Provincial government set to announce $500-million project today
Richard J. Dalton Jr
Sun
An artist’s conception of the retractable BC Place roof.
The aging teflon dome on BC Place Stadium will be replaced by a retractable roof costing up to $500 million, the provincial government is expected to announce today.
The work will be done after the 2010 Winter Olympics, The Sun has learned.
A news release issued Thursday said Kevin Krueger, minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and BC Pavilion Corp. chair David Podmore would be making a major announcement today about the future of BC Place.
The release provided no details about the announcement, set for 9:30 a.m.
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 the government has made dramatic cuts to spending.
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 B.C. Lions’ franchise value, according to Tom Mayenknecht, a marketing and communications executive focusing on sports.
Mayenknecht said a public-private partnership could help Braley because it would grant him more control over stadium revenues, boosting the value of the franchise.
Hints during the summer that the retractable roof was in danger raised concerns that it could threaten the status of the Major League Soccer franchise recently granted to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
“All of the renovations to BC Place were key in Major League Soccer awarding Vancouver an expansion team,” MLS senior vice-president Dan Courtemanche said from the league’s New York headquarters in late August.
“If things change, we’d have to address that. Clearly it’s something that would be addressed by our commissioner and the league’s board of governors.
The upgrades to the stadium, which include the new roof, were supposed to be completed by the spring of 2011, when the Whitecaps are to begin playing in the MLS.
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