EDMONTON – Commonwealth Stadium is one step closer to getting a new, multi-million dollar scoreboard and sound system, and the city is being asked to foot the bill.
The director of Commonwealth Stadium, Evelyn Ehrman, explains that the current Jumbotron and speaker system has reached the end of its lifecycle. The current estimate for a new speaker cluster and scoreboard is about $5.2 million, which is actually less than the $6 million paid for the existing system just over 13 years ago.
“It’s like anything, any appliance we have at home – when it reaches a certain point in time, there’s no guarantee how much longer it’s going to last,” Ehrman says. “Because it’s such an integral part of the stadium it’s really important that it not fail, and certainly not fail for an Eskimo game or an international sporting event.”
She adds that there were already some problems this year, when the matrix board failed for an entire Eskimos pre-season game. Ehrman also admits that with Commonwealth Stadium playing host to the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, there is added pressure – because to get the new Jumbotron by next spring, it needs to be ordered by August.
Some have questioned why the Eskimos organization is not contributing to the cost. The City has asked the group for some funding, but the organization says it will be financially impacted because of the FIFA events, which are forcing the team to go on the road during that time.
“The Eskimos are being very accommodating during the FIFA Cup,” says Mayor Stephen Mandel. “They are moving some of their games outside in order to accommodate the tournaments, so we can be reasonable with them. The Eskimos are our community team that are really not that profitable. We can’t burden them as much as people would like to see us do. If they’re reasonable, we’ll be reasonable.”
Now that the issue has been debated at the committee-level, it will go to Council next week.
The Jumbotron isn’t the only structure being upgraded at Commonwealth Stadium. The newly-installed green and gold seats are being paid for through a 5 per cent ticket tax. The tax will be in place for the next 16 years, or until the $8 million loan is paid off.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News
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