Passions linger over adding roof to stadium
Bottomless debate rages on over topless, ‘roof-ready’ Mosaic Stadium
It’s 11 p.m. when Mayor Michael Fougere gets a text message. “Where’s the roof? It’s raining.” You’ve probably already guessed, but the message refers to the now three-year-old Mosaic Stadium.
It’s not the first one like it that he’s received — and he knows with certainty it won’t be the last. But Fougere hopes one day people will get the message: The roof is likely never going to happen.
“I hear this every so often in the community, ‘Why don’t we have a roof? You should have finished it off by putting a roof on,’ said Fougere. “You have to live in the realm of possibilities and it just isn’t there.”
Every storm that coincides with an entertainment event in the stadium unleashes a barrage of the same comments.
Yet, no matter how often the explanation is given — the cost to add a roof, let alone maintain it once it was built, would be nearly impossible and highly impractical — people still take to social media to say it should have been built anyway. “Just throw a lid on it!”
“A roof? In this province where the weather is always warm and predictable? What a silly idea.”
“Half the seats at Mosaic empty. Geeez @Cityofregina @Mayorfougere maybe you should have put a roof on that damn thing?”
Some are just musings thrown into the social media universe for whoever is listening. Others call out the city or the mayor. Even Tim Reid, president and CEO of the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd (REAL) that runs Evraz Place, has been targeted — whether by social media, a phone call to REAL or a comment at a dinner party.
“When it rained at Garth Brooks I would get these social media things that say, ‘See, you fools, told you you should have put a roof on it,’ ” said Reid. “I’ve actually been surprised ... how often I bump into that comment, but also the fact that that comment doesn’t seem to be dying down three years into the stadium opening.”
It’s especially top of mind as Regina looks toward hosting the 2020 Grey Cup in November.
But the debate about a roof for the home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders is not new.
First was the idea of a bubble to cover the original Taylor Field. Then in 2010, a feasibility study exploring the possibility of a downtown stadium gave options for a domed stadium (at a cost of $386.2 million for a standard roof or $431.2 million for a retractable one).
That dream eventually died and a new proposal for an open-air stadium was born. In 2014, the design for the new Mosaic Stadium was finally revealed.
“We always said we wanted to have an open roof. That was what the Riders said, that’s what the City of Regina said,” recalled Fougere. “We were OK with that. But the province said as part of their funding, you should make it roof-ready.”
And so they did. Four “super columns” in the stadium’s open corners were built into the design with the idea they could eventually support a roof.
Reid said it’s common for ownership groups to want to maximize the flexibility of a design and that mandating the stadium be “roof ready” probably made sense at the time.
“Owners always demand the greatest degree of flexibility,” he said.
But a roof could mean displacing the Roughriders for a season, which, in 2017, Mayor Fougere said would be near impossible.
So why do people still call for it? “Roof-ready from a design and construction standpoint versus roof-ready for what the average person might consider are probably two very different things,” said Reid. “It’s not as easy as, ‘Let’s connect a tarp over the top of it and it’ll look just fine.’ ”
A retractable roof would be the dream if money and time were no object. But without significant funding from both federal and provincial governments, it’s just not going to happen, said Fougere.
And even if funding did materialize, the cost to maintain the roof (heating in the winter, cooling in the summer) would be so substantial even the extra events that could be hosted there in the winter wouldn’t be enough to pay for it, said Reid.
So if he could have a re-do, would Reid have put a roof on it? No. He would rather invest in the future of the Brandt Centre.
“For every stadium show, there are 200 arena shows, and so the entertainment world today is being booked to play eight to 14,000-person indoor shows,” he said.
“If I had $100 million to spend on something, I’d focus on a midsize, multi-purpose indoor venue that services that kind of five to 10 thousand people versus 30,000.”
The stadium as it is, is one of the best outdoor multi-purpose gathering spaces in Canada, he added. And the open air makes it special.
“When ... you’re talking to the people that got to watch Garth Brooks play outside while literally thunder and lightning storms are going by in the background — that’ll be an experience that’ll last forever,” he said. “That experience was so memorable because of the weather. It never would have had the same moment if it was an indoor show.”
Will people ever stop talking about the roof that’s likely never going to be ready?
Someday, said Reid. “Eventually there will be another facility and there will be something else to talk about,” he said. “But for now actually the fact that they care is a real positive sign.” With files from Tim Switzer jackerman@postmedia.com