Don’t fumble ball on stadium

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2010 (5654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG has needed a new stadium for the last 10 years at least, but the city can wait another year if that’s what it takes to get the deal right. The last thing the community wants is a bargain-basement facility erected in a hurry.

The various public and private-sector partners in the plan to build a $135-million stadium, however, are reportedly working on a new arrangement to build a scaled-down model this summer for $100 million.

It’s not clear what a cheaper stadium would look like, or what amenities might get cut, but it is clear that it would be a lot less than what was promised two years ago when the province and Ottawa committed $35 million, while David Asper’s Creswin Properties was to have invested $100 million.

The central problem is Mr. Asper can no longer keep his end of the bargain at this time, so the options are to terminate the plan, increase the public-sector contribution or scale it back dramatically.

Premier Greg Selinger tried to shape the political landscape Monday by saying it will cost $52 million to repair the existing stadium over the next few years, if a new one isn’t built right away. In fact, the annual maintenance tab is just $200,000, although the cost of keeping the old barn running will escalate dramatically the longer it is open. It might cost $52 million to keep the stadium open another 15 or 20 years, but no one is proposing such an option.

Mr. Selinger is in an awkward, but familiar, position. Ten years ago, the NDP supported plans for a new downtown arena, but the government was careful not to be seen providing too much public cash to a private owner. That’s too bad. For an extra $10 million, Winnipeg might have witnessed some signature architecture on Portage Avenue, instead of the merely respectable building it has today. The city had an opportunity to do something outstanding, but it was squandered by a timid government.

The partners in the new stadium should resist the temptation to compromise on the design, particularly since it could be used for the next 50 years.

The economy has gone downhill since the deal was proposed two years ago, but some facts haven’t changed. One of them is that stadiums are part of the significant infrastructure of major cities, and few of them are built without public support.

Winnipeg doesn’t need the best stadium in Canada, but let’s not sell ourselves short, either.