VANCOUVER – It’s taken a year and a half and cost more than half a billion dollars, and for the first time, we are seeing if we got our money’s worth.
Visitors say BC Place feels like a new building and the word “makeover” fails to describe the 18 months of round-the-clock work that went into transforming the stadium.
The 563-million dollar project includes new VIP suites, updated locker rooms and the second largest hanging video screen in North America. This is by far the biggest sports venue renovation in Canadian history. The centerpiece, of course, is the retractable roof, which only a few days ago wasn’t complete and let the rain in.
BC Place says this is the biggest roof of its kind in the world with an opening of 8500 meters, which is the same size as the field. It takes about eighteen minutes to open or close.
Each support mast is about 15 storeys tall, and the entire structure is like eighteen suspension bridges.
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They also say the new roof is 25 percent more energy efficient than the old one.
Two hours ahead of the game, the Lions have put on a street party, complete with live music and DJs. At the same very time, workers were still making minor adjustments and giving the building one final cleaning before it greets the public.
Earlier this afternoon, the Lions’ players and coaches made their way down the special “orange carpet” into the stadium, to get ready for tonight’s’ game.
This isn’t the first time they’ve seen their new home. They got their first look yesterday.
Lions’ kicker Paul McCallum says his range has gone up by as much as 20 percent compared to the old BC Place because there’s no longer air pressure inside to keep the roof up.
When it first opened in 1983, BC Place had the largest air-supported roof in the world, but after a quarter century of use, it was clearly showing its age.
The last event to take place here was the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics Winter Games in March of last year, and the renovation began almost immediately afterwards.
Controversy still follows the financing of the project.
A new stadium would have cost over a billion dollars. The retractable roof and upgrades cost taxpayers half that, and PavCo promises the provincial treasury will be repaid by 2049.
While not all 55,000 seats for tonight’s game were sold, it was so close that the game against Edmonton which was scheduled to be blacked out here in Vancouver was televised.
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