Build temporary bowl in Memorial Centre parking lot

Early in April of last year I wrote a column for April Fool’s Day.

I suggested that the city was going to rent one of the rinks the NHL use for their outdoor games and place it in the Louis Street parking lot. This would be a solution to the city evicting the Lakers a year from now to replace the floor in the Memorial Centre.

As facetious as the column was, a number of lacrosse fans have said it is the best solution they have heard to solve the dilemma of having no major lacrosse in the city a year from now. Certainly city staff has been lacking in solutions.

Now that the changes at City Hall have put some different bureaucrats in positions of authority, hopefully more serious thought is being given to a resolution.

When they closed the library for upgrades, the city quickly found an alternative site.

Yet when the same staff decided that the Centre has to close, the public has not been made aware of any efforts to find a viable alternative site for the thousands of lacrosse fans who use the Centre.

Box lacrosse was played mainly outdoors here in the city for 25 years from its beginning in 1932 until moving into the Memorial Centre in 1957.

Maybe to ensure the team stays in the city and are able to satisfy more than 3,000 fans each game next summer, another outdoor solution might just work.

Here is an idea growing out of that April Fools column. Why not build a temporary bowl in the west parking lot of the Memorial Centre?

Possibly as way-out as my column suggested, an NHL outdoor rink may be available. If not more than 60 years ago Peterborough players built two lacrosse bowls, one that could hold 4,000 fans. Surely the city could handle that today.

Since only the floor of the Memorial Centre is scheduled to be torn up, the dressing rooms, the front and east lobbies, the washrooms and the two canteens could continue to be used.

The bowl would be set up for three months; June, July and August. It would essentially be plywood and screening and anchored to the parking lot much like the midway rides are during the exhibition.

The cost should be no more than the recent library relocation to Peterborough Square and the bowl could be relocated in the city afterwards for permanent use.

Portable lighting would be best but if not all Lakers home games could be scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The MSL would need to bend a little to keep the Lakers viable.

Speaking of bending, the Saturday Farmers’ Market would need to move to the west side of Roger Neilson Way.

Obviously any outdoor bowl is subjected to the vagaries of the weather.

Years ago local lacrosse fans supported a four-time Mann Cup winning team sitting in just those conditions.

Obviously things have changed and fans are now expecting all the amenities including air conditioning. One year of old-time lacrosse watching may be a small price to pay to have a team here in the city.

As for the playing surface, in the outdoor bowl era, some teams had asphalt as a playing surface. Here in Peterborough Miller Bowl had a hard-packed clay surface much like a tennis court or baseball diamond. Either would work.

Since the city brought in portable bleachers recently for a rodeo in Morrow Park, our local lacrosse players and fans should expect as much support as the horses.

Admittedly all these suggestions are a stretch but no more so than spending more than $2 million on a questionable floor problem in a 62-year-old building that city-hired consultants said needs replacing.

Don Barrie is a retired teacher, former Buffalo Sabres scout and a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame. His column appears each Saturday in The Examiner.