Tank: Saskatoon arena upgrade study will fail to away skeptics

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SaskTel Centre is planning to spend $200,000 to study renovations to the current arena, even as a new arena in downtown Saskatoon has been endorsed.

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One persistent criticism of plans for a downtown Saskatoon arena district hinges on the lack of another option.

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The alternative to building a new, centrally located facility was dismissed in a 2018 report that denigrated the idea of major renovations to SaskTel Centre, which was then 30 years old.

The option considered was to build a ring around the existing structure that would have added 50,000 square feet — about three times the area of a hockey rink — and cost $101 million.

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That idea always sounded pretty loopy (pun intended) and the cost seemed low for such a major expansion. But it supported the argument for a new downtown facility, which was then estimated to cost $172 million to $178 million.

“Expansion of arenas tends to be difficult, and, when actually attempted, expensive,” the consultant’s report warned. Plus, the report added, no upgrades will correct the “unfortunate siting decision that located SaskTel Centre on the periphery of Saskatoon’s urbanized area.”

Much has changed in the nearly seven years since that report was endorsed by city council and, essentially, the idea of major renovations for SaskTel Centre was abandoned.

The cost to build a new downtown arena has risen significantly to $632 million as part of a $1.2-billion entertainment district that includes $273 million for a renovated downtown convention centre/theatre where TCU Place is located.

The district’s quixotic funding plan depends on hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal and provincial governments. The funding plan includes no property tax increases, but relies so heavily on a tenuous series of options that it seems highly unlikely to proceed.

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So that makes it a good time to reassess the option of substantial renovations to SaskTel Centre, despite its daft location. Among the largest cities in Canada, only Ottawa’s arena is located farther away from its downtown than Saskatoon’s and, sensibly, a move downtown is being pursued in the nation’s capital.

SaskTel Centre, which operates as a controlled city corporation governed by a board appointed by city council, is indeed planning to study renovations. The facility’s budget this year includes $200,000 to look at arena upgrades.

SaskTel Centre CEO John Howden explained in a text message that the initiative remains in its “very early stages,” but is intended to update the estimate from the previous report.

When questioned by city council last year, Howden could only offer comparisons to similar renovations in other cities, notably Hamilton, Ont., and offer an estimate of $300 million.

The Oak View Group — yes, the same group that wants to become a private partner in Saskatoon’s arena and contribute to its construction — is funding a $280-million renovation of Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre, formerly Copps Coliseum.

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Those upgrades are significant enough to force the closure of the arena for more than a year.

The deficiencies of SaskTel Centre, which opened as Saskatchewan Place in 1988, are believed to be more extensive than those of Hamilton’s arena, which is three years older.

Among the issues with SaskTel Centre that are expected to become amplified in the future are cramped concourses, small seats, a roof deemed too low by big touring acts and a need for new elevators.

Rectifying those shortcomings would prove costly, but the remote location of SaskTel Centre makes it an extremely unlikely candidate for private investment or funding from higher levels of government. That leaves property tax alone to foot the bill.

Plus a year-long renovation — a very optimistic estimate for such extensive upgrades — means a year without revenue or events.

Pinning an updated cost on arena renovations should help move the debate forward, but it’s unlikely to convince the most fervent of critics, who cling to the fantasy that somehow revamping the existing arena would be cheap and easy.

The foolhardy notion that somehow you can pursue projects more cheaply here than in other cities, while ignoring the reality of rising costs, nearly derailed the downtown Saskatoon library project.

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We’re probably more than a year away from a report estimating the cost of SaskTel Centre renovations, but nobody should be surprised if the total now tops $400 million.

And nobody should be surprised if some folks continue to embrace a patently fake narrative.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

[email protected]

twitter.com/thinktankSK

@thinktanksk.bsky.social

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