DOWNTOWN ARENA DISTRICT PLAN SEEMS INCREASINGLY INEVITABLE

With council on board and opponents apathetic, little stands in project's way

Some opponents of a new downtown arena in Saskatoon suggest renovating Sasktel Centre would be a simpler, far cheaper option.

The original decision to reject refurbishing the now 36-year-old arena on the outskirts of Saskatoon was based on a $101-million estimate from a now six-year-old report.

Some have scoffed at that cost and rightly so — but for the wrong reason. When you compare it to other arena renovations, that price is laughably low.

Sasktel Centre CEO John Howden shared with council last week his “guess” that it would cost about $300 million in response to a question from Coun. Cynthia Block, a lead proponent for the arena district and a possible candidate for mayor in November.

“The big issue is that we just are out of space,” Howden said.

Howden explained that trying to solve issues like the small seats, the cramped concourses and the need for new elevators would all require “blowing out the walls of the existing facility.”

And that would fail to address the low roof, which is about 15 metres high when modern arenas are more like 24 metres high to accommodate the demands of touring stage shows.

Howden pointed to a renovation of Firstontario Centre in Hamilton that is costing $280 million, a refurbishment he said falls short of the scale needed at Sasktel Centre. And Hamilton's arena, which is three years older than Sasktel Centre, will close for nearly a year and a half for the work.

So Howden's $300-million estimate to revamp Sasktel Centre may well be low, which will be deeply disappointing for those clinging to the fairy tale that upgrades would be cheap.

Similar renovations to the Toronto Blue Jays' home stadium in Toronto, which is a year newer than Sasktel Centre, are also costing $300 million. And Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena cost a whopping US$1.2 billion to renovate, which included preserving the roof and exterior.

These prices show why major renovations on aging facilities are rarely attempted.

“As Sasktel Centre continues to age, we fall farther and farther behind modern facilities ... and this project becomes more urgent,” Howden told council of a new facility. “The sooner we can get this built, the better.”

While nothing is going to happen imminently, the downtown arena district, which also features an expanded convention centre, is starting to seem inevitable.

At last week's council committee meeting, the politicians present unanimously approved a plan to expand the TCU Place convention centre west and, correspondingly, to conditionally purchase the downtown YMCA building for $8.5 million.

That brings the total money spent buying property near the arena/convention centre and for building a parking structure to slightly more than $75 million.

Council also considered a proposed district design. Howden praised the arena design, particularly the flexibility to add 2,100 seats to bring capacity to 18,000 if needed one day, noting Sasktel Centre was originally built with 7,800 seats with the potential to expand to its current 15,100.

While full approval of the project is not expected for several months, it's difficult to envision how the plan gets derailed. As for the alleged tsunami of opposition to the downtown arena district, two residents bothered to write letters to the committee last week expressing skepticism.

That's in a city that passed 300,000 residents last summer.

Coun. Randy Donauer pointed to “controversial” past projects like Sasktel Centre and River Landing and praised previous councils for having the “courage” to move forward.

With nobody currently serving on council apparently opposed to the arena district and opponents apparently too lazy or apathetic to gather the required signatures to force a vote, that leaves the November election to try to stop it.

Unfortunately, the record for defeating council members running for re-election is downright dismal with just four incumbent candidates of 38 losing in the last four elections.

You might need six new faces on council to halt the district and that most likely means a bunch of current councillors joining Mayor Charlie Clark in deciding against another campaign. Thirty years have passed since the last time four incumbent Saskatoon councillors lost their seats.

And downtown arena opponents would now be compelled to explain why spending hundreds of millions refurbishing Sasktel Centre would somehow be worth it.