid only paid lip service to this requirement.

3) Multi-directional aerterial road (min. 2 lanes each direction) directly into/out of the stadium. Fail. And the city has explicitly stated they won't ever address this.

4) Suburban commuter train, directly to the stadium Check!

5) Subway/LRT stop within 1 km of stadium Fail.

6) Located in high visibility location (e.g. highway vantage point or major downtown core) Fail.

If you want to get the Ti-cats on board -- just address their criteria. East Mountain only met four of the criteria, and they were willing to compromise on that site. Forget the talk of a beautiful looking stadium. Because a beautiful empty stadium, is still an empty stadium.

You bring up the example of it "being better than Ivor Wynne. Well, quite frankly that's a low bar to set for "success". It's in a residential neighbourhood and meets none of the Ti-cats criteria.

You bring up Heinz field. It looks like it meets 3 of the criteria. Poor public transit access. Limited parking. But I guess it works.

Having said all that, it looks like things are working out as one would have expected. The future fund won't be spent on a stadium. And that probably makes sense. And the Ticats won't be playing in a location that doesn't make sense.

Comment edited by ImproveTheHammer on 2010-12-28 16:54:08