Jason Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 The city approved the proposal to build a huge indoor facility with a full sized soccer pitch on the site of Foothills Athletic Park (former home of the Calgary Storm). This article mentions it would have seating for 10,000 inside. Also worth noting is the baseball stadium in the same area will be torn down as well. Some suggested that it might one day be repurposed into a soccer stadium. No specific timelines mentioned, but likely at least 5 years away. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/04/04/calgary-foothills-fieldhouse-vote.html Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ClaytonA Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Looks like a larger facility than the Edmonton Eskimo's fieldhouse at Commonwealth. Interesting the baseball supporters have lost their facility. It's too bad it looks like we're getting an even larger parking lot instead of maintaining outdoor fields. 5 years is quite a while - it'll be interesting to see what happens with rumblings for McMahon reno's and how the City (probably mostly) will finance the Saddledome replacement which I'm certain is even more of a priority. I wouldn't be surprised to see less room than 10,000 spectators, but Mayor Nenshi wants to spend money on lots of different things (LRT, tunnels, Central Libraries, rec centers, etc). Another big indoor track in the NW won't help the financials of the Olympic Oval in the winter, but from a soccer perspective hopefully it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Looks like a larger facility than the Edmonton Eskimo's fieldhouse at Commonwealth. Interesting the baseball supporters have lost their facility. It's too bad it looks like we're getting an even larger parking lot instead of maintaining outdoor fields. 5 years is quite a while - it'll be interesting to see what happens with rumblings for McMahon reno's and how the City (probably mostly) will finance the Saddledome replacement which I'm certain is even more of a priority. I wouldn't be surprised to see less room than 10,000 spectators, but Mayor Nenshi wants to spend money on lots of different things (LRT, tunnels, Central Libraries, rec centers, etc). Another big indoor track in the NW won't help the financials of the Olympic Oval in the winter, but from a soccer perspective hopefully it happens. 200 million for a track and field facility the soccer part of the complex is a waste in my opinion if you have seating outside the track your so far from a game you would never have an atmosphere for a NASL franchise etc. Better to build a 25 million 15K seater outdoors ( see Saputo ) with natural turf and then get a pro franchise in town, the indoor field house for track and field ... well it will never cover its operational cost, put up a inflatable dome with a track inside for under 5 million and get a lot more bang for your bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macksam Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 200 million for a track and field facility the soccer part of the complex is a waste in my opinion if you have seating outside the track your so far from a game you would never have an atmosphere for a NASL franchise etc. Watching soccer with a track isn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world. The full roof would also really add to the atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Kind of a weird concept to me but if it means planting the seeds for an eventual NASL partner to FCE in Calgary, why the heck not. I sure hope it happens, I think a Calgary - Edmonton NASL rivalry would be fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 200 million for a track and field facility the soccer part of the complex is a waste in my opinion if you have seating outside the track your so far from a game you would never have an atmosphere for a NASL franchise etc. Better to build a 25 million 15K seater outdoors ( see Saputo ) with natural turf and then get a pro franchise in town, the indoor field house for track and field ... well it will never cover its operational cost, put up a inflatable dome with a track inside for under 5 million and get a lot more bang for your bucks. While I agree a outdoor soccer stadium like Saputo would be ideal from our point of view, it's not going to happen in Calgary. There is no plan or political will in government to have a soccer stadium, and there is no private person like Fath in Edmonton championing the cause. The soon-to-be torn down baseball stadium could have been retrofitted to an acceptable NASL stadium for a relatively small number ($5-$10 million?) The city was very clear they would be open to this type of development but would not put in one dime of taxpayers money. No private citizen stepped forward either. So we are left with an indoor field with fake grass and a track. It's multipurpose and primarily designed for track and field, so to me having a full size soccer pitch probably won't cost much more anyway. Not ideal but considering there is nothing else on the horizon, I'll take it. A 10K stadium indoors could potentially fill a niche for our national teams (friendlies/training camps in winter?) One more thing: we really don't know what the potential seating configurations would be. Look at these renderings: http://www.calgaryfieldhouse.ca/ The 10K seats are clearly not permanent. Who is to say that they can't come up with a design that allows the seats to go over the track for soccer? It's possible at least. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 200 million for a track and field facility the soccer part of the complex is a waste in my opinion if you have seating outside the track your so far from a game you would never have an atmosphere for a NASL franchise etc. Swangard Stadium has a running track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alberta white Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 If I recall, did Swangard have temp stands on the track or were they to the outside of it? Also That looks a design looks like a bunch of pretty pictures to me. None of which seem to gel as a cohesive design. If you look closley the seating in one image is replaced with gym equipment in the other. Unless they are been totally trick and having roll out seating which is floating at the second floor level? actually its not too disimilar to the Forsythe Barr stadium in Dunedin in South Island New zealand, except theirs is made of Glass and has no running track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shermanator Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Personally, I don't like the thought of playing indoors, but it could actually draw more fans then an outdoor stadium. People will stay away when the weather is bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 There is a HUGE benifit to this being indoors though. Full sized INDOOR pitches in Canada? Hell yeah, our top Albertan kids could actually train in the winter. Massive for development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bob Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 If I recall, did Swangard have temp stands on the track or were they to the outside of it? Swanny's main grandstand is outside of the track. The Southsiders stood inside the track behind the (duh) south goal. There were semi-permanent stands on the east side during the Whitecaps latter days there: I can't recall whether they were on or outside the track. I think they were outside but wouldn't swear to it. In any event the main grandstand held most of the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youllneverwalkalone Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 The East stand was in front of the track. Basically pitch side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 If I recall, did Swangard have temp stands on the track or were they to the outside of it? Also That looks a design looks like a bunch of pretty pictures to me. None of which seem to gel as a cohesive design. If you look closley the seating in one image is replaced with gym equipment in the other. Unless they are been totally trick and having roll out seating which is floating at the second floor level? actually its not too disimilar to the Forsythe Barr stadium in Dunedin in South Island New zealand, except theirs is made of Glass and has no running track. ) I think it's safe to assume that the seats will be roll out. They take up too much space otherwise, and this is what it typically done in these types of facilities. This place reminds me of the Butterdome in Edmonton which works on a similar model (but the Calgary model is bigger). Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alberta white Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Thanks Jason. With that $200M price tag roll out seating would make sense. apparently roll out seating will be the order of the day at The Olympic stadium in London. so it will cover the track A-la Stade de France. By the way anyone know the two sports with Identical Fields and markings? (Just for showing off purposes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted April 8, 2013 Author Share Posted April 8, 2013 Just checked and the Butterdome in Edmonton has capacity of 5,000 - mostly roll out with a few permanent. Not sure if a full field would fit in the middle of the track. They definitely don't have a new generation artificial surface, or at least they didn't when I used the facility last year. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 By the way anyone know the two sports with Identical Fields and markings? (Just for showing off purposes) I know! I know! Professional wrestling and boxing!!! No? Go to the back of the class? (pouts) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bates Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Soccer and Gaelic football play on same field with same markings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Thanks Jason. With that $200M price tag roll out seating would make sense. apparently roll out seating will be the order of the day at The Olympic stadium in London. so it will cover the track A-la Stade de France. By the way anyone know the two sports with Identical Fields and markings? (Just for showing off purposes) Futsal & Handball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alberta white Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Futsal & Handball Well Done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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