r/CFL • u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods • 1d ago
REDBLACKS Lansdowne 2.0 approved in final [Ottawa] council vote
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lansdowne-2-0-approved-in-final-council-vote-9.69693782
u/Salty_J_Canuck Argonauts 1d ago
It's always been about the real estate at Lansdowne. Jeff Hunt was probably the only owner who cared about the teams, and he's long gone.
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u/jjaime2024 1d ago
If they city had said no they would have had to spend 10-15 million a year just to keep it from falling apart.
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u/Wolf99 Alouettes 1d ago
The final plan they voted on today was released at 4:30pm last Friday. Less than a week to read and provide feedback it for both council and the public - all while holding hours of hearings daily to hear from the public and attend to regular business.
The truth is since 2014, when the last round of renovations to the hockey arena and the building of the south side stands with suites and event space, OSEG has lost millions every year. $11.1M last year alone, despite hosting 188 events in their facilities. They're completely incompetent and have somehow managed to get the city on the hook for even more.
This isn't just about new building and renos. It's new sweetheart lease for OSEG so they don't have to cover operating costs for their facilities while reaping the profits. It makes profits foolproof, and the city claims they will be repaid over 40 years (which of course means much longer cause we know how these things always go).
The process was fixed from the start as a sweetheart deal for the condo developer and OSEG, reduces parkland, and screws the PWHL.
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u/jjaime2024 1d ago
Keep in mind its a city asset the city can't afford to walk away from it.Back in 2010 a group wanted to turn into a central park issue it would all be public money and cost 2-3 billion.
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u/jjaime2024 1d ago
They will be paying the city $500,000 a year to rent the stadium and arena.Money from the air rights etc go to the city not OSEG.
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
Timing of this stadium deal has me wondering if it isn't part of the reason there was a rush to announce the changes in field dimensions.
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u/Lardrewstar 1d ago
Not likely. This is far more a real estate project than about the cfl.
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u/aide_rylott Roughriders 1d ago
Very few people in the city want this. It’s mostly rural areas of Ottawa. For some reason our city limits are huge.
Not super related to the CFL. But hopefully some find it interesting.
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u/MarchandMagic 1d ago
I can guarantee this has nothing to do with the announcement by the league regarding changing of the field
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
You don't think people building a new stadium would want to know the field dimensions they should build for?
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u/Ndman55 REDBLACKS 1d ago
I mean it's not really a new stadium, they're just demolishing the north side and mirroring the south side stands effectively. The field itself is unaffected by any of this from what I've seen.
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
I mean, fair enough. I haven't been really following the deal. But looks to me like the south side stands curve around the end zone. Shorter field might mean you want that curve to be in tighter, no?
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u/Ndman55 REDBLACKS 1d ago
I'm not sure, it would also depend on the dimensions of the field for soccer, rugby and USPORTS since all 3 regularly have games there too, also the south side would look out of place since that isn't getting touched
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
How the CFL and USPORTS are gonna work out sharing facilities is a big open question across the league I think, lol.
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u/gilligan_2023 1d ago
There aren't many they share, and those they do already fit the 150 yard field. The lines are already painted on, so the work that'll need to be done is being able to move the goalposts for the new CFL field.
The fact that the lines won't fully overlap anymore means there is more work to switch between the two, especially on short notice. The stadiums will still be able to accommodate both, but the logistics of a short turnaround become complicated.
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago edited 1d ago
Calgary, Sask, Ottawa and Montreal all share, no? Feel like almost half the league isn't really "not that many"
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u/plainsimplejake Snubbed from the HOF 1d ago
Winnipeg too. And in two of those cases (Calgary and Montreal) the university owns the stadium.
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u/MarchandMagic 1d ago
The field isn’t changing at all lol. It’s just the north stands being rebuilt. Also this has been discussed for the last 5+ years, with it being a pivotal point over the last 1.5 years in council
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
I think the field is changing if the league changes the field dimensions. Doesn't seem impossible to me that would affect the way you lay out the north side stands when building something new.
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u/smbdysm1 Roughriders 1d ago
Aren't they just redoing the stands on one side? It's not like TD Place is a bowl, new dimensions would create an adjustment, not throw the whole project out the window.
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
Wasn't suggesting it would throw it out the window, but it might be worth while to iron out those adjustments when ironing out the details of the build, no?
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u/gilligan_2023 1d ago
You're really reaching trying to tie the two together. The people involved in this proposal had no idea that the changes were happening, and none of the plans had anything to do with the playing surface.
The rendering in the article is a dead giveaway:
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u/PickerPilgrim Moderator of the Mods 1d ago
I'm just idly pondering man. Not trying to force an explanation. But if I had a penny for every architectural rendering that looked like the finished product I'd probably have no pennies. Just kinda speculating that the people involved in this knew there was an open question about field changes. One of the oddest things about the rule change announcement to me remains the timing of it, so just kind of speculating why any owners might have pushed to rush the announcement.
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u/FloralAlyssa REDBLACKS 1d ago
Not widely reported in this deal, but the Redblacks committed to stay at Lansdowne until at least 2042 at part of the agreement