Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has launched his campaign for re-election in October and released new details on a promised 60,000-seat stadium.
While several locations for the arena have been considered, the incumbent said the standout option is by the Fraser Highway, west of the Surrey Sport and Leisure Complex in Fleetwood.
“It’s literally right beside one of the (SkyTrain) stations that’s proposed right there,” McCallum said.
“It is in the centre of Surrey, and with no parking going to be there it’s going to be just rapid transit. We think it’s an ideal location.”
McCallum appeared Thursday next to his Safe Surrey Coalition council candidates, incumbents Allison Patton, Mandeep Nagra, Laurie Guerra, and Doug Elford; and newcomers Debra Antifaev, Stuart Drysdale, John Gibeau, and Raman Jassar.
In addition to the stadium, the team is proposing to extend the SkyTrain to the Newton neighbourhood, expedite the municipality’s goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to 2030, and invest in more capital projects and middle-class housing.
“I’ll tell you right now, here in four years we will be number one city in all of Canada that people want to be in, they want to work in, they want to enjoy each other and also have some fun,” said McCallum.
McCallum unexpectedly announced his commitment to the 60,000-spectator stadium Wednesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Cloverdale Sport and Ice Complex.
He released few details then, but on Thursday said the multi-purpose stadium would have no parking whatsoever, and rely solely on public transit. That would cut down on costs, he explained, but also help the municipality meet its climate targets.
“We’re going to be very innovative in building it,” he said. “From day one we’re going to start to look at building that new stadium as part of our infrastructure.”
The Safe Surrey Coalition has not yet developed a business plan with a cost estimate for the stadium, or approached any professional sports teams to gauge their interest in training or playing there.
McCallum said Surrey would donate the land for the project, and he is confident the federal and provincial governments provide funding — and hopeful private corporations will as well.
“I think we will be able to get money. I have always had the ability to get money in the federal government,” he said, citing the $4-billion Surrey-to-Langley SkyTrain project as an example.
If constructed, the arena would have about the same seating capacity as BC Place, where the Vancouver Whitecaps and BC Lions play.
In the past seven years, the best regular home season average attendance at a BC Lions game was 21,290 in 2015. That number peaked in 1986 at 46,637.
BC Place was built in 1983 at a cost of about $126 million. Replacing its roof alone in 2011 cost $514 million.
McCallum said he’s not worried about filling the stadium’s seats, citing the city’s population growth and requests from various communities to have a “big venue” for “big cultural events.”
“We have the ability even in Surrey with our growth to fill those stadiums. We have cultural events that will fill them instantly,” he explained. “Vaisakhi, for instance, is 500,000 people we have come out for that.”
While some economists have labelled sports stadiums as poor investments, McCallum said they’re “completely wrong.” Focused on the building costs, he said they fail to consider the sports tourism they bring and the spinoff economic benefits, including jobs.
“Economists have often predicted things that have not happened. Politicians often do it and we’re not one of those politicians,” McCallum said.
The election promise has raised the eyebrows of some of other candidates vying for the top spot in Surrey. The mayoral race also includes former MP and MLA Gordie Hogg, Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, BC NDP MLA Jinny Sims, and current Surrey Coun. Brenda Locke.
On Thursday, Hogg described the stadium as a “60,000-seat white elephant.”
“I don’t know how it fits into the priorities and needs for the City of Surrey at this point in time,” he told Global News. “With nothing committed at this point in time, I just don’t understand the rational for this at all.”
Dhaliwal said he doesn’t understand the proposal either, calling it a “waste of money … throwing anything at the wall to distract people and take their attention away from his failures over the last four years.
“On the policing issue, this is the most divisive politics that he has created. He had pitted one police force against the other, he had pitted one community against the other,” he said.
“This is total failure. No transparency, no accountability on the transition. This is where we should be focusing, instead of focusing on a 60,000-seat stadium, we should be prioritizing the public safety.”
On Wednesday, Locke dismissed the proposal as “not anything with substance”.
“I don’t know how that would ever work or where that will be. Certainly Surrey needs the infrastructure, but the kind of dollars that are attached to those kinds of projects are extraordinary, and without having commitment from the province and the federal government, it’s just talk,” she told Global News.
“We also have to remember we are heading into tough economic times, so to be making economic commitments that are significant dollars like that is irresponsible in my opinion.”
Sims issued a statement where she referred to the project as a “folly”.
“How many hockey rinks could we build for the same investment?” her statement reads. “Let’s focus on creating opportunities for the youth and families of Surrey, not another dream of a Ferris wheel or canal.”
“Who is supposed to play there? The BC Lions? The Whitecaps? This is not a case study for Field of Dreams; Doug McCallum is no Kevin Costner in Iowa.”
The municipal election is on October 15.
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