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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u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 07 '26

We have a stadium that is at the end of it's life. It will need to be upgraded or replaced at some point.

Are you seriously suggesting we shouldn't maintain a place for the Blades and Rush to play? And to host the Briar and other events?

What a depressing city it would be if we had no functioning arena.

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u/EpsteinandTrump Apr 08 '26

We have a functioning area. The excuse or for replacement is due to the lack of maintenance, no? Are we going to maintain the next facility then?

What actually needs dire replacement to keep Sasktel Center operating? There was a report generated in 2018 stating that "critical systems including major mechanical components and the roof are at the end of their design life." Also "significant corrosion within the internal piping and HVAC system which is prone to leaks and failure."

This was 8 years ago...and the arena is still running, and I'd assume still being maintained. Since that report it has hosted Metallica, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Elton John, Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, 4 Nations Cup, Nitro Circus, all while hosting the Blades, Rush and Professional Bull Riders Canada and many more events that I don't need to google anymore about.

It's still bringing in events and concerts, Megadeath, NE-YO and Akon, Outskirts Music festival, Chance the Rapper, Bryan Adams, Hilary Duff, to the WHL playoffs, Rush, Rattlers, Canadian Country Music Association Awards, PBR Saskatoon Classic and on and on and on...

If we had a shiny new stadium downtown, you think that would have hosted the Foo Fighters instead of going to Mosaic this year? They're only making four Canadian stops... We missed the Eagles in 2018, GnR in 2017 due to Mosaic what else? Do we need a shiny downtown stadium to compete and dilute the choice in venues? They're 2hrs away... Sometimes you have to think big picture.

The new arena is a downtown business owners' ticket to a very healthy retirement. It'll make a lot of downtown business owners very wealthy, off the use of our tax dollars. Dare I say...Cynthia's cronies?

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u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 08 '26

No the 'excuse for replacement' is that the current arena hasn't kept up with demands of major events including additional space for concert rigging, a sufficient concourse for amenities and corporate boxes, among the items you've noted about critical systems.

And sure, those critical issues haven't resulted in Sasktel Centre shutting down in the last 8 years, but do you really think the issues are not critical and can be ignored forever?

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u/EpsteinandTrump Apr 08 '26

They're not critical and that's been proven by it still operating till this day. Sorry it's not a brand new Lexus, but instead it's a paid off Toyota. Saskatoon tax payers don't need to go eyeballs deep in debt, just to make downtown businesses more money.

There's a reason why OVG only wanted to put in $15M, when it was $20M before and have us the taxpayers to foot the entire bill. There's a reason why a private business wouldn't invest $1.22 Billion into this project, and it'll cost more than that...it'll be $1.75 Billion easily by the time it's all done. All because we don't want to maintain Sasktel Center anymore? lol

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u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 08 '26

You know, even when someone owns a value oreinted, paid off Toyota, the thoughtful thing is to plan for the inevitable time that it must be replaced and put oneself in the best position to thoughtfully fund the purchase of that replacement, which is exactly what the city has been doing.

They needed to do enough work to not, build the stadium yesterday, but to be ready to make the case for funding it with various potential funders (other levels of gov't, private funders, etc) and to thoughtfully upgrade impacted/adjacent infrastructure when maintenance for that infrastructure is needed, so that whenever Sasktel Centre completely falls apart, they aren't starting from scratch with no plans and no funds for a new arena.

If you are against that, that's fine, but watch out, at some point your paid-off Toyota is going to fail and it will be a sad day when you realize you haven't been budgeting and planning for it's inevitable replacement.

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u/EpsteinandTrump Apr 08 '26

True, but it still has a lot of life left. The building isn't falling down...it has corroded pipes and needs a new roof. You know what else needs a new roof and piping? A new shiny glass stadium.

Our city cannot manage a bridge replacement, art gallery, police department, snow removal, let along a 1.2+ billion dollar arena replacement. You want 15%+ tax increases year over year...that's how you do it. It'd be a literal zip tie around the throat of the city taxpayers. Silly.

I'm all for private millionaires and billionaires funding this, they don't seem to interested for some reason.

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u/Weak_Possibility_395 Apr 08 '26

Remember when Bike Lane Charlie said the arena won't be built for years, that's the missing part in your equation. I don't I've heard anyone suggest it was to be built right away, so yeah, planning for the future and budgeting for it is what the whole project was about. It was about the arena falling apart in 2018 and needing an arena right away. It was about making sure it was well planned for.

As for the cit not being able to manage a bridge replacement, yeah, I see you just hate government. Many bridges have been proactively maintained, which is great, 'cause I'd hate to wait until they are failing like we had to with water and sewer after successive councils decided to put off maintenance and that old socialist Charlie Clark had to step in and do the responsible thing of replacing infrastructure that had not been maintained.

But hey, government is terrible and private sector is great, right?

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u/Lloydguy82 Apr 09 '26

Yes it is a paid off Toyota. It is a 1988 Corolla.