The stadium does not presently seat 63,000. I doubt they'll be adding more seats in this renovation, if anything they'll be removing some.
Well if they are going to move the seats closer to the field, would they not add some more rows around the bottem or can they actually move the stands closer. If not another thousand or so seats could be added.
if they extend seats closer to the field they probably will extend the concourse on the backend so no more seats but more concourse space
what would make bc place stadium even more spectacular would be to install the latest field turf technology we know that they will be upgrading to a new turf as stated in their plans for 2011-- the question is-- which one?? this is the most exciting idea i have ever read about regarding field turf and it takes away any possibility of football and soccer lines being left behind to ruin the esthetic sight during a game ITS CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY and handled professionally and wisely would easily pay for the extra costs of installing it in a few years i truly hope the product will be ready for the bc place stadium upgrade and is FIFA recognized-- we know that there are companies that have developed field turf that are FIFA sanctioned if this Canadian company is able to launch this newest concept in field turf by 2011, then bc place would really move up as a place to go and watch a game without worrying about conflicting lines on the field-- and places like Q West in seattle would be left behind in the caps dust!! the stadium would be on the world stage http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/article746370.ece
Although it is a very interesting concept, it seems to be more beneficial to the Lions.. In fact, with respect to soccer I dont see how this new technology would prove to be beneficial to the Whitecaps in anyway... FIFA has long been against any kind of replay during the game, and as there are minimal stoppages having ads throughout the game would be distracting and take away from the actual soccer experiance. Im hoping they continue to work on the safety aspects of turf, so Vancouver doesn't have to put up with the complaints of playing on carpet as in Toronto etc.
the point i was trying to make is the advantage of not having to worry about contrasting lines on the field, even if they are only slightly visible when switching from 1 sport to the next- like all soccer purists, i get really annoyed when i see football lines on the field my 1 concern is that the usage for advertising is kept to a minimum, like at half-time-- in NO way should advertising be allowed during the actual game, at least in soccer games; football has lots of timeouts so i can see them using advertising on the field turf more but this technology is coming and regulations will have to be made to address this issue-- as the field turf becomes more and more like natural grass (although never equaling it), the more teams will be installing this into their fields-- the bottom line is that this saves money and allows the fields to be used more frequently... and it has the potential to make $$$$$$ the fiberoptic technology will be a major reason because of the benefits of eliminating lines from 1 sport to the next at the manouvering of computer technicians and the possibility of making $$$$$$$$$ from advertising on these fields heck we get lots of advertising during games on the tv, so this is just the next step for teams to recoup their investments and pay their bills-- the trick will be to control how and when it is done but i like the upside with this technology and i hope bc place stadium has it for their new turf
Wow. that was something incredible to ponder sportie1, for many reasons. The re-painting of lines and ads has to be tough on a surface......eliminate that and there goes a whole bunch of labour and later replacement cost out the window. Not to mention the cost of wear on our loved Whitecaps FC due to a hardening playing surface. And it would be cool. It could be the talk of MLS and it could be ours. For what? $1.7 million? We're getting new turf anyway, and we're already spending $350 million. Seems like a small drop in the bucket that'll put icing on the whole damn cake.
Thats true forgot about the need to get rid of the grid iron lines... Advertising aside, this could make for some exciting celebrations... the entire feild flashing when the caps score etc.
I can't seem to find any pics yet of the refurbishment up to date, which is WCs, suites, food stands, etc. Here is a recent vid of the installation prep for the Olympic cauldron though. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL04z5S0V20"]YouTube - Behold, Vancouver's Olympic stadium cauldron hatch?[/ame]
- Some news from the grapevine has the stadium seats in fact NOT being replaced at all now. I sure as hell hope this is wrong, or at least if it is true then it's only for the Olympics and we get some new seats for 2011. Other news - By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS Negotiations with companies hoping to build the new retractable roof at B.C. Place Stadium are taking longer than expected. But B.C. Pavilion Corporation CEO Warren Buckley said roof tendering has been delayed to September, but it won't impact the post-Olympic part of the $365 million project. "The prices that were tendered were good for so many days and we asked them to extend it for 30 days as we continued to negotiate," Buckley said. "The construction schedule is still in place." He said the process has been complicated by more than 40 bids submitted. Some companies are joint ventures offering a package of steel, cabling and fabric. Meanwhile, Buckley said negotiations are under way with a preferred bidder for a long-term lease to develop land to the west of the stadium. Buckley said the offer was good but "reflective of a down market." He declined to name the company or discuss the offer. "If you take it over time, it's certainly more than acceptable," he said. Not directly related to the stadium refurb but here's another recent CoV render of the future stadium precinct includ. the possible VAG relocation.
Are we so sure that Retractable Roof is still going ahead? With the Province facing a looming $ 3 billion deficit, with $ 350 million in cuts to the hospitals and healthcare and care for seniors, with Tourism BC being blown up and Board of Directors fired? They've been delaying and delaying the announcement of the winning bidder. In the end, no one will win. The Government and Cabinet will step in and take the funding authority away from Pavilion Corporation, which they can do as Pavco which operates the Stadium can't make a huge expenditure of $ 360 million without the green light from Cabinet first. While that authority was granted a few months ago by the Cabinet in Victoria, changing economic conditions I think will convince the Premier to revoke that funding authority. The cards just don't seem to be lining up right for this new roof. Too much cost at a time when the province has to save. Sources of revenue are dwindling. Pavco was hoping to recoup the cost through the sale of land around BC Place. The value of land is going down the toilet. Pavilion Corporation is a Crown Corporation much like Tourism BC was, and look what happened to Tourism BC Board of Directors. Friday announcement that they're all gone and they turfed out Rod Harris too. Why couldn't the same happen to Pavco in a Friday announcement? The Government makes controversial announcements on Fridays, late in the day, so the media and newspapers can't rag on it till the following Monday and by then everyone's forgotten. I think this Roof will be cancelled on the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend when there's 3 days off for everyone to forget by the time Tuesday Sept 8 rolls around, and then the kids are back in school and the media is focused on something else.
i sure hope u r wrong-- the renos inside only make sense when the outside is also done IMO-- the 2 together, including the retractable roofs, will make the stadium very unique, not just for mls and the caps, but also in the world, especially if they r able to get the fiberoptic turf i still think this will go ahead,,, but politicians/government can seem to drop things in the moment and see nothing wrong with changing the rules and agreements
Gordo is very capable of shutting this down and I have been worried about that for quite some time. He has proven he will break agreements, commitments, and feed BS to people. This next year will be filled with him doing terrible things, and cancelling the roof could be one
The good news here is that NONE of the money related to the roof installation is "tax dollars." The roof is being financed by the lease and sale of land around the stadium which PAVCO already owns. PAVCO operates at arms length from the government (just like BC Ferries and BC Hydro), and as such its coffers are not part of the public purse. There is nothing to be snatched off the table by the government, because it was never on their table to begin with. Don't lose sight of the fact that the roof has very little to do with the Whitecaps... it's being put in to save PAVCO millions of dollars in energy costs. The existing inflatable dome is long past its expiration date, it costs a fortune to keep pressurized, and it is extremely inefficient energy-wise. If I recall correctly there are close to 250 event dates at BC Place each year. At the most, the Whitecaps and BC Lions would only account for 30 dates combined. This venue is of massive economic importance to Vancouver and the province as a whole... the last thing they are going to do is leave it without a new roof, because the old one could collapse in a heartbeat, rendering the facility unusable.
my two boys started their whitecaps soccer camp today. The Caps run a great camp and the boys are really into it. Interesting comment by Sam Lenarduzzi, the camp director, in his opening welcome to the kids and parents this morning. He spoke about the Caps and his history with them a bit and then said "...and we're looking forward to 2011 and the MLS, and hopefully in our new waterfront stadium." I found the comment noteworthy because, while the Waterfront Stadium is in the Cap's long term goals, since the MLS announcement in the spring, very little mention of it has been made. All the talk has been about BC Place and how great and mostly soccer specific it will be. My sense has been that since the MLS announcement they have really downplayed the waterfront stadium and focused on the benefits of a renovated BC Place. I've missed hearing about and hoping for the Waterfront Stadium. And then I hear his comment. Perhaps, it's just a quick statement made to a bunch of kids and parents, but I found it interesting. BC Place was conspicuous, to me anyway, in its absence. But, all of this leads me to a question. The BC Place renos look great on paper, but I've been wrestling with the question - Would I rather have a renovated BC Place with a larger seating capacity but have the Caps play on field turf or a smaller Waterfront Stadium with a natural grass pitch and have to wait a couple extra years for it and endure MLS at a non-renovated BC Place/and/or an expanded Swangard? I'd take the Waterfront Stadium - soccer specific with grass!
same I like the smaller 20,000 + stadiums that can be expanded to 30,000 if needed than a huge stadium with field turf I like how the caps play on grass at swanguard and the waterfront stadium could be the best stadium in MLS and North America as SS stadiums.
No you're wrong. The sale of lands around BC Place will not fully cover the cost of this project. Partly only, mabey only minority. First off Pavco will have to get an exact idea of how much money they can get for that land, and given the economy they may not be able to fetch as much as hoped. Then we have the delay of the winning bidder being announced. It should've been named by now. They're slowly running out of money and given that the deficit is spiraling out of control, the Government is seeing that more and more of the cost will be taxpayer. So everyone's getting cold feet. First they blow up BC Rail, now Tourism BC, now the HST, on and on. Hospitals get cut. Things have changed drastically since last year. The party is over. Did you hear Lenarduzzi on "That's Football" today? He wouldn't commit when asked if the roof and entry into MLS were inseperable (if one depends on the other and vice versa). Don't like hearing Bob dance around a direct question. Just answer it Yes or no and he wouldn't. Saying "it's not an issue" is a BS answer, so I'm not impressed. If ya wanna dance, go on "Dancing with the Stars"
I beg to differ: "Development and the sale, or lease, of lands around BC Place are expected to generate more than $100 million towards the cost of the new roof and upgrades. Additional revenues will come from new sponsorships and expanded business opportunities." Source: http://www.bcplacestadium.com/newsreleases/BC_Place_Future.pdf People should also shake their heads at these fantasies about depressed real estate values. While it's true that housing sales in the suburbs took a 7 % - 11% hit over the past two years they have rebounded strongly. That said, don't confuse residential housing sales with the value of *undeveloped land* (which is what we're talking about here in PavCo's case). The land around BC Place is among the most sought after real estate in North America. You're about to see a big time bidding war, and I would not be surprised at all if local developers were out-muscled by major players from China and Hong Kong.
the canceled roof rumour is gaining traction. This from a "close contact" for what it's worth. As first reported on MLS Rumours http://tinyurl.com/mp4bwl The Whitecaps may need to abandon their dream of a retractable roof. Received by anonymous email. I have a close contact in the construction business that is involved in bidding for the Retractable Roof work for BC Place for the Whitecaps entry in 2011, and I have been told funding for the Retractable Roof for BC Place is right now on very shaky ground due to the worsening economy in this part of Canada.. The harsh economy is hitting British Columbia very hard at this time and layoffs are happening right and left; they're predicting a deficit of $ 3 billion. Tourism British Columbia was just canned by the Government and the entire Board of Directors fired. Article below. The Government here is slashing programs and cutting $ 360 million from Healthcare and Hospitals. Due to all the money problems, word is the Retractable Roof for BC Place costing $ 365 million is just too much of an expenditure to justify building at this time. The interior renovations of BC Place are still going ahead, but that's purely because of the Olympics happening here in February. They have to get the Stadium up to Olympics standards. But the critical element for the Whitecaps, a Retractable Roof to let in sunshine as opposed to a dome, is very much in doubt due to the economy. The Government is extremely unpopular right now. They introduced the HST tax and it's created a lot of anger. Word is the dome will be kept or replaced down the line, but BC Place will remain a domed stadium. This does not bode well for the Whitecaps that were counting on a Retractable Roof for their 5 year lease. Nothing has been officially announced yet, but the money just doesn't appear to be there for an expenditure of $ 365 million for a new Roof for a 30 year old stadium given all the cutbacks to citizens in need. The economy is now hitting Canada much harder. While not directly linked to the Whitecaps, here is an example of the economic upheaval facing British Columbia.
K-head, I hope all of this is just BS. The Caps deserve better. Until the waterfront stadium is built (hopefully), a renovated BC Place would be quite nice (other than playing on turf). In light of the attendance numbers put up in Seattle, the extra capacity at BC Place gives us much room to grow and to gauge what numbers to look at before building the W.S. The initial plans of 15,000 (expandable to 30k) at the W.S. seem quite conservative by at least half. I think Vancouver is going to go nuts for the MLS caps and easily surpass the Lions as Vancouver's second most popular sports team. A reno BC Place with 50-60,000 fans on first kick night would be incredible--and quite possible.
Before I posted what I posted above, I was going to say the exact same thing regarding the new stadium size. 15,000 was the plan for the stadium before they knew they were going to be moving up to MLS. Obviously that's too small for MLS which I believe requires stadiums to at least be 18,500. I think it's pointless to build one that's only 20,000, might as well start it at 30,000.