Toronto stadium design [Archive]

Andrew W

10-20-2005, 08:34 PM

It is said to have cost £27m to build. That converts to $56,386,689.32 Canadian dollars (roughly ;)).

Nice little write up from that link:
Although fairly conservative in its design, the stadium is still impressive. It is completely enclosed with all four corners filled with seating. Each of the four stands is two tiered and three are of the same height. The West Stand at one side of the pitch is slightly taller, having a row of 28 corporate hospitality boxes, situated above the upper tier. The Club's offices are also located behind this stand. An unusual feature is the great use of transparent roofing towards the South End of the stadium. This allows more natural light into this area, making for an interesting effect. Both ends have an electric scoreboard situated on the front of their roofs, although for some reason the scoreboard at the North End is larger than the one at the South End.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/SWANSEA19.jpg
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/swansea21.jpg

DoyleG

10-20-2005, 08:54 PM

They have an additional tennant that makes things easier. Hopefully they use this stadium to help them move up the lader.

CanadianSoccerFan

10-20-2005, 08:57 PM

For the money I say it's the way to go. The only thing I'd change is massive amount of space behind the goals.

RealGooner

10-20-2005, 10:42 PM

Nice design. England has some of the nicer stadiums in Europe nowadays, and are proving that small parks can be masterpieces too.

Gian-Luca

10-20-2005, 10:55 PM

quote:Originally posted by canadiankick97

I passed that stadium by train.

Hey, just a few weeks ago, so did I! I was in Swansea for a few days in late September. Also spent some time in Cardiff, where you can get a very good view of Millenium Stadium from the top of Cardiff Castle.

Cheeta

10-20-2005, 11:45 PM

No room for expansion without demolition.

And I'd guess land out in the sticks of Swansea is markedly cheaper than waterfront Toronto. Given that the city owns the Ex. property this may not be any consideration at all, just mentioning.

Looks good though, and I'd expect very doable for a lot less than $55M Canadian. Place could realy be intimidating if all the lads were in good voice and the right frame of mind.

Nice little park.

piltdownman

10-21-2005, 12:39 AM

Personally I think Esadio Algarve is the best stadium for its money: http://www.stadiumguide.com/algarve.htm

http://www.stadiumguide.com/algarve4.jpg

imported_n/a

10-21-2005, 01:49 AM

It's going to be a scaled back version of one of these isn't it?

http://www.canoe.ca/Argos/News/2004/10/17/Insidestadium280x197229.jpg http://www.canoe.ca/Argos/News/2004/10/17/Campus290x206.jpg

imported_n/a

10-21-2005, 01:52 AM

Or is it this?

http://tinypic.com/ea4509.jpghttp://tinypic.com/ea455g.jpg

Calgary Boomer

10-21-2005, 08:24 AM

I'd prefer the latter design. The Swansea stadium cost 27 million pounds, or 54 million Canadian...which seems like a bargain for that design.

No matter what the actual stadium design looks like, the fact that it won't be a natural grass field is a mistake, which is good news for Vancouver soccer fans. They'll be getting all the big international games.

G-Man

10-21-2005, 09:09 AM

OR how about this one. It's already built and a MLS team would only have to rent it for the 20 home dates a year. The lower bowl sits 26000 and when opened up its 55000.

http://www.rogerscentre.com/

and get this in November 9th, the greatest Brazilian Club side "FC SANTOS" is playing against "FC SPORTING" there. I suggest those that live in Toronto should get out to the game and see the place.

And at 30 Bucks a ticket...The same price as an MLS game.

RealGooner

10-21-2005, 09:24 AM

Except that it has been explained that the "20 dates" a year won't include many weekend dates during the summer when MLS is in swing. Why? Oh, the small matter of the Blue Jays and Argos having taken them already. You just can't make 3 pro teams playing together in one stadium in the summer work. Prayer doesnt work in stadium scheduling G-man, reality does.
Hope you can come and watch our thriving MLS team with us once the stadium opens. Don't forget to give Ted Rogers back the money he paid you, since as his spokesman you are failing to convince the public that his facility should be the home of every pro franchise in Toronto.

youllneverwalkalone

10-21-2005, 09:49 AM

quote:Originally posted by RealGooner

ENGLAND has some of the nicer stadiums in Europe nowadays

Take it you haven't sung the Swansea song lately.
:D

First verse:

"Where ever we go, We follow our team,
We are Swansea, we are supreme,
We'll never be mastered, by no English *******,
We keep the welsh flag flying high!"

Funny though that "welsh" isn't capitalized...

RealGooner

10-21-2005, 10:16 AM

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

quote:Originally posted by RealGooner

ENGLAND has some of the nicer stadiums in Europe nowadays

Take it you haven't sung the Swansea song lately.
:D

First verse:

"Where ever we go, We follow our team,
We are Swansea, we are supreme,
We'll never be mastered, by no English *******,
We keep the welsh flag flying high!"

Funny though that "welsh" isn't capitalized...

LOL, no I haven't. But you are correct, I should say the UK has some of the nicest stadiums in Europe now.:)

CanadianSoccerFan

10-21-2005, 12:14 PM

I'm kinda hoping it's not the York design which is rather bland. I'd assume if they've pin-pointed the price at $62 million then they already have the design and specs but won't release them until the deal is finalized.

G-Man

10-21-2005, 01:55 PM

quote:Originally posted by RealGooner

Except that it has been explained that the "20 dates" a year won't include many weekend dates during the summer when MLS is in swing. Why? Oh, the small matter of the Blue Jays and Argos having taken them already. You just can't make 3 pro teams playing together in one stadium in the summer work. Prayer doesnt work in stadium scheduling G-man, reality does.
Hope you can come and watch our thriving MLS team with us once the stadium opens. Don't forget to give Ted Rogers back the money he paid you, since as his spokesman you are failing to convince the public that his facility should be the home of every pro franchise in Toronto.

Ha. I'll wait for the "thriving" MLS team. For the last 20 years pro soccer drew nothing but death. And to think that a new SSS that will be less fancy or nice as the 20 year old Skydome will somehow bring out all these people who can sit at home all winter and watch the game from the old country, which is far better than what's on offer by the MLS....is dreaming.

And in the summer, why would anyone want to pay 30 bucks to watch the Wizards of Kansas play.

Hope to see you at the Santos/ Sporting match.

Loud Mouth Soup

10-21-2005, 01:59 PM

SkyDome is nice.

Heh....funny.

G-Man

10-21-2005, 05:11 PM

quote:Originally posted by Loud Mouth Soup

SkyDome is nice.

Heh....funny.

As the Rangers website called it "One of the best stadiums in the World"

zacRWE

10-22-2005, 05:24 PM

when it comes down to it... just give me anything!
but..... since we can be picky, I really like Swansea's ground. Thats the kind of stadium I like. Nice, compact grounds where you can be really close. The seperate tribunes (the second set of picturs) looks bad and loses atmosphere. I kinda like the first one, but without a second tier and have a roof like Swansea's.
Im sorry but the Algarve stadium looks horrible, though it was cheap.

canadiankick97

10-22-2005, 05:57 PM

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

quote:Originally posted by canadiankick97

I passed that stadium by train.

Hey, just a few weeks ago, so did I! I was in Swansea for a few days in late September. Also spent some time in Cardiff, where you can get a very good view of Millenium Stadium from the top of Cardiff Castle.

Yeah, I went into Millenium stadium for a tour. It was crap though, the turf wasn't in at the time, which made for less than spectacular pictures. I did a tour of Stamford Bridge though, which was sick with the turf in.

Jeffery S.

10-22-2005, 09:06 PM

quote:Originally posted by zacRWE

when it comes down to it... just give me anything!
but..... since we can be picky, I really like Swansea's ground. Thats the kind of stadium I like. Nice, compact grounds where you can be really close. The seperate tribunes (the second set of picturs) looks bad and loses atmosphere. I kinda like the first one, but without a second tier and have a roof like Swansea's.
Im sorry but the Algarve stadium looks horrible, though it was cheap.

I totally agree with your view on the three shown. I love the kind of fully enclosed space as in the Swansea stadium, with a design that looks enticing from the outside. Two separate ideas: outside stadium as monument, and inside stadium as warm and cozy modern place to enjoy a game, close to play on a grass field.

If TO does this much they'll have outdone Vancouver for a start.

RealGooner

10-22-2005, 11:58 PM

All I want design-wise is covered grandstands and seats close to touchlines. These design features contribute to a great statdium atmosphere. I really hope they dont have huge endzones to accomodate CFL football. Screw the Argos, seriously. I'm really worried that they will try to water the stadium down with endzones and concert stages until its hardly an SSS at all.

Elias

10-23-2005, 04:08 PM

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

I totally agree with your view on the three shown. I love the kind of fully enclosed space as in the Swansea stadium, with a design that looks enticing from the outside. Two separate ideas: outside stadium as monument, and inside stadium as warm and cozy modern place to enjoy a game, close to play on a grass field.

That is exactly what I'm hopeing for as well. But I doubt it. They will probably leave room for football, and they will need some sort of concert set-up as well. It's going to probably be a typical ugly North American set-up with 2 grandstands and maybe a couple seats in the endzones.

Rudi

10-23-2005, 04:24 PM

The two grandstands is more of a Canadian design than a N. American one, as I rarely see American stadia with open end zones (for major teams. Even the MLS SSS have stands on at least one end).

Free kick

10-23-2005, 05:17 PM

In the past, I didn't really care either way if the stands were covered or not. But this weekend, I have come around to realizing that it will very important. Given the longer season in MLS, I have hard time imagining alot of people coming out in a facility without covered stands in October on a day like today or yesterday where is was steady rain with single digit temperatures. I'm hoping that MLSE and the CSA has this in mind.

CanadianSoccerFan

10-23-2005, 10:34 PM

The only way to build a "proper" SSS is to rule out a lot of other forms of revenue for the stadium which almost nobody is willing to do in north america. I think the Home Depot Centre may be the only one that actually got it right. Considering the amount of public money going into this stadium I highly doubt we're going to get a proper SSS but obviously better than the nothing we have now. Is it so bad to make the field too short for football and give soccer fans the best sightlines. I mean honestly, there's 8 awesome stadiums in this country that soccer can't even play in because of the surface.... is it really so bad if there's ONE awesome stadium that FOOTBALL can't play in! Let's have covered stands close to the touch lines with real grass and let's do this thing right!

CanadianSoccerFan

10-23-2005, 10:34 PM

TOareaFan

10-26-2005, 06:38 PM

quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

I mean honestly, there's 8 awesome stadiums in this country that soccer can't even play in because of the surface.... is it really so bad if there's ONE awesome stadium that FOOTBALL can't play in!

I guess the answer to that lies in the fact that even the CFL averages around 28 or 29 thousand people a game. When do you think soccer will achieve that in Toronto or any other Canadian city?

Loud Mouth Soup

10-26-2005, 06:48 PM

quote:Originally posted by G-Man

As the Rangers website called it "One of the best stadiums in the World"

Well, if the Rangers site says that is MUST be true...

/go go Gadget sarcasm!

Udinese

10-27-2005, 09:24 PM

quote:Originally posted by G-Man

quote:Originally posted by RealGooner

Except that it has been explained that the "20 dates" a year won't include many weekend dates during the summer when MLS is in swing. Why? Oh, the small matter of the Blue Jays and Argos having taken them already. You just can't make 3 pro teams playing together in one stadium in the summer work. Prayer doesnt work in stadium scheduling G-man, reality does.
Hope you can come and watch our thriving MLS team with us once the stadium opens. Don't forget to give Ted Rogers back the money he paid you, since as his spokesman you are failing to convince the public that his facility should be the home of every pro franchise in Toronto.

Ha. I'll wait for the "thriving" MLS team. For the last 20 years pro soccer drew nothing but death. And to think that a new SSS that will be less fancy or nice as the 20 year old Skydome will somehow bring out all these people who can sit at home all winter and watch the game from the old country, which is far better than what's on offer by the MLS....is dreaming.

And in the summer, why would anyone want to pay 30 bucks to watch the Wizards of Kansas play.

Hope to see you at the Santos/ Sporting match.

Yes you and all the Plastics.

RealGooner

10-28-2005, 10:46 AM

can we lobby the CSA to use the 2003 design instead?

Leafs

10-29-2005, 10:30 AM

quote:Originally posted by G-Man

OR how about this one. It's already built and a MLS team would only have to rent it for the 20 home dates a year. The lower bowl sits 26000 and when opened up its 55000.

http://www.rogerscentre.com/

and get this in November 9th, the greatest Brazilian Club side "FC SANTOS" is playing against "FC SPORTING" there. I suggest those that live in Toronto should get out to the game and see the place.

And at 30 Bucks a ticket...The same price as an MLS game.

Hey genious, after Jays and Argos, what nights would be left for soccer Tuesdays?