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Enjoy our pricey sports park while it lasts

North American stadiums have historically had a shelf life of a few
decades, and the renovated BC Place should be no difierent
BY CAM COLE, VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 16, 2010

Help Wanted: Large, sports-friendly corporation, immune from shareholder outrage, to underwrite
unspecified percentage of renovation costs for 55,000-seat, grey-on-grey concrete rec room with new
roof, lights, paint. Includes naming rights for eternity, two parking spaces, one luxury box. Overpriced
food and beverage service extra.

Sounds enticing, right? Who wouldn't go for a deal like that?

All the operators of BC Place Stadium really need to recover is $563-odd million over the limited life of
the park, and Bob's your uncle.

Of course, not being well-connected with the local terrorist cells, it's difficult to put a price tag on the
amount of TNT needed to bring about a far better solution for the former and future home of the B.C.
Lions and Whitecaps, but it seems likely it could have been imploded and the remains hauled away
for a few million dollars.

That would have left, say, $550 million to finance Plan B, which was bound to be an improvement on
Plan A, if the accompanying research by sport business commentator Tom Mayenknecht is any
indication.

BC Place Stadium will have cost $835 million in today's money to build and renovate, once the new
canopy is installed, making it the 13th most expensive sports arena on the planet Earth.

Mind-boggling is one way to describe it. Unconscionable is another.

Consider the average shelf life of a sports stadium in North America. We're not talking Fenway Park
or Wrigley Field here, old open-air ballparks with tons of history. The cookie-cutter, Colosseum-style,
multi-use parks in Pittsburgh (Three Rivers), Cincinnati (Riverfront) and Philadelphia (Veterans)
lasted 30, 34 and 32 years, respectively, before they were demolished.

The two exceptions, both in California's Bay Area, are Candlestick Park (54 years when the 49ers
move out in 2014) and Oakland Coliseum (44 and still going). Candlestick was 29 when the World
Series earthquake hit in 1989. Maybe the stadium gods were trying to tell it something.

Of air-supported covered stadiums, Seattle's Kingdome lived 24 years from opening to implosion, the
RCA (nee Hoosier) Dome in Indianapolis 24 years, Detroit's Silverdome 31 years, and Minneapolis's
Metrodome was built 28 years ago and is on borrowed time.

The over-under, all things considered, is probably 30 years.

BC Place is 27 years old, and the B.C. Pavilion Corp. is spending $563 million to renovate it for the
CFL Lions and the Whitecaps, who basically got held to ransom by Major League Soccer and will play
in the newly-roofed stadium reluctantly, because there seems no alternative, having tried and failed to
get civic approval for a soccer-specific waterfront stadium in Gastown that would have been financed
privately by the team's owner, Greg Kerfoot.

Sadly, the alternative presented itself quite plainly as soon as renovations began.

For $17 million, give or take, the Lions' temporary home at Empire Field, on the PNE grounds, is a
27,500-seat feat of scaffolding and hoarding and roofing that serves quite nicely the basic needs of
the CFL crowd and would be ideal for MLS.

Of course, it's temporary, has sub-standard concessions, bathrooms and boxes -- and the seats and
structures are all rented, and will be dismantled as soon as BC Place is ready.
But it cost $17 million! So spend 10 times that. Spend 20 times that. Spend 30 times that. Put the new
facility on the same site as the hole in the ground left by blowing up BC Place. The land is already
there. It's downtown.

Alas, it's too late. The money's gone.

We're stuck with an old surrey with a fringe on top, and let's hope we enjoy it ... while it lasts. We paid
for it.

ccole@vancouversun.com

Follow Cam Cole at t witter.com/rcamcole

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STADIUMS - WORLD'S BIGGEST EVENTS HOSTED IN WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE PARKS

1. NEW MEADOWLANDS STADIUM

Situated in East Rutherford, N.J., across the river from Manhattan, it is the shared home of the New
York Giants and New York Jets of the NFL. The mistake: not considering a retractable roof to ensure
regular Super Bowl hosting for the Big Apple.

- Opened: 2010

- Capacity: 82,566

- Cost: $1.6 billion

- Playing surface: FieldTurf

2. YANKEE STADIUM

Replacing the 'House that Ruth Built' in 1923, the House the Boss Built in 2009 is a retro shell outside
and a high-tech haven inside, wired with hundreds of kilometres of both Ethernet and fibre optic cable
and 1,100 HDTVs scattered throughout suites and concourse areas, along with the world's fourth-
largest video board. The mistake: overpricing premium seating behind home plate.

- Opened: 2009

- Capacity: 50,086 (plus 2,149 standing room)

- Cost: $1.5 billion

- Playing surface: Kentucky Blue Grass

3. OLYMPIC STADIUM -- MONTREAL

Reduced to special event hosting since the departure of the Montreal Expos in 2006, this is sadly the
prototypical white elephant of North American stadiums, with cost overruns from the get-go and a
retractable roof and tower which never functioned properly.

The mistake: retractable roof design that was largely untested and unproven.

- Opened: 1976

- Capacity: 66,308

- Cost: $1.47 billion (including construction, repairs and debt financing)

- Playing surface: TeamPro EF RD

4. COWBOYS STADIUM

Texas big in almost every category, including a massive retractable roof and the world's largest video
scoreboard at 49 by 22 metres (11,520 sq. feet of High Definition TV).

The mistake: a push to cross the 100,000 capacity threshold to 110,000 by accommodating standing
room for 30,000 in crowded end zone mezzanines and elevated platforms.

- Opened: 2009

- Capacity: 80,000 (plus 30,000 standing room)

- Cost: $1.4 billion

- Playing surface: Matrix artificial turf

5. WEMBLEY STADIUM

Owned by the English Football Association, the new Wembley is Europe's second largest stadium
behind only Camp Nou. Its central location in London makes it a concert and special event haven
(English national team, 2011 UEFA Champions League final, rugby and NFL football). The mistake:
outside of delays and lawsuits, not anchoring a retractable roof design on the Wembley arch.

- Opened: 2007

- Capacity: 90,000

- Cost: $1.35 billion

- Playing surface: Desso GrassMaster

6. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

The Grand Old Lady of North American sports arenas, MSG is the home of the NBA's New York
Knicks and New York Rangers (and is the oldest arena in the NHL). It hosts 320 events per year. The
mistake: indecision around future plans for an alternate downtown site and ad hoc renovations
instead of a clear, long-term master plan.

- Opened: 1968

- Capacity: 19,763

- Cost: $1.1 billion (including various renovations and subway station link)

- Playing surfaces: Hardwood/ice

7. NISSAN STADIUM

Also known as Yokohama International Stadium, Nissan Stadium was built for the 2002 FIFA World
Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. It has gone on to host the FIFA Club World Cup three
times and is the home pitch for the Yokohama

F. Marinos Japanese soccer club. The mistake: mismanagement of its naming rights deal almost cost
the city its Nissan sponsorship.

- Opened: 1998

- Capacity: 72,327

- Cost: $990 million

- Playing surface: Grass

8. STADE DE FRANCE

Situated in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis, Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World
Cup won by France. It is the only stadium to have hosted World Cup finals in both soccer and rugby.
Its elliptical glass-covering shelters all 80,000 seats while leaving the field exposed. The mistake: most
have been avoided, except the stadium sits largely empty with no full-time pro franchise tenant.

- Opened: 1998

- Capacity: 80,000

- Cost: $974 million

- Playing surface: Grass

9. ROGERS CENTRE

Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays have played at Canada's only fully-functioning retractable roof stadium
since its opening 21 years ago and won two World Series there in '92 and '93. It is also home to the
CFL's Argonauts. The mistake: wildly underestimating construction costs by $420 million and blowing
the public-private partnership by lowballing long-term rights deals for only $5 million per corporation.

- Opened: 1989

- Capacity: 49,539

- Cost: $930 million

- Playing surface: AstroTurf GameDay Grass

10. JAMSIL OLYMPIC STADIUM

Home of the infamous Ben Johnson 100-metre race at Seoul 1988, Jamsil has something in common
with BC Place: it hosted Olympic opening and closing ceremonies before it was outfitted with a
retractable roof. The mistake: passive sport tourism strategy following Seoul 1988, to the point where
14 years passed without a major event and today pro soccer club Seoul FC is the only regular tenant.

- Opened: 1984

- Capacity: 69,841

- Cost: $923 million

- Playing surface: Grass

11. CITI FIELD

The home of the New York Mets in Queen's, it is the fourth Big Apple stadium among the top-15
priciest and part of a $5-billion investment in recent stadium development for Greater New York. The
mistake: living in the shadow of Yankee Stadium and not finding a way to stand on a distinguishing
element.

- Opened: 2009

- Capacity: 41,800

- Cost: $900 million

- Playing surface: Grass

12. ANZ STADIUM

The home of soccer, track and field and ceremonies at Sydney 2000, ANZ Stadium is the third
Olympic Stadium among the top-15 priciest in the world and is named after its ANZ Bank title sponsor.
Unlike Montreal, however, it is an active sports venue, hosting rugby, Aussie rules football and cricket.
The mistake: short terms on naming rights have caused confusion in going from Olympic Stadium to
Stadium Australia to Telstra Stadium to ANZ Stadium in less than 10 years.
- Opened: 1999

- Capacity: 83,500 (reduced from 110,000)

- Cost: $870 million

- Playing surface: Grass

13. BC PLACE

Borrowing from the 2006 FIFA World Cup soccer playbook deployed by Germany, BC Place is opting
for renovation of an existing stadium shell and a retractable roof inspired by Commerzbank Arena in
Frankfurt. The potential mistake: with both CFL and MLS on tap, not considering the cost-benefit of a
retractable natural grass field as used at University of Phoenix Stadium.

- Opened: 1983

- Capacity: 55,000

- Projected Cost: $835 million (2011)

- Playing surface: FieldTurf

14. SOLDIER FIELD

Home of the Chicago Bears of the NFL, the new Soldier Field was renovated in 2003 at a cost of
almost 50 times its original construction costs from 1924. Reaction has been largely mixed to the
redesign, which aimed to blend the original Greek column style with a new bowl structure. The
mistake: not finding a way to retain National Historic Landmark status in the extent of the rebuild.

- Opened: 1924

- Capacity: 61,500

- Cost: $788 million

- Playing surface: Grass

15. EMIRATES STADIUM

The home of Arsenal FC of the English Premier League in the London borough of Islington, Emirates
Stadium is one of the biggest revenue-producing sports venues in Europe. Arsenal is already
studying a possible stadium expansion. The mistake: with a season ticket waiting list of 47,000,
seating of only 60,355 is much smaller than the stadium capacities for other top Premiership clubs.

- Opened: 2006

- Capacity: 60,355

- Cost: $770 million

- Playing surface: Desso GrassMaster

Tom Mayenknecht, Special to The Vancouver Sun

- Costs are inclusive of original construction costs adjusted to 2010 dollars and, where appropriate,
renovations, repairs and debt financing.

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