Surrey mayoral candidate Jinny Sims promises 10,000-seat outdoor stadium

Conceptual artistic rendering of Surrey Forward party's 10,000-seat outdoor stadium concept replacing Tom Binnie Park and the BC Lions training facility in Surrey City Centre. For illustrative purposes only; not the actual design. (Surrey Forward)

Surrey will get a new sizeable outdoor stadium within its City Centre area if the Surrey Forward party, led by mayoral candidate Jinny Sims, forms a majority in City Council.

Sims has made a new campaign platform promise of building a new entertainment district within the area of Tom Binnie Park — the location of the BC Lions’ training hub, next to Whalley Athletic Park and Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre.

There would be a new 10,000-seat outdoor stadium, along with a new performing arts centre with a main theatre with a capacity for 800 to 1,400 seats, and a smaller secondary theatre with 200 to 400 seats.

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The outdoor stadium would be constructed to attract a professional soccer team, such as a Canadian Premier League-style club. It would be built by early 2026 so that it can be used for friendly training matches and a practice facility for a national team warming up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium.

The performing arts centre provides Surrey with the new capability to host large touring shows, including Broadway shows and musical acts, cultural dance performances and community theatre, which would act to foster the development of local professional dance and theatre.

tom binnie park whalley athletic park surrey city centre

The location of Tom Binnie Park and the surrounding area within Surrey City Centre. (Google Earth)

With the outdoor stadium and performing arts centre as anchor venues, the entertainment district would also contain new office buildings and residential towers, and commercial uses such as restaurants and nightlife venues to drive activity.

If the 2030 Olympic Winter Games are held in British Columbia, Sims adds, the entertainment district could play a role in hosting supporting cultural events of the Games.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put Surrey in the world’s eye, one that we cannot pass up by short-sighted politicians fighting over decisions made in the past decade,” she said of the opportunity of Surrey’s potential role in the 2030 Games.

Existing condition of Tom Binnie Park and the BC Lions training hub:

tom binnie park bc lions whalley athletic park surrey city centre

The existing condition of Tom Binnie Park and the BC Lions training hub. (Google Earth)

For illustrative purposes only, not the actual design: Concept for an outdoor stadium with a mix of uses replacing Tom Binnie Park and the BC Lions training hub:

surrey forward stadium concept rendering

Conceptual artistic rendering of Surrey Forward party’s 10,000-seat outdoor stadium concept replacing Tom Binnie Park and the BC Lions training facility in Surrey City Centre. For illustrative purposes only; not the actual design. (Surrey Forward)

Sims’ 10,000-seat outdoor stadium concept greatly contrasts with Safe Surrey Coalition incumbent mayor Doug McCallum’s platform promise of building a 60,000-seat outdoor stadium. Critics of McCallum’s large stadium concept have deemed it financially and economically unfeasible, and that it would lack support from the provincial government as it would directly compete with the provincially owned and funded BC Place Stadium, which has about 55,000 seats.

Gordie Hogg, the rival mayoral candidate for the Surrey First party, previously slammed McCallum’s proposal, stating “Surrey would be saddled with a white elephant that would cost taxpayers an arm and a leg each and every year.”

Sim’s entire project would be executed by reforming the City of Surrey’s wholly owned private development company, the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC). In 2020, McCallum and his party dissolved SCDC and folded its real estate portfolio into the municipal government. SCDC was responsible for developing 3 Civic Plaza and Hotel and a substantial portion of the Campbell Heights industrial park, and at the time of dissolution was also working on two major redevelopment projects next to Surrey Central Station and Gateway Station. This includes a major office and institutional development replacing the closed North Surrey Recreation Centre next to Surrey Central Station.

Sim states that SCDC will be reconstituted, and its first project will be to build the entertainment district and its varied mix of uses.

“We can create a process whereby the soccer field, entertainment district, offices and residences will be completed by the Surrey City Development Corporation. And the Civic Arts Centre will be funded through the net return from the SCDC investment in order to minimize taxpayer investment,” she added.

Sims is currently the BC NDP MLA for the riding of Surrey-Panorama. If she is successful in her mayoral bid this fall, she will resign from her MLA seat, which will trigger a provincial by-election in the riding.

Her Surrey Forward party is running a total of seven candidates to fill city councillor seats. There are eight available seats in Surrey City Council, not including the mayoral seat.

The civic election is scheduled for Saturday, October 15, 2022.

Jinny Sims (BC NDP)

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