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It’s a perennial debate that has weighed on the minds of city council and Haligonians alike since the early 1980s when the ill-fated Atlantic Schooners came close to playing professional football in the city. The idea of building a 20,000-seat stadium somewhere in the Halifax Regional Municipality has been embraced by some and loathed by others. Over the past few years, Halifax mayor Mike Savage, enthused by the Touchdown Atlantic CFL games in Moncton, has come out in favor of it.
The opponents of building a stadium (which would be used not only by Halifax residents but the entire Maritime region) fear that such a venue would become a proverbial “white elephant,” where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars would be wasted with little or no gain coming from it.
Back in March, the Globe and Mail printed an in-depth article about how the Maritimes more or less became the economic backwater of Canada. Nova Scotia, as well as Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, have an aging demographic, high unemployment rates and consistent outmigration of young workers.
It’s no secret that in this region, old ideas, cronyism and traditions die hard. As Maritimers, we are often reluctant to embrace change and spurn progressive concepts such as a modern stadium that would put us on par with cities across Canada.
It’s this unwillingness to move forward that is severally hindering progress in the Maritime region. As a former Halifax resident, I enjoyed the charm and laid-back lifestyle of the city. The largest municipality in Atlantic Canada has an abundance of potential and building a stadium that would be used by people from all around the region would make Halifax a truly national city.
As mayor Savage has stated, a stadium would not only be a “CFL stadium.” A Canadian Football League franchise, the venue’s anchor tenant, would play 10 home games per season as well as one or two playoff games. A 20-25,000-seat stadium could host Huskies and Tigers playoff games, concerts, visits by figures such as Pope Francis and the Dali Lama, international sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Vanier Cup and lacrosse. Soccer is growing and one day Halifax could have a minor professional soccer franchise.
Having a CFL team would greatly enhance the profile of Halifax and the Maritime region from a national perspective. Each week, fans from Saskatchewan, Calgary and other CFL cities would make the trip to Halifax to watch their teams face off against the Atlantic one.
This, in turn, could very well give a much-needed boost to the region’s tourism industry.
Like any major project, a multipurpose stadium for the Maritimes would cost money to build, but that cost would be more than made up over a few short years (one Grey Cup weekend alone can bring in as much as $150 million into the local economy). While the critics may state that we can’t afford to do this, in my opinion, if the Maritime region is to progress and modernize we can’t afford not to do it.
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This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2015.
I completely agree with this. We can’t afford anything in this region because tax dollars are drying up from population leaving for greener pastures and our aging residents. How about we build something to draw people here, to give them another possible reason why they would choose Halifax instead of another location to move. The whole concept of not moving forward for fear of something not working is obviously not working.
“international sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games”
Didn’t Halifax blow any future possibility to bid for the Commonwealth Games with the bid fiasco a few years ago?? I’d leave that argument out.
I agree with Topshelves. Build something that will draw people to Halifax, to Nova Scotia. Invest in things rather than talking ourselves out of something because of perceived dollars and cents.
“It’s this unwillingness to move forward that is severally hindering progress in the Maritime region.”
no, it’s pie-in-the-sky bullshit dressed to appear like it’s some kind of innovation, that soaks the taxpayers for millions (if not billions), that is holding us back. as this kind of crap predictably goes down in ball of economic disaster flames, the people of the city get told again – “it’s your own fault! you just won’t be ‘world class’ no matter how many ‘world class’ amenities we bring to you! what is wrong with you people?” when the public support seems kind of meh, there’s never much reflection on the part of the boosters on whether or not the idea was good in the first place. no, it’s always us, the city. it’s never them, the boosters with bad ideas of how to spend taxpayers money.
maybe we’re catching on to the model this kind of thing seems to bring with it every single time: for it to be successful and profitable for someone else, the taxpayer has to pay for it. if it isn’t successful, the taxpayer has to pay for it anyway. private profits, socialized losses. if you can guarantee that kind of thing won’t happen, i suspect you’d find you’d get a lot more public support. but this business model doesn’t work that way. ever.
some of us would rather our taxpayer dollars be spent on things for US, the citizens, not for people from away. maybe some of us would rather have the basics covered down at city hall – like real paved roads and decent snow removal – before we start getting into dream projects. we already have one on the go: our new convention centre. using that as our model, your stadium fantasy will be overbudget, behind schedule, costing the taxpayer more than was initially stated, will have fewer permanent jobs at lower pay than was initially promised, and will no doubt do exactly what our other convention centre did: be unable to attract enough conventions to have made it worth doing. when it is finally opened and its first few years’ numbers are made public, will any of the liars who sold us this pig-in-a-poke lose their jobs? or held to account? nope. they’ll likely line up behind the next get-rich-quick scheme huckster pushing a stadium, a international sports competition of some kind, whatever. these plans are never about taking something made by locals that works already and making a plan to build it slowly and carefully. it’s always about attracting some rich people crazy enough to come a visit here for a while, hopefully some of their money falling out of their pockets while they’re here visiting (because they never seem to actually move here unless the idea is to live incognito on cape breton island near the buddhist retreat or something).
let me spell it out for you nice and easy and in big type: WE DON’T HAVE THE POPULATION BASE OR THE ARID WEATHER LONG ENOUGH EVERY YEAR TO MAKE THIS FINANCIALLY VIABLE.
here’s the big problem: if you’re right, some people get rich and it seems like everybody wins. nobody hates that, right? but what if you’re wrong? what if the teams won’t come without the taxpayers paying for pretty much everything? and what if that STILL doesn’t work? what if the tourists don’t come in the numbers needed to bolster the lack of a local population base necessary to keep this project going? who will pay the bills? what will we do with this huge white elephant then? will we ask then “did we really need it?”
if this is such a great idea, why isn’t the private sector all over it? if there were money to be made other than taxpayer money, don’t you think we’d already have this stadium? why wouldn’t scotiabank or the royal bank wanna get their names all over the walls in giant letters? they must know something you don’t. most notably, that hopes and dreams don’t fill stadiums at $60+/ticket. the history of the AHL and the moosheheads have more than proved it: haligonians wold much rather pay $7/ticket and be able to afford to go to every game in the season than to hope to see a farm or nhl team play a single game here for what gets close to $100+/ticket. they prefer watching young players play entire seasons, maybe even a few, before they’re shipped off to play for somebody else. they’d rather not fill the pockets of millionaires killing time until they can leave halifax for a rival team in a real city on their first opportunity.
Ignoring the fact that we have much bigger issues to deal with in Halifax (have you looked at our roads? tried to take the bus to work?), it has been proven over and over again that stadiums have no positive impact on the economy of the regions that build them. Don’t believe me? Just ask the “naysayers” and “critics” at UBS AG, one of the largest Swiss banks in the world:
“Independent academic research studies consistently conclude that new stadiums and arenas have no measurable effect on the level of real income or employment in the metropolitan areas in which they are located. Feasibility studies for professional sports facilities often fail to account for the substitution effect. Individuals generally maintain a consistent level of entertainment spending so money spent on sporting events typically comes at the expense of cash spent in restaurants, on travel, and at movie theaters.
Sports crowd out other types of economic activity. The physical infrastructure of a city, whether it’s a private hotel or a public airport, cannot abruptly increase capacity. As a consequence, sports fans tend to displace other visitors. As a case in point, Robert Baade and Victor Matheson at the College of the Holy Cross have examined the number of visitors to Beijing during the Summer Olympics of 2008. Tourist arrivals for the month of August did not fluctuate year-over-year and the number of visitors to Beijing actually declined on an annual basis. Similar results can be found for Olympic Games held in the US and for such sporting events as the Super Bowl.”
Long story short: there is only so much leisure money available to spend in Halifax and the types of long term jobs created by a stadium don’t add to that amount. Whatever money is spent at the stadium must come from other local businesses. Whatever people visit the stadium are not visiting other places in Halifax.
(quote sourced from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/20…)
Let me spell it out to you downtown. THERE WON’T BE ANY TAXPAYERS LEFT IN 20 YEARS. So what is your solution to the problem? It won’t matter if it’s the right move or wrong move if you don’t make a move to do something. I have been considering a move for a while now and I can tell you that entertainment and active lifestyle facilities are playing a major role in my decision.
Most large stadiums in the country are shut down for 3-4 months of the year. A facility here can be used March to November for soccer leagues, minor football, AUS football, lacrosse, a quality track and field facility, auto shows, sport events, occasional concerts, etc. A CFL team would obviously be the major tenant but to think that many other groups and sports wouldn’t benefit from a top facility.
Go local sports team!
Because spending money on a stadium is a waaaaaaaaay better idea than, say, the film industry. I know I know…I hear it already…”But the pope and the Dali (sic) Lama, Linda! It’s not just sports, it’s for our spiritual progress too! And and and….lacrosse!” *sits back in chair, face palming…*
Every point this guy makes, its like he’s been living in a coma for at least the past 20 years(probably longer). Welcome back from The Big Sleep, Chris. Sorry, still no flying cars but the Rolling Stones are still crushing it.
Who would not move to a place where the government spends hundreds of millions on a stadium which may get a CFL team? I know most people make migration decisions based not on employment opportunities and cost of living (house prices,taxes, etc.), but on what professional sports teams may or may not exist and the size of local stadiums.
Just look how at how cities such as Detroit and Buffalo have sustained themselves due to their sports arenas/stadiums and teams.
topshelves:
my solution doesn’t consist of putting the cart BEFORE the horse. blowing the money in one big lump sum like we already have the tax base to cover it on only one big project that REQUIRES the population we don’t have to make it go is stupid upon stupid upon stupid. it’s been tried on a lot of different industries and has never worked. i notice you fail to answer my most pertinent question: what if it doesn’t work as predicted? what then? who will pay for it all? who will lose their jobs for being so wrong? why should we expect this will save our economy anymore than call centres or casinos have been promised to do? if we can’t sell out or just barely sell out local team action, what makes you think having pro teams come, costing an attendee more than 10x the ticket prices of amateur teams will somehow be better? on what evidence? Why aren’t the mooseheads, the rainmen, and other amateur or university sports leagues good enough for you? they’re just as entertaining as far as ns are concerned (see their ticket sales compared to the old ahl numbers), tickets are at a price nova scotian families can afford, and most of the teams themselves actually get their talent from the area, create community spirit, and put down roots. pro teams just go wherever the taxes are cheap and where the taxpayers will backstop any losses. they have no fidelity to the area, only to cash.
and what do you think these people we will attract might say? “gee what a nice stadium they have.” you don’t think they’ll notice the third-world-style roads we have on the way there?
here’s a thought: let’s make our education and health care system great first. let’s take the money you propose spending on this and reverse cuts by previous govt’s. let’s pump OUR money back into things the taxpayers actually think are priorities for spending: basic services. without those, we have no future either, for young or old. i don’t have a huge problem with the gov’t using limited tax incentives to create favourable conditions for business to move here – but don’t straight up GIVE them free cash. that they need it before they’ll move here is a HUGE red flag. if it truly is a viable venture, it doesn’t need actual cash from the citizens of the city. if they’re asking for millions of free money right from the start, to pay the inflated salaries of professional athletes and team managers, then you need to make the business case. please explain to me why the taxpayers of nova scotia should pay for any of that. why shouldn’t 100% of that money come from those like yourself, willing to pay a boatload of money for bad seats? why should i be asked to pay for any of it since i would never pay the outrageous sums it costs to attend a pro sports game? i don’t mind subsidizing your kids’ education. i don’t mind subsidizing the health care of your entire family. we’re all going to need those things. but a pro sports team? not so much. sorry but it’s a luxury most of us can’t afford. like someone else pointed out, i’m sure portland maine would like an NFL team too. so would Montpelier New Hampshire. but you know what ? they can’t afford it. so the patriots -based in boston, the nearest city capable of making the business venture viable- will have to do for the entire region. and even boston wouldn’t likely be able to keep it going if it weren’t for the equally-divided tv profits, the commie business model of the nfl.
if your decision to stay or not is hinging on the rest of us covering the bill so you can enjoy the sight of juiced-up millionaires give each other brain damage live instead of on TV, and that you are happy to see this happen at the expense of health care, education and other basic services, please do us all a favour and just leave now. you’re not helping.
and it’s april 24th. we had our last big snowfall less than 3 weeks ago. it snowed yesterday ffs. you honestly want to try to argue that we can use it from march to november? good luck with that.
Take at look at Stats Canada info for Nova Scotia income levels…it is an eye opener!
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil105d-eng.htm
How is a stadium a progressive idea?
A stadium would be…nice. But it’s hardly a must-have, and it’s not at all going to “put us on par” with other cities. (I don’t know what universe the author is living in, but Halifax IS on par with other cities in many, many respects.)
I’d like to see a multi-use stadium relatively close to the urban core (Shannon Park, etc) but the fact that we don’t have one yet has nothing to do with cronyism or the old Maritimers-hate-change cliche, and everything to do with the fact that we don’t have a national- team in any sport, and stadiums are super expensive and often end up as financial disasters wherevere they’re built (follow Edmonton’s pathetic ongoing stadium saga).
A good commuter rail system, plus some kind of on-pensinsula LRT, are a far higher priority. Transit is proven to be a much more effective way to attract population, improve livability, and drive investment than things like stadiums, and while we can ideally do both, both are hugely expensive, so we may well need to choose one to do well before the other. If so, transit is the one, for sure.
…so is the film industry important for Halifax Growth…
This article is does not even deserve comment.
If a 400 metre stretch of sidewalk on Spring Garden Road abutting highrise buildings occupied by seniors and an elementary school is allowed to remain encrusted in 7 inches of ice for over two months, we need more important things than a stadium.
Having a team builds pride and gets the community behind something.
Just look at all the charities and everything spurned from hockey teams and football teams that give kids hope and somethig to look forward.
Go to a ball game with dad with a team thats worth going to see at a nice stadium.
Just hearing you guys argue over it makes me so glad i dont live there in that boring place
Empire Field was a temporary Canadian football and soccer stadium built at Hastings Park in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Empire Field was home to the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) BC Lions for the 2010 and part of the 2011 seasons, and for Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Vancouver Whitecaps FC for part of their debut 2011 season.
The venue was constructed by Nussli Group in three months, cost $14.4 million and opened on June 15, 2010. The venue featured 20,500 roofed bucket seats—with the remaining 7,000 being benches—twelve luxury suites, a press room, flood lighting and a FieldTurf artificial turf. The venue’s record attendance are two sell-out matches: for the Lions it occurred in inaugural 2010 regular-season match against the Saskatchewan Roughriders; for the Whitecaps, it was a regular-season match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Just don’t dismantle it. Maybe 8,000 permanent seats with canteen and washroom facilities, etc. and the balance with the temporary seating.
Do it cheap. Sell naming rights.
Typical wannabe American (not that being an American is a bad thing, just if you happen to be Canadian…) The CFL is a great league. Talent wise there isn’t much difference between the NFL and CFL. And that’s according to the NFL players who have come up here and haven’t dominated.
After twenty five years growing up in Halifax I moved to Ottawa in 2000 because I could not find a job in Halifax after university. Ottawa is far from a lively exciting city. However a significant segment of the city very much enjoys the CFL team. We also now have an NASL professional soccer team that draws 6,000 per game playing at the same stadium. This is far from a top European league and not even MLS, but it is decent soccer and the second highest level in Canada, professionally. On CFL game nights the city is alive with people wearing jerseys and flooding to the stadium. On TV, radio, twitter, etc. the city is more alive on gameday. People travel from out of the city to watch. Ask people in Saskatchewan whether they think their CFL team does anything for the population. Ask them if they thought a stadium was a wise investment or whether they would be better off without a stadium and a CFL team.
I also heard many similar attitudes growing up as I see in the comments section above, about “Upper Canadians” and Toronto being horrible. I believed in them. Now, I hear people in the Maritimes go on about “Upper Canada this” and “Upper Canada that”. And I am embarrassed for these small minded people, of which I once was. It is nothing more than jealously or ignorance and it is pathetic.
I ponder whether I might someday return to Halifax, which is a nice city with beauty all around it and fairly affordable housing. Then I consider, fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, no professional soccer, no professional football, no NHL team and far far away from any other interesting metropolitan city. Then I think, I probably will never move home. That is not to say that a stadium would make me move back; but it’s on the list of pros and cons.
it also benefits st mary’s university cis level play as well…its things like having a decent stadium that attract a sizable youth culture…i mean, really, i’m surprised there are actually human beings here who don’t want to meet for great matches with the rest of Canada and who argue something from restricted trade policies a hundred years old that have long been superceded…but then, i suppose you can always play with yourselves…