FIXING OLYMPIC STADIUM IS THE LEAST WORST OPTION
Pouring more cash into structure the only way to recoup some of what's been invested
For more than four decades, the Olympic Stadium has loomed large as a symbol of all that is both beloved and exasperating about Montreal.
It was built for the 1976 Olympics, which — like Expo 67 nine years earlier — helped put this city on the map. It is an iconic structure designed by French architect Roger Taillibert, featuring the world's tallest inclined tower holding up a retractable roof.
After the Games ended, it was the home field of the Expos before Major League Baseball pulled out of Montreal. It has hosted rock concerts, including a Metallica/guns N' Roses double bill (which sparked a riot) and several shows by U2.
Today, this monument to grandiose ambition and cheerful nostalgia dominates the landscape east of Mount Royal, attracting tourists and Montrealers alike.
But the Big O is also synonymous with profligate waste. It's the punchline in countless jokes about bottomless pits into which governments throw money.
From the inflated original price tag — ringing in at more than $900 million by the time it was completed, way over the projected budget of $120 million — to the half a billion more spent on upkeep over the years, to the interest accrued on the construction debt before the “mortgage” was paid off, the facility richly deserves its nickname: the Big Owe.
It is also widely seen as a white elephant. The Kevlar roof has repeatedly torn, sending showers of ice and snow crashing down inside; concrete beams have collapsed and cement walls have crumbled. The overall state of disrepair is notorious even in a city of spectacular infrastructure failures.
Year after year, good money has been thrown after bad.
Now the Quebec government will sink another chunk of change into the Olympic Stadium to replace its suspended roof and the technical ring that holds it in place. The budget is $870 million. That is more than three times the $250 million committed to “fixing” the roof back in 2017, a project that has been repeatedly delayed and continuously altered. It's also $120 million more than previous estimates.
That's also almost as much as the $900 million Quebec set aside in last fall's economic update to accelerate the building of social and affordable housing, an amount matched by the federal government to address this urgent priority. It's more than the $806 million Quebec earmarked for building and renovating 16 public schools in 2020.
And this is just to fix a shuttered stadium, with a flawed roof never able to withstand Montreal's bitter winters, that has been sitting empty since December. A planned electric car show was displaced, as was CF Montréal's game against Inter Miami, which will bring soccer superstar Lionel Messi to town in May.
The cost of the roof and ring replacement is certainly difficult to justify in a tightening economic context when there are so many other pressing infrastructure needs and social concerns, including public transit, health care, the ecological transition and worsening homelessness.
It's certainly going to be a tough sell with a general public that already sees the Olympic Stadium as the pinnacle of excess.
But investing to make the vast hollow bunker usable again and preserve an enormous piece of Montreal's heritage is the best choice — or the least worst option, depending on how you look at it.
The current roof has more than 20,000 tears and is at the end of its lifespan, said Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx. If more
than three centimetres of snow accumulates on the roof, events have to be cancelled due to the risk of damage. So it's only open between 120 and 180 days a year — which is itself a waste of time, effort and money.
But bulldozing the whole boondoggle makes no sense, either. It would cost $2 billion to raze the Big O, which would leave a big hole in a strategic zone where the Botanical Garden, Insectarium, Biodôme and Planetarium are clustered.
Levelling it would also erase a chapter of Montreal history. Then it would just be the Big Zero, costing more than $3.5 billion from construction to demolition.
Like it or not, pouring even more money into the stadium is the only way to recoup some of what has already been invested.
The plan is to replace the heavy concrete ring with a much lighter steel structure that will hold a ceiling partially made of glass to let some light into the cavernous coliseum. After years of delay, this project is slated to be complete by 2028 — and last another 50 years.
A new roof would allow the Olympic Stadium to nearly triple gross revenue to about $61 million, up from $23 million, and host 150 events year round, instead of just 30.
Of course, Montrealers have every reason to be skeptical that everything will turn out as promised.
“We've decided to resolve this issue once and for all,” exclaimed Proulx.
“The stadium will be in better shape at 50 than at 40,” vowed Michel Labrecque, president and director general of the Olympic Park installations.
Famous last words.