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Originally Posted by SteelTown
I shouldn't have said 10,000 seat arena for McMaster. Either way Mac wants to build a Sports Arena, regardless of seat size. The idea stems from David Braley, so he must've made a past commitment to donate.
I only came up with 10,000 seat because Mac wants to build on an offsite location which means they could partner up with the City and or any other hockey affiliation. Which coincides with Andlauer past desire to build a downtown arena, which he himself has stated his desire for a 10,000 seat arena.
Either way we all have to admit come 2017 the AHL Bulldogs will likely be packing to Laval. So Global Spectrum better have a back up plan.
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Id like to build a sports arena as well. Montreal wants to build a new baseball stadium. The argos want their own football stadium. Im sure a lot of ppl would like to build sporting venues but they dont have the money.. They aren't getting money from the Feds, the City can't even keep up with its road repairs. Mac is behind on capital maintenance to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Deferred Maintenance
McMaster’s deferred maintenance backlog increased significantly from $150.0 million to an estimated $335.0 million.
http://www.mcmaster.ca/bms/pdf/Fin_report2013.pdf
Councillor Terry Whitehead agrees that the city’s 195 million dollar infrastructure deficit must be a priority
http://www.900chml.com/2015/01/15/cr...apital-budget/
So unless Braley is donating 50 to 200 million depending on size it won't happen. And considering he's being fickle about selling the Argos and Lions overpricing them to prospective buyers, I don't think he's going to donate that much to Mac. Maybe 10 million or so, but that still isn't enough to build a major arena.
Before Mac needs an arena they need to replace the aging aquatics centre. They couldn't even pony up the money to replace it on its own and wanted to split the cost with the Pan Am's but the aquatics training centre went to Toronto.
I don't understand why Mac would want to build an arena. Burridge gym is fine for basketball and volleyball. Cis hockey is a money loser which rarely draws over 1000 fans. If they want a team that bad they can play off campus at market street. Which is what many other CIS teams do and is where the new arena would be located anyways. And a major arena would already compete with an established arena in Hamilton with major ties to the largest concert promoter in the World, live nation. Theres no revenue plan. The city can't be on board with a second arena because they own Copps and would lose the lease revenue if the AHL or OHL team went to the new arena.