| rev:text
| - Part of the fabric of our city - but sometimes fabric frays, wears out, or just plain gets old. I attended games here as a kid, including football games in the 1970s when my parents treated me to Stampeders games as birthday presents. I believe I also attended the CFL All-Star game here (look it up on Wikipedia). Was on parade here in 1990 when H.M. Queen Elizabeth II presented The Calgary Highlanders with a new Queen's Colour. As a participant on the field, there was little to complain about.
As a football fan now, in 2014, the stadium is really showing its age. I attended the CFL's Western Final this year and watched the Stampeders obliterate the Eskimos on the way to winning the Grey Cup.
On the plus side, the fans were so energetic that the team made special mention more than once in the press that it was they who helped the team immeasurably to get over the perceived playoff slump of recent years. The illegal procedure calls on Edmonton are probably proof enough. Plenty of red and white in the stands, with only a few feeling the need to wear bizarre costumes in the manner of our green friends to the east.
I paid $10 for a hot dog, pretzels and soft drink - which honestly was less than I would have expected. Still a bit more than lunch at a fast food place, but these days, not much more. And downright reasonable compared to buying food at a movie theatre.
The worst of it was the antiquated washroom facilities. Urinals had no modesty screens and men were lined up 10 deep, 10 across in the handful of bathrooms. Many were declining to use them, and I was one of them, opting to wait until after the game. One area the stadium needs a serious upgrade.
But really, having watched football at Commwealth Stadium and Investors Group Field in the last year, and having seen new stadiums built in Ottawa and Hamilton in the last season, it is probably time for Calgary to think of doing something similar here. We don't need a covered stadium like B.C. Place, and Montreal's Olympic stadium and Toronto's Rogers Centre are now considered far too big. McMahon is just right in terms of capacity, but the bench seating and lack of luxury boxes, poor fan experience, etc., need to go. There is something to be said for sitting in an attractive building, too, such as Investors Group with its arched covered grandstands. McMahon, by comparison, was obviously built with function in mind and little else. But even basic functions need upgrading - drink holders on seats, for example, or handrails on the steep and slick stairs.
A historic building that unfortunately has little left to offer a population that has come to expect more. And with a winning team as one of the main tenants (I understand the U of C and the Dinos own it) couldn't think of a better time to think about replacing it.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)