BC Place to get retractable roof
 

VANCOUVER - The aging teflon dome at BC Place will be replaced by a retractable roof costing up to $500 million, the provincial government is expected to announce Friday morning.

The work will be done after the Winter Olympics, The Sun has learned.

Two officials were slated to make a major announcement at 9:30 a.m. about the future of BC Place. A news release didn't provide details about the announcement, but earlier this month Kevin Krueger, minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, had suggested a decision on BC Place's roof would come soon.

Krueger was scheduled to make Friday's announcement with David Podmore, chair of the BC Pavilion Corp. Krueger said on Oct. 7 that the province probably couldn't afford the retractable roof, as bids were substantially higher than the $365 million budgeted for the renovation.

Tax revenues have declined because of the recession and Premier Gordon Campbell has cut spending dramatically.

But Krueger had said the province was considering using private-sector money to help pay for the roof.

"There are private sector people who have strong interest in making sure it's a retractable roof," he said at the time.

He wouldn't address a report that B.C. Lions owner David Braley and Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini had submitted proposals.

Krueger said the individuals were dealing with Pavco, the Crown corporation that oversees the stadium. PavCo has said it hopes to recover more than $100 million through the sale and lease of land next to the stadium, which could accommodate a total of 1.4 million square feet of residential and commercial space.

It was not clear what effect the recession has had on the viability of that plan.

Analysts have said the retractable roof would increase ticket sales, sponsorships and other revenue streams and double the BC Lions' franchise value, according to Tom Mayenknecht, a marketing and communications executive focusing on sports. According to Mayenknecht, a public-private partnership could help Braley because it would grant him more control over stadium revenues, boosting the value of the franchise.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business...397/story.html

nice so we are getting a BC Place Cabriolet.

$500 million for a frigging roof, talk about priorities?


For comparison's sake, the whole stadium for the 2012 London Olympics is "only" US$715.4 million.

so we can be rained on while we watch sports games or car shows yay!

damn...who cares about roof.. i want a bigger GM PLACE

This is BC Place we are talking about.

A retractable roof is kinda pointless IMO. They've been spending money on that thing ever since the top collapsed awhile ago.

retractabl or not, just dont let it inflated like 3 years ago...

:haha:

Yea the price is kind of rediculous considering the new cowboys stadium cost 1.2 billion and that's for the ground up construction

I guess it's cheaper than demolition and rebuilding though, although if it were ever demo'd it would probably br repaced by condos and not another stadium
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Price is steep but if private investors are willing to cover the cost than let them go for it.

That cowboys stadium is nuts the size of those screens and the sheer size of the stadium to bad the cowboys are sucking they cant enjoy there new stadium they cant blame jessica for tony romos woes anymore.

do you know what retractable means?

i know this is BC place, but i perfer that money goes toward upgrading GM PLACE...

stop abusing fail button

you mean deflated

I dunno GM place is pretty up to date, they've been doing renos the last couple years now and the outside of the building looks almost brand new
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Yes it is...More seating would be nice despite the wait for season ticket.....
BC place is huge yet its never packed...

Sort of looks like the 02 arena in London.

Nice to know that despite massive health care cuts across the board we can afford to put a fancy retractable roof on BC Place...

C'mon, we all know that poor ppl r not important. :(

i guess not
loll :haha::haha::thumbsup: ya

fuck another waste of my tax money

^

its ok, aint the first and definitely wont be the last

its the same government that wont allow a private individual to build a multi million dollar stadium on the water front with his own money

shit dun make sense

i don't think it will look as great as the original BC place with the little lump

my lovely lady lumps
my lovely lady lumps
in the back and in the front

http://www.daisylee.com/hello/311072...6-21.19.19.jpg

BC Place is used year round for all kinds of events. If money can be recouped and most of it comes from private sector, I think it's a pretty good idea. I don't get the allure of retractible roofs myself, but if it looks good, improves the cityscape, and becomes a landmark, why not? They say it is going to be the biggest of its kind in the world.

I'm not for or against the idea. Price does seem a bit high.

should just tear it down, put up condo's, make the city money, and build a new one east of the downtown core.