A few years back, the CFL's Montreal Allouettes unexpectedly made the playoffs, however they were unable to play their scheduled game at Olympic Stadium because the venue had been previously booked for a U2 concert that same night.
They wound up playing their match at the McGill University stadium instead, which despite being a smaller, outdoor locale, was a huge hit with the fans. In fact, it was such a success, that the next season's home games were scheduled at McGill. Since then, the franchise hasn't looked back, as fans flocked to the 'old school' venue and ticket sales went through the roof.
There's probably something of this lesson - that a stadium's atmosphere clearly matters - in the minds of the Whitecaps owners, who have recently proposed building a new stadium over the railyards next to the Seabus terminal.
Without question, a 15,000-seat stadium (expandable to 30,000 seats) on the Vancouver waterfront would make for an incredible place to go enjoy a soccer game, tennis match, or concert. Too bad the BC Lions aren't in on the deal too.
At present, the stadium proposal is under review by the City of Vancouver - a process which should be completed by March 20th, 2006. The earliest the stadium could be opened would be Fall 2009, according to the city planning documents (link to pdf).
According to this article from the Vancouver Sun, the Whitecaps' owner, Greg Kerfoot already owns the land where the stadium would be built. Furthermore, the entire project will be done with private funds.
Interestingly, the proposal has forced the city to dust off its old plans from 1994 for the Gastown waterfront area, which stretches East from Canada Place to Portside Park (aka Crab Park). Therein lies the problem though, as the question seems to be whether this unforseen proposal would fit in with the long term plans to develop this portion of the Vancouver waterfront.
More on this in our next post...
