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Dome no more after 2010 Olympics?
New convention centre will leave B.C. Place on the outside looking in ?
Greg Douglas
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, September 14, 2002
SCENE & HEARD: It's a good bet that B.C. Place Stadium won't live to see its 30th birthday no matter which way the Vancouver/Whistler Olympic bid goes.
If Gentleman Jack Poole's bid is successful, our beloved dome will serve for the opening and closing ceremonies in 2010 and then be torn down at the age of 27.
If the bid doesn't make it, the big, fluffy mushroom cap will disappear in 2006. That's when
Vancouver's new convention centre is scheduled to be unveiled and, conveniently enough, it is the
same year current leases for home shows, ski swaps, boat shows, etc., at the stadium expire.
Those events are never in need of 60,000 seats, just floor space.
Government-built and government-owned, B.C. Place was created for Expo 86 but actually opened in
l983. The hype at the time emphasized executive suites selling for $40,000 a year, offering the
corporate buyer Lions football, Whitecaps soccer and the possibility of major league baseball either
with a Vancouver franchise or a portion of the Seattle Mariners home schedule.
The North American Soccer League died and baseball under the dome never got past the dreaming
stage. Nine regular season CFL games at $40,000 wasn't considered much of a bargain.
HERE 'N' THERE: The government could hardly turn down the revenue from potential
residential property development on the land currently occupied by B.C. Place.
Sources say there are already plans on the drawing board to build a facility on the UBC campus that could accommodate
professional football, soccer and baseball. It would be an ideal alternative for the B.C. Lions, who
can comfortably survive on an average of 22,000-25,000 spectators.
When the Montreal Alouettes left Olympic Stadium in l998 for Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on
the McGill University campus the franchise wasn't only saved, it began to flourish. So many times in
recent years discontented Lions fans have said how they long for those good ol' Empire Stadium
days when the game was played outdoors, where it was meant to be played.
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