Posted September 12, 2023 04:16
· last edited September 12, 2023 05:51
Nommag
The dilemma is whether you build a giant national stadium to replace eden park or a more fit for purpose 25k stadium for club rugby and football. I'd prefer the latter, but this is NZ.
If Eden Park - basically NZ's national stadium in by far it's biggest city - got bowled, you have to replace it with a new 50,000-60,000 seater downtown stadium.
BC Place in Vancouver offers a great template of what could be possible. How you pay for something likely very expensive? Just a little problem to overcome.
Aside from football and international rugby, BC Place has also become synonymous with soccer at both the club and national team levels. The Whitecaps were original tenants, alongside the Lions, back in the early 1980s, when they competed in the first iteration of the now-defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). The team featured in the first major sporting event held there in 1983, a match against the Seattle Sounders that drew over 60,000 spectators, before folding a year later along with the NASL itself.
Some 25 years later, the Whitecaps got their pass back into the big leagues when Vancouver was awarded an MLS expansion franchise in 2009. Around that time, a group of investors had been exploring the possibility of building a new 20,000-seater stadium on the city’s waterfront, but when PavCo came calling with an offer to play at a soon-to-be-renovated BC Place, those plans were shelved.
The outsized stadium was by no means a ready-made home for the Whitecaps, however. Prior to moving in, the club’s ownership negotiated a provision for PavCo to include retractable pitch-level seating at each end of the field as part of their renovation, bringing fans closer to the action. It was also agreed that a system of sail-like drapes should be installed to cordon off the upper bowl, creating a more intimate setting tailored for MLS.
“We needed to ensure the building was capable of providing a cosy atmosphere,” recalls Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps president who has been involved with the club for four decades, firstly as a player, then as a coach, general manager and director of soccer operations. “We’ve probably done better than we expected, and the capacity is there for future growth if we can continue to grow the season ticket memberships. There is massive potential there.”
There are not many stadiums like that – that are in a downtown core, are very accessible from a transit perspective, great for our athletes. They’re in the heart of the city and Vancouver is such a world class city.
Having succeeded in attracting the Whitecaps, who currently average just under 22,000 fans for each home game, PavCo has since set its sights on bigger prizes in soccer. Spurred by the success of staging a total of nine matches during the 2015 Women’s World Cup – an event that followed their hosting of the Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in early 2012 – the operators are now in the process of bidding for the right to stage matches during the men’s edition in 2026.
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Unknown editoredited September 12, 2023 05:51
Nommag
The dilemma is whether you build a giant national stadium to replace eden park or a more fit for purpose 25k stadium for club rugby and football. I'd prefer the latter, but this is NZ.
If Eden Park - basically NZ's national stadium in by far it's biggest city - got bowled, you have to replace it with a new 50,000-60,000 seater downtown stadium.
BC Place in Vancouver offers a great template of what could be possible. How you pay for something likely very expensive? Just a little problem to overcome.
Aside from football and international rugby, BC Place has also become synonymous with soccer at both the club and national team levels. The Whitecaps were original tenants, alongside the Lions, back in the early 1980s, when they competed in the first iteration of the now-defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). The team featured in the first major sporting event held there in 1983, a match against the Seattle Sounders that drew over 60,000 spectators, before folding a year later along with the NASL itself.
Some 25 years later, the Whitecaps got their pass back into the big leagues when Vancouver was awarded an MLS expansion franchise in 2009. Around that time, a group of investors had been exploring the possibility of building a new 20,000-seater stadium on the city’s waterfront, but when PavCo came calling with an offer to play at a soon-to-be-renovated BC Place, those plans were shelved.
The outsized stadium was by no means a ready-made home for the Whitecaps, however. Prior to moving in, the club’s ownership negotiated a provision for PavCo to include retractable pitch-level seating at each end of the field as part of their renovation, bringing fans closer to the action. It was also agreed that a system of sail-like drapes should be installed to cordon off the upper bowl, creating a more intimate setting tailored for MLS.
“We needed to ensure the building was capable of providing a cosy atmosphere,” recalls Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps president who has been involved with the club for four decades, firstly as a player, then as a coach, general manager and director of soccer operations. “We’ve probably done better than we expected, and the capacity is there for future growth if we can continue to grow the season ticket memberships. There is massive potential there.”
There are not many stadiums like that – that are in a downtown core, are very accessible from a transit perspective, great for our athletes. They’re in the heart of the city and Vancouver is such a world class city.
Having succeeded in attracting the Whitecaps, who currently average just under 22,000 fans for each home game, PavCo has since set its sights on bigger prizes in soccer. Spurred by the success of staging a total of nine matches during the 2015 Women’s World Cup – an event that followed their hosting of the Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in early 2012 – the operators are now in the process of bidding for the right to stage matches during the men’s edition in 2026.
