Manitoba Newsmakers of 2008 David Asper

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2008 (6288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Perhaps it says something about Winnipeg that a tale about a man’s inability to get something done is chosen as the sports story of the year.

Ah, but the ending of this story hasn’t been written yet. The burning intrigue about how and where David Asper will build a new stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ensures not only that he is THE sports story of THIS year, but that he’s likely to provide more headlines through 2009.

Asper started the year with a plan to build a new stadium for the Blue Bombers at the site of the current facility, in Polo Park. Within a few months, Asper had changed locations to South Point Douglas and in the process, unleashed a debate about inner-city redevelopment the likes of which have not been seen since The Forks was first established.

Not to be outdone, by the time the year ended the location had changed once again, this time to the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus.

At year end, it remains unclear whether the U of M proposal will win the support of the city and the federal and provincial governments, all of which are needed as financial partners to make this fly. Asper has been extremely quiet about specific plans, in large part to avoid the angry public debates that surrounded proposals for the Polo Park and Point Douglas locations.

Asper’s pursuit of a new football stadium for the Blue Bombers is a pretty big story in and of itself. However, what makes this story so special is the way Asper’s drive and determination have stripped the city’s veneer and exposed the good, the bad and the ugly of what makes up Manitoba’s capital city.

Early opposition to the Polo Park plan, and Asper’s demand to take over ownership of the team, demonstrated Winnipeg’s unique capacity to react with suspicion, even hostility, whenever a member of the city’s elite flexes his or her own muscles. Even though there was very little in the way of financial gain from owning a team that has no real value, Asper was vilified in some circles —-for putting his own needs above those of the community.

The tenor of the debate over a new stadium reached its pinnacle when it was revealed the three levels of government were interested in a plan to locate the facility in South Point Douglas. The inner-city neighbourhood had long been neglected; a small, still-thriving residential component was surrounded by mostly abandoned industrial lands.

The stadium proposal for Point Douglas may have caught the eye of Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Gary Doer, but it was ultimately deemed too expensive and too complicated. In its failure, however, we saw a resurgence of pride in this once-proud neighborhood, and a guarantee that whatever happens in Point Douglas, it will involve the people who still live there.

And then there was the U of M proposal. Save for a smattering of complaints from Fort Garry residents concerned about the traffic and noise from a new stadium, the proposal seems to be staying afloat. For now.

The evolution of the stadium proposal from the retail mecca of Polo Park, to the rich history of Point Douglas, and finally to the open spaces of the U of M’s Fort Garry campus, has been quite a ride. The good news for those of us following the story is that if Asper has anything to say about it, there will be more to come in 2009.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca