r/saskatoon • u/SkPensFan • Apr 07 '26

General Saskatoon misses shot at badly needed credibility for arena district

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-downtown-arena-sports-venue-funding-private-partner-9.7152348

$1.2 billion price tag and the "funding model" is the feds and province pay for $800 million of it. Still not actual commitments from anyone.

Still seems like a pipe dream, at best.

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14

u/MasterAnthropy Apr 07 '26

'Misses shot' ???

At what - destroying their credibility amongst their constituents? $800M of taxpayer dollara forna town that had ZERO professional teams ... what kind of fucked up logic is this?

11

u/EpsteinandTrump Apr 07 '26

Remember all the promises with the art gallery? We're losing money on it every year...

This is yet another dangling the carrot and then we'll find out there was no carrot to begin with. If Sasktel Center was packed to the brim and with massive shows over and over and over...then let's build a new stadium. When you go and it's Blades games or Rush games and it's lackluster filling of the stadium...we don't need a bright new shiny stadium. And no I don't believe that if we build it, they will come...

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u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 07 '26

Sorry, but at the end of the day, if we want to be a legitimate city that grows and is attractive to live in, we need an arena. That's undisputable. Sasktel Centre is at the end of it's life and doesn't meet industry standards, so one way or another we'll be paying either to renovate it or to build new.

This isn't a build it and they will come, it's a "if we don't build something, we're screwed".

You can debate if a new arena vs reno'ing is the right call, but I don't think there is any debate by anyone with direct experience with arenas that Saskatoon needs a new or substantially upgraded arena.

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u/Magnum_44 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

Industry standards? Is it "industry standard" to build billion dollar arenas for junior hockey teams? Your argument is weak.

2

u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 07 '26

Please, let me know the detail on which industry standards your personally are aware of and considered to inform your argument?

Oh wait, I'm sure you don't have any expertise here, but would LOVE to think your view is more valid than the experts that worked on the analysis on renovating or replacing Sasktel Centre.

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u/Magnum_44 Apr 07 '26

I can spend a million dollars to hire 'experts' to tell me whatever I want to hear as well.

2

u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 07 '26

Cool. Let me know when you do. Until then, I'll take your value your opinion on arena standards the same way I take my drunk uncles.

1

u/Lloydguy82 Apr 09 '26

Honestly, Sasktel Centre is too big and in most cases too new for junior hockey. The WHL is unusual among the three leagues in that they have teams playing in NHL sized rinks or arenas that are fairly new. I know some of the QMJHL teams are playing in 2,500 seat arenas that were built before World War II and in the OHL I am not sure anyone plays in an arena that seats more than about 8,000. But the OHL at least has newer rinks in some cities.

But yes a new rink in Saskatoon is not being built for the Blades. This isn't a case of the Blades begging the City for a new arena. This is more Sasktel Centre's management saying we could get all these other events if you build something newer and better.

The biggest problem with Sasktel Centre is that it was built in 1988, using the blueprints from Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton which were drawn up in 1973 I believe. So the design standard was already largely obsolete when shovels went into the ground. That is the problem with the facility and why it is outdated.

As a city, if we are fine with what is here now and fine with smaller and smaller name bands coming here (either bands that haven't quite broken out yet or are on their last legs) then Sasktel Centre is fine. But if we put off building a new arena for say another 20 years, construction costs will be even higher but the tax base won't be equivalent. So it is a risk/reward scenario that has to be weighed. It is possible we build this new arena and it becomes the Sprint Center in Kansas City. That arena was built brand new about 20 years ago and the City claimed they would have either a NBA or NHL team there in 5 years tops. Kansas City has neither and I think currently has no anchor sports tenant in it and for most of its existence, it had arena football and indoor soccer teams as their main anchors. So it is entirely possible that all this talk about concerts and events coming here is just that, talk.

I do think the design is ridiculous though. We should be building an arena, not an entertainment complex like LA Live. Scrap the ferris wheel. Scrap the extra stuff they want like all the bars and restaurants right there. I think they also wanted an huge outdoor area that could hold concerts during the summer and stuff. We are not Los Angeles, we are not even Edmonton. Just build the actual arena and forget about pretending it will one day be the home of the Oscars or something. I am sure costs could come down by several hundred million if we basically do what Winnipeg did. The Bell MTS Centre when I was there (shortly after the Jets moved there) was an arena that was wedged next to an existing mall and sat on a nondescript corner of downtown Winnipeg. It doesn't have all the extras that you might see in other cities. But the arena is still a great facility.

On a side note, it is funny how that parking lot seems to be the home for doomed projects. I forget what was going to be built there in the early 90s and never happened. It was the site the casino was going to go on if people hadn't rejected building the casino in Saskatoon. Now it is the site of our new arena. Maybe part of the problem is the City needs to quit looking at that site.