Varsity stadium...le projet sur la glace...

[François]

New Varsity Stadium shelved as costs soar


By ROB SHAW
With reports from Joe Friesen and Michael Grange
Thursday, September 30, 2004 - Page A1




TORONTO -- Ballooning costs have derailed the University of Toronto's new Varsity Stadium, throwing into doubt the status of the 2007 World Youth Soccer Championship and the future home of the Toronto Argonauts, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The university's senior administrators met yesterday afternoon and determined the project is no longer viable because costs had risen to more than $100-million.

So the university abandoned plans to present the current design for approval at a meeting of its board of governors, originally slated for Dec. 16, said Pekka Sinervo, dean of arts and sciences.

The proposed stadium was to be a 25,000-seat facility with a six-lane track, and was to serve as a new home for the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and for the Canadian Soccer Association.

Its estimated cost was $80-million, of which $30-million was to be borrowed by the university. But the latest design estimates placed costs in excess of $100-million, Dr. Sinervo said.

"Certainly if the provosts and the president are not prepared to bring it forward, then yes I would say the project is dead," he said last night. "First and foremost it has to have their support."

"This is an opportunity to take a sober second thought and look again at the various possibilities," Dr. Sinervo added.

Design changes, partly to take into account neighbourhood concerns and the potential closing of a nearby road, altered the project's price, Dr. Sinervo said. But it's also possible the initial design, on the site of the old Varsity Stadium at Bloor Street West and Bedford Road, could not have been built within the $80-million estimate, he said.

"In some sense this doesn't come as a surprise," he said. "It's a disappointment for many in the university community and I think it is still true, certainly from my perspective, it's important to get an appropriate athletic facility."

Varsity Stadium was built in 1898 and demolished in 2002 because of safety concerns. Dr. Sinervo said it was "extraordinarily difficult" to build a new stadium on the former site.

The university recognizes that it must build something, Dr. Sinervo said, but added he hopes the senior administration will develop another proposal.

"The fundamental problem that the university is facing is that funding is extremely tight," he said.

Another source close to the project confirmed that it had been stalled by the university. "I have no idea what happened. As of [Tuesday] everything was good," the source said.

Varsity Stadium redevelopment had apparently been sealed in August when it was announced that Canada would play host to the 2007 soccer championship. The decision came after $35-million in federal and provincial funding for the new stadium was confirmed.

It is now uncertain whether the soccer tournament, one of the world's largest, will have to go elsewhere.

The Argonauts, who were also important partners in the deal, were hoping that a smaller outdoor stadium in the city's downtown would provide the impetus for a football revival similar to that seen in Montreal in recent years.

The CFL's Alouettes have been playing to sellout crowds at McGill University's 20,000-seat Percival Molson Stadium since leaving the cavernous and usually empty Olympic Stadium.

Last night, a spokesman for the federal government said that Ottawa remained committed to the funding it had pledged for the project, and the site's location is secondary to its obtaining financial support.

"The location was never really the crucial matter for us," said Stephen Heckbert, director of communications for Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

"The crucial matter was to work with partners, the city and interested other parties to find a way to get a new facility constructed. The commitment to the funds is still there and the commitment to move forward from our perspective is still there."

Under the failed plan, the University of Toronto would have retained ownership of the stadium. The Argonauts would have leased the facility.