News Article: Lebreton...Interesting...NCC - PART 2

[Masked]

If this team wants to make money the last thing they should do is cater to people who live in Brockville or Casselman. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

The money is in neighborhoods like Westboro, the Glebe, Rockcliffe. That’s who the focus needs to be on. They’ll be the ones willing to pony up for tickets and 18 dollar beers.

The people whose biggest priority is getting onto the highway quickly after a game should have zero input into where this rink is built.

The people who can most afford to buy the best seats and splurge on concessions are not the people who will be taking public transit. They are the people in Westboro, the Glebe and Rockcliffe but also estates outside of Carp, Stittsville and Manotick.

 

[CallSaul]

The people who can most afford to buy the best seats and splurge on concessions are not the people who will be taking public transit. They are the people in Westboro, the Glebe and Rockcliffe but also estates outside of Carp, Stittsville and Manotick.

Those people will happily pay for an Uber or valet, and their priority will be getting a reservation at Riviera pregame, not getting onto the 417 by 9:41.

If you’re concerned about the shortest route to the highway after the game, you’re not the type of person this team will be focused on (when selling tickets).

Live sports are becoming a luxury good. It’ll be no different here. It’ll be fewer seats, higher prices, and a clientele looking for a better experience (food, drinks pre and post game, etc).

We’ll never be Toronto or New York, but the models we can follow are places like Minnesota, Columbus and Pittsburgh. If you’ve ever been to game in those cities, the rinks are all centrally located and if you want to drive, you end up parking at an adjacent surface or garage lot and walking 10-30 minutes.

They didn’t build rinks in shopping centrums so they could have 9k parking spots and make it convenient for people from the suburbs who want to get in and out as fast as possible.

 

[GCK]

Train yards is a complete no go. Lebreton is the best option outside of core downtown which ain’t happening.

 

[Masked]

We’ll never be Toronto or New York, but the models we can follow are places like Minnesota, Columbus and Pittsburgh. If you’ve ever been to game in those cities, the rinks are all centrally located and if you want to drive, you end up parking at an adjacent surface or garage lot and walking 10-30 minutes.

Those three arenas are all two blocks from interstate highways.

 

[CallSaul]

Those three arenas are all two blocks from interstate highways.

Not necessarily the on-ramps onto those highways.

Getting from Xcel onto I94 is over 1km, for example. The Lebreton site would be closer to a 417 on-ramp than that.

That people think Lebreton would be inaccessible is wild to me. Some need to get out of the suburbs and go to a city once in a while.

Like I said before, if you want to build an arena in a shopping plaza next to a Walmart and Golf Town because it’s slightly closer to a highway, you’re out of your mind.

And “people from Casselman could take the VIA in” might be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.

 

[Neil Patrick Harris]

I can't take a suggestion seriously that hinges on a hypothetical horde of fans who will hypothetically want to take a *VIA* train from Brockville to catch a Sens game.

We have a chance to scoop up some of the last major land parcels in the centre of the city, to make Lebreton a premier destination, to draw walk-up fans from Westboro, Hintonburg, Centretown, and even across the river... and people want to build out at Trainyards so we can plop down some parking lots for people to spend an hour in?

Yeah, and maybe they can pregame at the local Wendys and pick up some Sketchers from the outlet store while they're there.

 

[JD1]

There are a lot of complications with LeBreton that center in my view around the availability and reliability of public transportation

Let's just say for argument they start construction in the summer of 2025 and the rink is open September 2029. Right now, the reliability of the train is not good and the reputation of public transportation is bad. Very bad. Maybe Orleans gets the train in 2026. Western leg to Moodie in 2027. That might be hopeful.

Governments have said there's no more money for LRT until they get this entire $hit show sorted out. So when do they get started taking the train to Kanata? To Barrhaven? Throw in delays getting started and construction taking twice as long as planned (which is generous given the LRT history) and you're looking at maybe 2040. Two of the affluent suburbs containing over 200k can't take the train. There won't be parking for half the attendees. So it's bus. Then Train. If you want to go.

What about Gatineau. Where will they park? They won't. There's no parking. And it's a hike from the Portage bridge to where the arena is. It's great that you want to cater to the other side. It hasn't worked in 30 years. Why will it work now? They'll need park and ride shuttles. That sucks.

If I'm Andlauer, why am I looking at spending 500M and needing that much again from governments to build a rink that's dependent on public transportation when the public transportation system is the laughing stock or north American public transportation systems?

I'm not saying I have the answers, but spending that kind of money and being dependent on a public transportation system that's a joke is a pretty risky adventure.