What Kind of Stadium Are We Getting?

Author: Scott Taylor

August 26, 2009

David Asper no longer wants to talk publicly about his new football stadium.  At least, not until he’s updated his stakeholders and then held a news conference to inform the public.

In the meantime, the Winnipeg sports community will wait and hope that Asper’s real estate division, Creswin Properties, can sell off all the commercial leases in the proposed new Polo Park shopping mall that he’s building.  Leasing out that new mall is absolutely vital to the financial viability of the project.

The stakeholders, the Bomber board and Bomber fans will all be praying for Creswin’s success because the fact of the matter is this: There is no Plan B. As many Winnipeggers saw on Saturday, April 22, when AC/DC came to town, the existing stadium is a horrible dump that needs to be nuked sooner, not later.

“I’m really not going to talk to the media about the stadium until we talk to the public in September,” Asper said on Wednesday.  “I’m not going to discuss it in the media until we’ve updated our partners – the Bombers, the city and the province – and then, it will probably be the second or third week of September before we discuss our plans with the public.”

Asper and his dream for a new football stadium for his beloved Blue Bombers, out on the campus of the U of M is still officially on hold.  Some leases in the new shopping centre have been filled, most have not.  Originally, Asper was going to make a decision on the next step for the project by the end of August, but he’ll probably keep his real estate people selling for at least the next six months.  As Asper has made abundantly clear on a number of occasions: “We have to sell all the leases in order to move forward.  As of now, we haven’t been able to lease out all the space, but we’re working hard at it.”

This week, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz echoed Asper’s position.

“I’m not nervous about the stadium moving forward,” Katz said.  “Here at the city, we’ve done everything we can do.  It’s now in the hands of the people of Creswin and I understand they are working very hard to get the leases finished.  We’re told we will learn more in a few weeks.  I’m sure that’s the case.”

On the one hand, Katz isn’t nervous.  Asper has a dream and a goal and that’s usually all it takes for David.  The general consensus is: He’ll get this done.

But it’s an extremely difficult time for him to be leasing out commercial space for a shopping mall.  In fact, many of the corporations that generally rent these spaces are pulling out of malls, not looking for more space.  For the Creswin Properties sales staff, this has not been an easy assignment and this week, Hotdog Hockey Sports was told by a number of Canwest, Creswin and U of M insiders that there is no way construction will start until the spring.

In fact, there is now a fear that the project will have to be either downsized or phased in slowly.  Asper wants to get into the ground in November, but that will likely have to be pushed back while Creswin waits for U.S. retailers to get through the recession.  There is also some concern that the stadium might not be as fancy as was originally planned.  It might not have more than 25,000-30,000 seats.  Many of the bells and whistles might have to be delayed until more money comes into the project through the leasing program.

Regardless, there must be a new stadium.  There is no other choice.  Despite what you may have read in a local newspaper regarding the 2004 Tower Report – a report that addressed the costs for a stadium re-fit -- that report is now obsolete.  Five or six years ago, $9 million might have been enough to upgrade the stadium.  Today, according to three separate sources at City Hall, “at least $45 million would be required to bring the existing stadium up to code.’

That’s $45 million. And that’s just “up to code.”

By no later than the third week of September, we’ll find out what kind of football stadium the Bombers will play in over the next few years.  In fact, it has become rather apparent that regardless of what happens with Creswin, Asper and their partners, there will be a new football stadium in Winnipeg and a new private owner for the Blue Bombers.

There is no other choice.

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