Posts tagged Vancouver Whitecaps FC

From the North Shore Outlook  (July 14, 2010)

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/opinion/98435664.html

“But imagine if those facilities were built with brick and mortar and the fan-friendly environment replicated in a permanent stadium? Oh yeah, the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club proposed four years ago to build just such an edifice along the waterfront in Gastown.

That stadium would have seated between 30,000 and 35,000 for soccer, concerts and possibly the BC Lions. Spectators would have enjoyed glorious views of the North Shore mountains and Stanley Park, ready access to Sky Train SeaBus and the West Coast Express, and a plethora of permanent washrooms and concession stands. All for a cost of $70 million, most of it financed by the Whitecaps themselves.

Four years on, as football fans soak up the rays on Hastings Street, the Whitecaps’ stadium proposal is still tied up in legal wrangling and complicated land swap deals that are never likely to be resolved.

And taxpayers are left to ponder the soaking they’ll take for sinking another half-billion dollars into a white elephant stadium that is too big for the city and its modest sports aspirations.”

From The Province (July 13, 2010):

“At any rate, the whole experience made us wonder what watching football and soccer at a renovated B.C. Place is going to be like. Will a 100-metre-by-85-metre opening in the roof really provide an “outdoor” feeling? Will there be a nice breeze? Will the concourses be a great place to hang out at halftime? We’ll have to wait and see, but if we were the Whitecaps, we’d take the opportunity to push our waterfront stadium plan while sports fans can stare up at the mountains on a perfect summer evening and conclude it’s a good thing.

“We remain committed and optimistic about the future of a soccer-specific stadium on Downtown Vancouver’s Central Waterfront and Rail Lands,” the Whitecaps say on their website. They also encourage fans to contact MP John Baird, the federal minister responsible for Transport Canada, as well as their own MP, to push for a land-use agreement between the soccer club and the Vancouver Port Authority.

If a waterfront stadium is to become a reality, the public will likely need to play an active, vocal role. Remember that the provincial government is pumping hundreds of millions of tax dollars into the B.C. Place renovation, so Gordon Campbell and company possess the motivation to kindly request the federal government, not to mention the City of Vancouver, to discourage plans for a facility that would steal one, maybe even two, of its tenants, plus a bunch of concerts. We’re not saying they’d do such a thing; just that they possess the motivation. (Psst. They’d totally do something like that.)

The next Lions game at Empire Field goes Friday when the Montreal Alouettes are the visitors. The weather forecasters are calling for sunny skies and warm temperatures. As of yesterday afternoon, good seats were still available. Our recommendation: Get them while you can. The summer will be over before you know it, and the future for outdoor sports in this town remains uncertain.”

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Waterfront+stadium+stuck+clear+blue+yonder/3269308/story.html#ixzz0tiTtdJJd