bcsoccer posted on October 22, 2009 22:46
On behalf of the 130,000 players registered in soccer in British Columbia - not to mention the more than half-million people connected to the game through their families, their coaches and volunteer club administrators - I wanted to congratulate the Government of British Columbia on confirming its plan to proceed with a retractable roof design for BC Place stadium.
The finalized renovation plan directly impacts all of our players, coaches and administrators at more than 200 member clubs, districts and leagues throughout the province by securing the conditions required for Vancouver to join Major League Soccer in 2011. It does so by ensuring that our province will have the top tier of professional soccer in North America.
If the promotional impact and results of Toronto FC in Ontario and Seattle Sounders FC are of any indication, the arrival of Major League Soccer in Vancouver will take interest and participation in the game of soccer to the next level here in British Columbia. More people will be drawn to the game as volunteer coaches and club leaders and more young players will be attracted to soccer in particular and sports in general.
We understand this all comes at a cost of $458 million to BC Pavilion Corp and involves the construction of a temporary facility on the grounds of the PNE to house the BC Lions of the CFL and the Whitecaps during construction of the retractable roof and final rounds of the renovation.
Yet beyond our obvious excitement as soccer stakeholders, we believe this is the right plan for BC Place and the right plan for our community. Building a brand new stadium for the Lions and Whitecaps would be significantly more expensive (witness the $1.1 billion spent on the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas or the $1.6 billion spent on the new Yankees Stadium in New York).
Demolishing BC Place at its current site would incur all kinds of costs, financially and infrastructurally, given how it is at the heart of the downtown Vancouver sports and entertainment centre that is home to hundreds of restaurants, bars, hotels and other buildings important to the hospitality and tourism industries in our city and our province.
It is also important to note that with a retractable roof, BC Place will be a much more financially self-sufficient facility by attracting more people to games and by bringing more events to Vancouver.
More than anything, this is good for soccer and good for sport. More children playing soccer and leading active, fit lifestyles is good for our province. That benefit of this investment by the government and BC PavCo will stand for generations to come.
Congratulations on moving forward with such a dynamic plan. Thanks to those involved for their vision in making sports a priority for our residents, most importantly the next generation of young British Columbians.
Yours in Soccer,
Bjorn Osieck
Executive Director