The Aud

[jeffster]

A downtown arena would be a depressing monolith every night it wasn't hosting something. Traffic on game nights would be really annoying since it would be all up in people's business instead of mostly contained at the Aud's current parking lots. I don't know what average use of an arena is but I reckon it's gotta be 3 nights a week without any events for most places. I can't see how having a huge empty block 3 or 4 nights a week would be better than just having a mixed use development on that block.

I think the city missed a chance to expand the Aud more when they decided to do the last one, apparently the Rangers wanted space for 11,500 which would cost $44m at the time. I am not really keen on seeing city money spent to build sports venues but since the Rangers are publicly owned it might make some money back?

It's been a long time since I've been to a ranger's game but I can't see a lot of people taking transit; if a family/group wants to go, parking and gas would have to be more than 26$ if that family were to pay full fare for transit, usually driving to the game is quicker. Anyone with a van or SUV could take a bigger group and split the parking/gas costs with more people.

All of your points are valid. The Ranger DID want a larger expansion originally, at $44M or so, but they wanted 10,000. This is what they felt at the time was the demand. The city balked at this, so they went with the $9.7M expansion for 1,000 additional seats (this was on top of the other minor expansion of 400 seats. What the Rangers want now is totally different, they want 7,500 - 8,000 max. No more. 7,500 would only be a few more seats than what we have now. Granted, seats would be much better and the facility much improved.

For the Rangers, the sweet spot seems to be 7,500 -- this is where on most game days you'll get pretty close to max capacity, which is what you want. You build to large of an arena, say 10,000, and you get 6,500 to a game, it's going to look fairly empty. So the fan experience isn't great, and you start to lose fan base.

Hamilton knows all to well about this a First Ontario Place. They can't get successful hockey in their arena. Parking is the biggest issue, since there is little onsite parking. It's expensive and the walk is simply too much for many. They're averaging 3,500 per game in a place that can hold 5x that. First Ontario also misses a lot of shows, except for some major artists that are looking to avoid Toronto.

Transit, if this was a family option, is $8.50 for an all-day family pass. Cheaper than parking for sure. But you need to plan at least 60 minutes before game time and another 60 minutes at least to get back home.

To be honest, though, I think if the city is serious about a new arena, they need to look at putting at the back of the Twin Pads at The Aud Complex. Keep the football/soccer field (perhaps upgrade) and upgrade Panther Park. Lose the dog park, skateboard park (or put it somewhere else) and lose the leaf drop off. This will be additional parking. They *could* buy the 3 houses that are between the expressway and the entrance. The old aud could be converted to a parking garage (paid) and perhaps some retail (restaurants). The complex itself is huge, and not many people realize just how gigantic the property is.

If anything was possible and money was no object, the upgrade would include a good football stadium, capable of hosting CFL, and a decent baseball park capable of hosting MiLB. The arena itself would be somehow convertible -- that is, it could seat 8,000 or so for OHL hockey, but increase to 12,000 or so, plus floor seating, for concerts and such.