It's MLSE. It's the Toronto Maple Leafs. You think they're going to support Gene Melnyk? I personally am pissed at the guy for moving the Majors out of town (though that's also partially MLSE's fault, they wouldn't sell Maple Leaf Gardens to anyone who wanted to use it as a hockey arena).Originally Posted by Oldtimer
Not to get off topic or anything but it's pretty obvious that as you say it wasn't Melnyk's fault for moving the Majors. They played out of basically a recreational arena that had a tiny rink. I mean I used to play on that rink, and I never played past single A. No one went to their games anyways and now that the Marlies are in town there's more competition.
To take this further into the realm of off-topicness, I love St. Michaels' College Arena! I was at a couple of their playoff games against Sudbury back in 2004 and the place was absolutely packed- and that wasn't even the year of the lockout. The atmosphere there was better than at any other game I've ever attended, including NHL.
And it's just got that sense of history about it that all the old stadiums have. That's why I prefer the old football grounds like Fratton Park, Anfield, etc. They have more character about them.
Fair enough, I love things with history as well but the economics of it just didn't work. The rink was too small and didn't have enough seating. Putting them in Maple Leafs Gardens would have been amazing. Soon we will be have to celebrate the Leafs history by buying groceries.
it's about the same distance to each.. I google mapped it
From downtown Chitown to Toyota Park is about 24 km. From downtown Ottawa to Scotiabank Place, is about 25km.
Just a point of fact.... people who complain about Chicago's stadium being "in the middle of nowhere" have to understand the proposed Ottawa stadium is just as far from the city centre.
Also, I know it's great to visit Ottawa on TFC road trips, but there will only be 1 or 2 per year. So it's not a huge addition to the schedule for us. Montreal serves the same purpose, a little further down the line. It's actually better for the whole shebang if all the Canadian teams get in. Then you add a game for Montreal in Ottawa, a game for TFC in Ottawa, and a game for Vancouver in Ottawa (now, that's minimum.. with MLS's funky sked you could be seeing an additional one).
Last edited by rocker; 09-17-2008 at 12:50 PM.
Yes they may be the same distance from the cities downtown, but how easy is it to get out to bridgeview?it's about the same distance to each.. I google mapped it
From downtown Chitown to Toyota Park is about 24 km. From downtown Ottawa to Scotiabank Place, is about 25km.
Just a point of fact.... people who complain about Chicago's stadium being "in the middle of nowhere" have to understand the proposed Ottawa stadium is just as far from the city centre.
Also, I know it's great to visit Ottawa on TFC road trips, but there will only be 1 or 2 per year. So it's not a huge addition to the schedule for us. Montreal serves the same purpose, a little further down the line. It's actually better for the whole shebang if all the Canadian teams get in. Then you add a game for Montreal in Ottawa, a game for TFC in Ottawa, and a game for Vancouver in Ottawa (now, that's minimum.. with MLS's funky sked you could be seeing an additional one).
For Ottawa it would just be the 6 lane 417 out to Kanata, and that wouldnt take very long. Youre basically driving on highway the whole time. Unless Chicago has a LRT from downtown out to bridgeview, I think Ottawa-Kanata would be easier then Chi-Bridgeview?
25km! That blows my mind! I don't even have a car so if I lived in Ottawa and they got a team like that then I would never get to watch any games!it's about the same distance to each.. I google mapped it
From downtown Chitown to Toyota Park is about 24 km. From downtown Ottawa to Scotiabank Place, is about 25km.
In Toronto I guess I'm very lucky to be able to hop on the subway and get down to the game in 30 minutes. All cities should strive for that to help attendance.
There would be an express bus from downtown, and most main bus stations. It takes under an hour.
I definitely agree on that, it was too small to really support an OHL team... as well as about the Gardens. By far my main issue with MLSE is what they've done/are doing to Maple Leaf Gardens.
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I stand corrected. I was under the impression it was like a 45 minute drive away from Chi-town.it's about the same distance to each.. I google mapped it
From downtown Chitown to Toyota Park is about 24 km. From downtown Ottawa to Scotiabank Place, is about 25km.
Just a point of fact.... people who complain about Chicago's stadium being "in the middle of nowhere" have to understand the proposed Ottawa stadium is just as far from the city centre.
Also, I know it's great to visit Ottawa on TFC road trips, but there will only be 1 or 2 per year. So it's not a huge addition to the schedule for us. Montreal serves the same purpose, a little further down the line. It's actually better for the whole shebang if all the Canadian teams get in. Then you add a game for Montreal in Ottawa, a game for TFC in Ottawa, and a game for Vancouver in Ottawa (now, that's minimum.. with MLS's funky sked you could be seeing an additional one).
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
I google mapped it too, 20 minute drive from downtown, and a 30 minute drive from south keys. Im sure in rush hour it takes longer, but since most games will be saturday afternoons, it should take around those times.it's about the same distance to each.. I google mapped it
From downtown Chitown to Toyota Park is about 24 km. From downtown Ottawa to Scotiabank Place, is about 25km.
Just a point of fact.... people who complain about Chicago's stadium being "in the middle of nowhere" have to understand the proposed Ottawa stadium is just as far from the city centre.
Also, I know it's great to visit Ottawa on TFC road trips, but there will only be 1 or 2 per year. So it's not a huge addition to the schedule for us. Montreal serves the same purpose, a little further down the line. It's actually better for the whole shebang if all the Canadian teams get in. Then you add a game for Montreal in Ottawa, a game for TFC in Ottawa, and a game for Vancouver in Ottawa (now, that's minimum.. with MLS's funky sked you could be seeing an additional one).
why does Ottawa want to build everything in the burbs while a much bigger city has all its stadia & arenas right downtown?
and depending on 85k registered soccer players for attendance is the wrong way to go - Melynk sounds clueless in this regard unless he's happy with what we see in MLS teams such as KC, Colorado, Utah etc..
Melnyk is a lot smarter then give him credit for. Also, Downtown to Kanata only takes about 20-30 minutes by car. Not bad at all.
Melnyk wants the city to build the stadium for him...by announcing this now, prior to the Roughriders, he is putting pressure on the city...and depending on how powerful the "Glebe-ites" are...he might get his say because the downtown site might be too much trouble...but he has to get the franchise first, and lets not forget how Ottawa got the Senators...because they were willing to put up the cash at the time (the geniuses who did that are no longer around), but I imagine Melnyk will put up the cash as well.
I just got back from Chicago this afternoon and popped by Toyota Park on Sunday afternoon. The place is in the middle of nowhere; much more so than Kanata. with traffic the way it is in Chicago and with lots of affluent people living in the northern suburbs of chicago, it can take a good hour plus to get to Bridgeview from downtown and almost 90-100 mins to get from Evanston.
Alot of you guys from Toronto don't really now alot about Kanata. Its not in the boonies for Ottawa residents. Most people in Ottawa don't live in the center of the city. Kanata has a population of 100,000 or more. Thats not including the surrounding areas like Stitsville. Even Barrhaven is close and has at least 55,000 people. There are several thousand houses still getting built all over Kanata. I live in Westboro. Google it. It takes me 20 min tops to go to a hockey game driving when its bumper to bumper traffic (not including parking time). It takes me just as long if not longer to get to BMO on the subway from Bay and Bloor becasue thats where I stay when im in Toronto. Ottawa also has dedicated Bus lanes as well as bus transit way. Honestly the buses here are better than Toronto but the subway is a million times better than the buses. I never take the bus here but I absolutely love the subway in Toronto. Either way Its not that far from anywhere in the city and they wont share a field with a CFL team. Melnyk wants to have controll over everything. I would much rather it built at Landsdown (close to little Italy, Universities, China town) and have no CFL team because the CFL is horrible i think. Thats just my opinion. Also they will never share a field because the owner of the 67's (Jeff Hunt) wants to make hockey and footbal season ticket packages and I think Melnyk wants to do the same with the Sens and the MLS team. Thats why they dont want the stadiums close to each other. They are also going to redevelop the whole area around Landsdown (Frank Clair Stadium) with condos and townhouses, because down there its some of the most prime real estate in the city and one of the biggest builders in Ottawa is biding for the CFL team as a group with Jeff Hunt. Think of it like Front St or Bloor St home prices. CFL will be succesful again as long as the Gleiberman idiots arent involved. MLS will be succesul in Ottawa as well but there is no way in hell we can sell out a 30,000 seat stadium.
The main issue is not the travel time, it's about being able to down a few beers and not having to worry about driving back home
Hells yeah. Games over and all I see is a parking lot and pasture. I'm glad some bear with it but my buddies from Ottawa say it's a bummer. I'd rather watch it in a pub downtown.
There are shuttle buses from bars to Sens games all the time from all over the city as well. Im sure they would do the same for a MLS team. We use it all the time from a bar called Local Heros. GO for wings and pints before the game and if brings you back to the bar for more pints and wings. After that you can cab, bus, or have a DD drive you back from the bar.
it's not necessarily good to be downtown just because it's close to where everyone lives, or there are bars nearby. that's one element, but the other point is that it's good to be downtown because of the vibe and excitement of watching a soccer game in a stadium in the city, as opposed to in the middle of some cornfield. That's one of the things I love about the location of BMO, with the skyline in the immediate background.
You could put BMO in Mississauga (near where I live) and it would be more convenient for me to get there, but it just wouldn't be the same for atmosphere.
as well as the fact that some cities (not sure about Ottawa) tend to have transit from the burbs to downtown and transit from downtown to the burbs is less far reaching
Having the stadium (any stadium) in the centre of town would add to the vibrancy (is that a word?) of the downtown core. It would enhance the experience for visitors to the city.
The ciy had the chance to build on Lebreton flats and miffed it.
If they build in Kanata... yes people will go... but some will opt out because it can be a royal pain to get to from certain locales (east end and Quebec side) especially if you do not own your own form of transport.
I always laugh when hockey night in Canada shows the Parliament Buildings and Chateau Laurier in their shots about "tonights game from Ottawa". The arena is 25k away.
I still think this whole thing is Melnyk trying to force the stadium issue and get himself into the consortium doing stadium redevelopment wherever that may be. I can't see the city & province opting for two stadiums given their past track record regarding Ottawa and its infrastructure development.
that's what i was thinking. he's holding all the cards right now. He could conceivably do this alone. And that would totally screw up the city's plans to partner up with the CFL for that Landsdowne stadium. But he could muscle his way into that deal and then own the stadium and have the CFL and MLS as tenants. Sucks for MLS tho with the CFL lines and damage, unless they use some sort of moveable field (on pallets maybe).
So, essentially, you guys don't have a valid reason after all for nearly losing your NHL team?
Since when did we almost loose the sens?
http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0109/1489961.html
It was big news at the time, I'm sure others on here will remember. The NHL had to take over temporary ownership if the team until they found a new backer.
Thats not cause of the fans not going to games. Thats cause the city of Kanata at that time was rapping Bryden for tax money. It doesn't matter where the stadium is built. If there are fans they will go. Just like people drive from Orleans and Sherbrooke, Quebec to go to Sens games. Its the same with BMO. People come from Ajax and Pickering to see them play just cause they love the team. This discussion is less about bringing a Football team to Ottawa. It seems like its more or less just disgruntled leafs fans being pissed at Ottawa for even being considered. Just cause the leafs are horrible doesn't mean we shouldn't have a football team. I personally wont jump ship and will be a TFC fan but I will still go to games. Why? Cause its pretty hard for me to get tickets to BMO (In the section I want)or else I would try to come more often and i live here in Ottawa not Toronto.
Ottawa is also the second largest city in the province of ont there are a lot of europeans in ottawa so the support would be good.
Bang on. Plus the 50,000 registered players in the city and the fact that the Algonquin thunder are the best college squad in the province. Ontario champs 4 years in a row. It helps the college kids get into the sport a bit more cause they have a winning team.
Carleton also has 1 of the best soccer teams in the province for university sports.
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