I think it's quite an interesting idea. It would be built over top of the rail tracks down by the SeaBus Terminal. It's a lot closer to where I live than Swanguard and I think I'd be a lot more likely to go to games downtown that out at Boundary Road.
The new location is right on the SkyTrain and SeaBus lines, the West Coast Express, the bus lines, and the future RAV line. The problem is, there is absolutely no excess parking anywhere around there, and it doesn't look like the proposal allows for any parking
Overall I think it is a good idea. I agree with Sam Sullivan though that it is better to do it this way than to take up some of the ever-shrinking stock of industrial land in the core of Vancouver.
New waterfront stadium planned
Last updated Oct 13 2005 05:18 PM PDT
CBC News
The Vancouver Whitecaps have unveiled plans for a new 15,000-seat soccer stadium near the Waterfront SkyTrain station in downtown Vancouver.
The team plans to build the facility in so-called "air space" over existing rail lines, east of the Sea Bus terminal – with trains passing below.
The 15,000-seat facility is seen as an ideal size for the soccer team. The Whitecaps currently play their homes at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium which has fewer than 7,000 seats.
The stadium could eventually be expanded to accommodate 30,000 spectators, and it would also host other sports, rock concerts and even the VSO.
It would be shaped like a horseshoe, with the open end revealing a panoramic view of Coal Harbour and the North Shore mountains.
The president of the Vancouver Whitecaps says people who live in the Downtown Eastside will be consulted before the plans are finalized.
But some community activists complain they were kept in the dark about the plan.
"We have to pick up the Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio to find out that this is happening in our own community," declared Muggs Sigurdson who jumped onto the stage following the unveiling of detailed plans for the new stadium.
"We are going to demand that the city go through the proper process and that the Whitecaps aren't going to fast-track this on the backs of the poor!"
Whitecaps president John Roche isn't revealing details of how the stadium will be financed. But he does say the project is comparable to a 22,000-seat stadium in Toronto that cost more than $60 million, with a third of that money came from the federal, provincial and city governments.
City council candidate and Park Board commissioner Heather Deal says she likes the size and proposed location of the new sports facility.
"It's at the hub of the bus, the train, the SkyTrain and the SeaBus systems. I think a location like this one, that places it right at the hub of all of our transit systems is just ideal."
