Quote:
Originally Posted by trueviking
Ledehowski's proposal was not a PR stunt I can promise you that....he was legit....except he needed it to be overwhelmingly paid for by the government, just like asper did.....asper was never going to put a cent of his own money into it....he may or may not have more money than leo does but that did not make his plan any more feasible....leo had a better location.
i cant stand when people give asper any credit for this stadium.....he was the cause of a huge number of the cost overruns...he was the reason the building was not competitively tendered...he is the reason we got an architect who had never done even a high school sports field.
asper screwed us all....he sold us all a bill of goods and then by the time we realized it, it was too late and now we are all on the hook for it.....and the story isnt over....in my opinion this will be an albatros around the bomber's neck.....the province will eventually take over their $100m loan and will have to pay the $40m cost overruns caused by asper and his crew.
i have a hard time believing that the bombers who used to celebrate annual profits of $200k have increased their revenue enough to pay back a $100m loan and the massive cost overruns which are not even public yet...yeah they solved the traffic issue, but it costs them $100-150k per game to do it....you cant tell me that was part of the budget.
mark my words, they will come hat in hand looking for big dollars from us very soon.
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I seem to remember Leo's proposal for a domed stadium called for $200 million in public funding and $100 million in private funding for a total of $300 million. That also included the indoor waterpark. Even if the city or province decided to go with Leo's proposal, I have my doubts it would have ever been built.
First, because that $300 million figure seems to be underestimated. Saskatchewan's retractable roof proposal was $450 million or so while their dome proposal was $350 to $380 million. I'm sure that's what a domed facility would have cost here as well...and there's no way the province would have given such an exhorbitant amount for a facility that would have received minimal use outside of football.
Second, the operating costs of a domed stadium are substantial compared to an outdoor facility. I believe the study on the proposed Regina domed stadium was estimated at $7 million annually. Not surprising. Heating and cooling something that big can't be cheap! Compare that to an outdoor facility which is..what? 1 - 2 million per year?? Would Leo be willing to pay that or would the taxpayer be stuck paying that for 50 years.
Third, the surrounding road infrastructure. Is the proposed St. Boniface location really any better than the current site? All I see are two shitty 4- lane roads (marion and archibald) leading to and from the stadium - hardly an ideal scenario for traffic. How much money would be required to construct 6 lane roads instead?? Tens of millions??
At least Pembina has 6 lanes and Bishop Grandin is capable of handling high levels of traffic. Can't say that about Marion and Archibald. Also, there's very little parking in that area compared to the university and Pembina where there are thousands of spots. Leo's proposal only called for 1000-2000 parking spots. IMO, the parking and traffic situation would be just as bad in St. B as it would at the current site.
I certainly don't care for the way things were handled with Asper (including the payout he was given), but I have my doubts about Leo's stadium plans as well.
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