Opinion: Surrey does not need a "white elephant" 60,000-seat stadium

The 2002-built, 69,000-seat Lumen Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks, in downtown Seattle. (Lumen Field)

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum made quite the civic election campaign splash last week when he announced a platform promise of building a 60,000-seat outdoor stadium.

But right off the bat, this attention-grabbing idea requires a reality check.

It takes all of Metro Vancouver — the critical mass of its residential population, and the strength of its corporate community — to support such a large venue that is practically the same capacity as BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.

Yet McCallum is making the case for a 60,000-seat stadium simply because of Surrey’s population growth.

“Part of our commitments that we’re going to say as part of our Safe Surrey Coalition is we are going to build a 60,000-person arena in Surrey,” McCallum told reporters last week.

“It will be a multi-use arena for all sports. The city is a very big city; it’ll be bigger than Vancouver in four or five years. We need a sports stadium. We’re going to build a sports stadium in the next few years.”

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It is very true that Surrey — and the south of the Fraser in general — could use more entertainment and sports venues, but a 60,000-seat stadium is gross overkill.

An outdoor stadium half the size with 30,000 seats would be better suited to fill the need of a secondary regional stadium, and the entire idea for the stadium would have received less ridicule.

Then there is also the issue of cost.

These days, an extremely simple, barebone stadium of 60,000 seats is likely in the range of between $300 million and $500 million — and this is probably not enough for full weather protection over the seats. This figure also does not include the cost of acquiring land, and building supporting facilities and infrastructure, such as parkades. McCallum has suggested it could be built on City-owned lots near SkyTrain.

A high-end, world-class stadium fitting 60,000 seats with all the bells and whistles, including a full cover or possibly a retractable roof, would be in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion, based on recent examples in the United States.

The 2002-built, 69,000-seat Lumen Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks, in downtown Seattle. (Lumen Field)

Even a smaller stadium of about 30,000 seats is a costly proposition.

Nearly a decade ago, the 24,000-seat Tim Horton Field in Hamilton was built in time for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games at a cost of about $150 million, replacing the footprint of the former Ivor Wynne Stadium. This venue is a very basic design, comprised of two open-air grandstands — no roof covering. With inflation, it would cost roughly $250 million to build the stadium today.

Tim Horton Field is the home field of the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats and is expandable to up to 40,000 seats with temporary grandstands for major events like the CFL’s Grey Cup.

At around the same time, Winnipeg also completed its 33,000-seat IG Field, which is a design with a partial roof covering and amenities such as 52 suites. As the home field for the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the stadium can also be temporarily expanded to up to 40,000 seats for the Grey Cup. It cost $210 million to build in 2013, but in 2022 dollars this figure would be closer to the ballpark of $350 million.

There are also of course localized cost differences relating to labour, materials, and site conditions.

Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field during the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games. (Arup)

IG Field in Winnipeg. (Blue Bombers)

If the City of Surrey were to pursue this project, it would likely need to pursue and finance it on its own without the help of the provincial and federal governments. It would certainly be one of the single most expensive projects undertaken by the municipal government, if not the most expensive.

Through crown corporation Pavco, the provincial government is the owner and operator of the BC Place Stadium. It is unlikely to provide financial support for a stadium that would directly compete with the downtown venue.

The federal government would likely take the provincial government’s cue as well, especially with certain major federal grants requiring obtaining provincial support as the first step in the application process. When it comes to capital investments, the federal government is highly unlikely to offer funding if the provincial government is unsupportive of the project.

A potential partial funding source could come from the private sector, especially from a key tenant that was to use it as their home field, for example.

The low-end design cost comes with its challenges, too. With the region’s wet and cold climate, a partially roofed or fully retractable roofed stadium enables the greatest year-round usability of the venue, which requires a far larger construction budget to achieve.

The novelty of the temporary 27,500-seat Empire Field stadium at Hastings Park more than a decade ago was short-lived due to the frequency of cold, inclement weather, and the venue’s poor weather protection.

empire field pne hastings park vancouver stadium 2010 2011

The temporary Empire Field stadium on the former site of Empire Stadium, 2010-2011. (Unitech Construction Management)

Greater utility and revenue-generating opportunities would also be achieved with added stadium amenities and mixed uses — such as retail, restaurants, office space, and hotel use — that are operational even during non-event days. But again, that requires more investment.

If the City of Surrey wants its own entertainment and sports venue that could potentially be achieved by financial support from the provincial government, it needs to build something that does compete with the provincial-owned stadium, BC Place.

A new mid-sized, 10,000-seat indoor arena within Surrey City Centre could provide a year-round, multi-purpose venue for the community. It would be transformative for Surrey’s emerging downtown, aiding its vibrancy and businesses.

Before land costs, a simple mid-sized indoor arena design carries a cost range of between $100 million and $150 million, while a more enhanced design with added amenities and features is closer to $300 million, based on precedents in the US.

For further comparison, an NHL-sized and calibre indoor arena with about 18,000 seats costs at least $500 million in 2022.

But adding yet another mid-sized indoor arena to the Lower Mainland would only increase competition amongst existing facilities, which are mostly owned by public entities.

The 2005-built Chilliwack Coliseum has a seating capacity of 5,000 and was achieved through a public-private partnership. The 2009-built Langley Events Centre, owned by the Township of Langley, has a capacity of over 5,000 spectators.

In 2009, the City of Abbotsford completed its 7,000-seat Abbotsford Centre — a project that was approved by voters in a 2006 referendum. It was the home ice of the AHL Abbotsford Heat between 2009 and 2014.

Abbotsford Canucks game at Abbotsford Centre. (Abbotsford Canucks)

Abbotsford Centre saw an annual deficit of about $2 million during the Heat’s tenancy, and the municipal government’s total subsidy to both the Calgary Flames’ farm team and the arena was about $4 million annually. By cancelling the 10-year contract early, the City was able to reduce the subsidy by $15 million over the last four years of the term; the $4 million annual subsidy was lowered to about $1 million annually. The City paid the Heat owners $5.5 million to end the contract early, which was favourable to the financial scenario of retaining their team.

In 2021, the City of Abbotsford reached an agreement with Vancouver Canucks owner Aquilini Investment Group to leverage their expertise with Rogers Arena, and relocate their farm team from Utica to Abbotsford Centre. The five-year contract, renewable for up to 20 years, stipulates the City will pay $750,000 annually to Aquilini’s management and operations of Abbotsford Centre, including staffing, event bookings, ticketing, and food and beverage. The City will receive a portion of the facility’s revenues if there is an average of 5,000 tickets sold per regular season game of the Abbotsford Canucks.

The input costs of constructing any entertainment and sports venue are just one component to consider. Equally important are the annual operating and maintenance costs after opening.

A mid-sized Surrey indoor arena could also compete with the Canucks-owned Rogers Arena and the City of Vancouver-owned Pacific Coliseum for some events.

The 7,500-seat UBC Thunderbird Sports Centre, built in time for the 2010 Olympics, can be considered the most successful mid-sized indoor arena in the region. It sees use from the University of British Columbia activities and has attracted concerts and major sporting events like the International Tennis Federation’s Davis Cup and Skate Canada’s Canadian National Figure Skating Championships — some of the region’s most high-profile indoor arena events beyond Rogers Arena and Pacific Coliseum.

davis cup tennis ubc doug mitchell thunderbird sports centre

Davis Cup held at UBC Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in April 2013. (Standing In Motion)

While a stadium would be a valuable asset to Surrey, the biggest challenge facing the municipality from its population growth is its inability to keep up with community and recreational facilities.

Although the City of Surrey has a number of major capital investments planned for new and expanded community and recreational facilities, it is still well short of meeting the baseline service levels of such facilities. It needs to double down on its building program.

Numerous studies in Canada and the United States have shown that governments need to invest in recreational facilities and programs if they really want to reduce crime and gang activity among youth in their community.

BC Place Stadium, which serves the region well, currently has 54,500 seats — down from its previous capacity of 60,000 seats. The stadium’s capacity was downsized during the renovation more than a decade ago to accommodate wider, more comfortable seats. While the $560 million budget for the overhaul is also attributed to the retractable roof, a substantial portion also went towards the concourse, concessions, washrooms, dressing rooms, accessibility features, and critical seismic and building systems upgrades.

The $560 million investment essentially turned the 1983-built concrete bowl into a finish that is closer to a brand new stadium that cost over $1 billion, if it were to be built from scratch. Same bones, but new meat. It is considered Canada’s flagship stadium, most recently made evident by the push by FIFA and Canada Soccer to designate it as one of Canada’s venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

BC Place Stadium in Vancouver during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. (BC Place Stadium)

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