When Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel stand up to speak at today's official announcement of the 2010 Grey Cup coming to Edmonton, let's hope they have something to say.
About legacy, I mean.
About upgrades to Commonwealth Stadium.
Canada's great outdoor stadium, which made itself better than new again with the improvements for the IAAF World Championships in 2001, needs another minor makeover.
For the most part Commonwealth Stadium, in its fourth decade, remains a model of foresight in building a sports facility, particularly an outdoor facility, to last long into the future and remain a gem.
In fact, that's one of the reasons Edmonton is getting this Grey Cup now instead of 2011 as previously planned. Despite a not-exactly-ideal situation of back-to-back years in the same province (with Calgary hosting this year's big game), the stadium goes a long way to making Edmonton a slam dunk success even when you only have nine months to organize one, as was the case with the Party In Your Parka 1997 Grey Cup here.
Regina, Winnipeg and Hamilton are all in desperate need of new stadiums and are essentially out of Grey Cup contention until they get them.
Saskatchewan appears to have both provincial and local levels of government on board. Winnipeg has been working on going to private ownership with a new stadium part of the package. And Hamilton, which was supposed to hold this one, is hoping that a Toronto bid to win the Pan-Am Games means a new stadium in Hamilton to host the track and field events.
So what's become so shabby about Commonwealth Stadium that needs to be improved? The seats!
After 32 winters, the plastic bucket seats are falling apart. Their colour has faded badly in the last few years. They are simply well past their replacement date.
They're also not wide enough to match the comfort levels of modern day sports stadium seating. And, in a Commonwealth Stadium quirk, virtually every row has an odd number of seats, leaving a lot of singles to sell.
It would be a positive, not a negative, to bring the capacity down by three seats a row.
It's not just new seats but a new concept of seating and what to do with the end zone seats usually covered with advertising tarps.
This is a big league stadium, but because of the seats and the tarps, it no longer looks like one from the inside. It's a condition which needs to be cured. What better time for that than for the Grey Cup?
Seats cost more money than you think they would, which is probably why they were allowed to get in their current condition. To do the whole stadium would be $5-$6 million, which is basically the entire gate of a Grey Cup game.
The hosting of this Grey Cup, on the other hand, is expected to have an economic impact of $50 million to the province and city.
Buying a stadium full of new seats in this economy might not have real good optics to some. But what better time is there? The whole project could be done a lot cheaper right now than at any other time.
In half the CFL cities, temporary end zone seating is rented for the Grey Cup at roughly $50 a seat. They don't have to do that here.
If there's one thing Edmonton has excelled at in the history of hosting major sports events here it's the understanding of legacy. The community embraces the events, almost without exception, giving them their greatest hostings in history, knowing that when the circus leaves town major improvements will have been left behind.
This Grey Cup should have a legacy as well.
The Eskimos have prioritized a field house complete with new offices ahead of new seats, and it would be terrific for that project to be completed in time for the Grey Cup to add an on-site Brier Patch-type party place for the hosting. But what's really required here are those new seats. Those should be the legacy. Nice green ones if you don't mind, Mr. Stelmach and Mr. Mandel.
