As the CFL Western Division final wrapped up Sunday, I turned to my wife and asked a poignant question: Let's say you have a new domed stadium for the Roughriders. If you are playing in the division final, or the Grey Cup the following week, and you know that game is going to be in an open air stadium with temperatures around -18 C, do you prepare for the big game with your own dome opened or closed?
My wife, who used to work at a concession at Taylor Field in her college days, replied, "Open. You want to be acclimatized for the game."
"Right," I concurred.
If you are going to be playing a big game in crappy conditions, you don't want the shock to the system that practicing in +18 C and then playing in -18 C on game day will provide. That would be a recipe for disaster.
Indeed, I was in shock that so many Riders actually played without sleeves during the Western Division final. They had obviously toughened up to the point of being able to play, effectively, in clothes only a 15-year-old would wear in those conditions. (You know, the teenagers who feel winter doesn't actually exist on their planet, and wear no jacket to school with a wind chill of -49 C, or something like that). Perhaps by the time the game was over, some of them were going into shock, too.
If we do indeed build a new domed stadium, it's going to seem damned odd to be practicing in it with the dome open. Why did we build a dome in the first place, people will ask.
Admittedly, the dome is for the spectators, not the players. The players apparently are tough enough to handle Arctic conditions.
I am guessing there will be a domed stadium announced in the provincial budget next March. They were going to announce a go, no-go this fall, but it hasn't come out yet. I think there was a realization the marble palace on the shores of Wascana Lake that the biggest political bang for the buck can be derived from providing this mammoth carrot during the election year, as opposed to a year before polling day. Saskatchewan is now on fixed election dates, like the United States. We all know the goodies come during the six months before the election - so, too, will it be with the stadium.
Sure, Saskatchewan should be in better financial shape by then. The economy is still picking up. Oil is doing well, running in the $80 range, even if gas isn't. Potash has recovered from its depths of recession despair. There will be money to spend in 2011.
Plus, I strongly believe Brad Wall is going to put the boots to Potash Corp. to make a major contribution to the new stadium. I don't mean $10 million. I'm thinking more like $100 million. We fought to keep you independent, dammit, you owe us. Why is it a pipsqueak competitor has its name on the current stadium? We laid all on the line for you PCS, and now you're going to sign on the dotted line for us.
Those are not my words. That's what I expect is going to be said behind closed doors over the coming months, if it hasn't occurred already.
The feds have already played their hand. If they are going to support a new arena in Quebec City, in a have-not province, no less, they are going to have to do the same for provinces that are footing the bill, too.
So with the feds, PCS, and I'm guessing a surplus expected next year, we should be getting our dome in short order, with construction starting just prior to election day, Nov. 7, 2011, even if it is only demolition. They need something visible for the voters to appreciate.
Maybe all western teams will have a domed stadium in short order. I highly doubt Alberta will be one-upped with Saskatchewan having a dome, and Edmonton AND Calgary freezing in the wind.
That's just not cricket.
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
