Toronto Rogers Centre Renovations | ?m | ?s | Toronto Blue Jays | Populous

MetroMan said:
Actually, now might be the perfect opportunity to do a lot of the work that they had planned on doing in stages because they had to work around baseball seasons. It's clear that baseball (or any sports with a crowd) is not coming back this year.

Nobody thinks that this pandemic will last forever but I can't see crowds at any stadium until there's a vaccine, sometime next year. Might as well get a construction exemption from Ford to "rebuild our sports industry after COVID-19" and go all in with the work planned for the SkyDome.
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Ford would probably use the opportunity to construct a Super Bowl-ready NFL stadium, knowing how much he's a fan of the NFL.
 
Saw some old construction pics of Cincinnati's old Riverfront Stadium today on IG:

Interesting to see photos of the removal of the outfield areas of the old stadium as they built Great American Ballpark right next door. It got me thinking if a large scale renovation of the Rogers Centre is equivalent to the cost of a new stadium, perhaps Rogers & Co. will consider building a new stadium directly north with a south-east field orientation in a similar fashion. The Dome's outfield area and hotel is removed, the rail corridor is decked over and the new stadium begins construction while the Jays play out their tenure at the RC.

Such a project would be financed privately with a partnership between Rogers and Brookfield who are already in discussions with plans for the existing stadium. The land where the Dome currently sits would be redeveloped into an entertainment and residential district similar to what exists with recent stadium builds. If the entire project costs $1 billion, Rogers and Brookfield split the cost and help incorporate the development into Rail Deck Park.
 
Don't forget that the Rogers Centre's parking lot is located directly under the stadium (hence the sun, moon, star, and cloud symbols along the stadium ramp walls).

Perhaps with the new stadium, the current underground parking lot would be retained (and would be under the new entertainment and residential district).
 
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From link.

For the past 15 years, dads everywhere have been erroneously referring to Toronto's Rogers Centre as the SkyDome, the stadium's former moniker before it was bought out by the Canadian communications company back in early 2005 (which a few readers may be too young to fully remember).

But some Torontonians have held on to and honoured the beloved SkyDome name in the form of an unremarkable baseball diamond in popular Trinity Bellwoods Park, which has been decorated with a weathered piece of plywood haphazardly spraypainted with the word"skydome" for god knows how many years in a humorous nod to the larger diamond's old epithet.

And now, the city has finally decided to make the title official.

Passersby have just started to notice a much cleaner, more legible and seemingly official City of Toronto sign affixed to the Bellwoods diamond's chain-link fencing, which reads "Welcome to SKYDOME In Trinity Bellwoods Park."

Some initially mistook the placard for another quirky art installation (like the fake white squirrels residents spotted in the park last year), but city staff has indeed confirmed that it's authentic.

"The baseball diamond in the park is well known in the community as the 'skydome,' and the sign recognizes its local significance," a City of Toronto representative said on Friday.

And though the official naming of the diamond has given many locals a reason to smile as they walk past, some are already feeling nostalgic about old DIY version.
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"I preferred the scrawly spray painted sign, but I guess this will do," one Redditor commented on a photo someone snapped of the new addition.

"Yeah me too - something real grassroots and Trinity about that homemade sign," another added.

Though there's no word on where the iconic hand-scrawled sign has ended up (though it's safe to assume it's in the trash), it's cute to see the city getting in the neighbourhood's long-running inside joke.
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It's very interesting that the city officially considers the SkyDome to be in Trinity-Bellwoods Park.

At least this SkyDome has free admission, unlike that giant concrete bunker with a retractable roof next to the CN Tower.

Good thing that for health reasons, the Jays get to play in Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
 
Rogers Centre faces demolition as Blue Jays owner plans new stadium

www.theglobeandmail.com

Rogers Centre faces demolition as Blue Jays owner plans new stadium

Rogers and Brookfield Asset Management are working with city, provincial and federal government officials on a plan that would effectively cut the Rogers Centre in half in a massive redevelopment of the site
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
 
JohnnyRaylander said:
This is pretty great news. It is plausible that the redevelopment could include a park over the tracks that connects to the CIBC tower?
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How is it great news? Our city will lose one of its most recognizable landmarks and all that concrete will ...end up un lake Ontario? Such a waste. Rogers might hand over a sliver of land for the hypothetical "rail deck park" but the rest will likely just be yet more trashscape
 
The Rodger centre roof is about the only thing I ever liked about this building. The outside looks uninviting. Like a big fortress. That exposed concrete look to me never looked good (IMO). This is very exciting news. And a great location for something really special to take up a lot of land space here. So really the future holds a lot of potential for this spot. Assuming a new council will see the possibilities and have real vision for the city by then.
 
JohnnyRaylander said:
It is plausible that the redevelopment could include a park over the tracks that connects to the CIBC tower?
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The rail-deck park was mentioned as a sidenote in the article. It would be awesome if the redevelopment would involve that. I would also like to see the Jays stay downtown, as opposed to move to Quayside.
 
This city has seems to have a history of nuking its baseball stadiums...
 
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JohnnyRaylander said:
This is pretty great news. It is plausible that the redevelopment could include a park over the tracks that connects to the CIBC tower?
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Would almost certainly be the basis of the City being able to save face and say "look what we got in exchange"

edit to specify - and only between Spadina and the Metro Convention crossing at most
 
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