‘We want to go bigger:’ Masters talks planning for new arena

Bigger is better.

That seems to be the thinking in Saskatchewan’s two largest cities.

Just over a month ago, the City of Saskatoon released concept plans for a new Downtown Event and Entertainment District. By the sound of things, Regina has similar ideas.

Included in Saskatoon’s downtown plan is the construction of a new arena. Regina Mayor Sandra Masters spoke with Evan Bray about the possibility of a new arena in her city.

She said city council approved a downtown arena with up to 10,000 seats, but she says that’s just not big enough.

“We want to go bigger because we know that we are limited in terms of seating space for some of the concert routing that’s happening across Canada, so we need it a little bit bigger,” Masters told Bray.

“We can’t host events like the Junos anymore because we don’t have enough seats, so we want to make sure that we are eligible for all of those tourism and event dollars that are out there.”

The Brandt Centre, the city’s main arena for major events, was built in 1977 and is owned by the city. Last week, the arena dealt with a leak due to condensation from an outside antenna that caused one game at this year’s Montana’s Brier to be delayed.

Masters said that in her mind, the facility just isn’t worth the future costs to maintain, with the building suffering from issues like condensation and an old ice plant.

“We’re going to have to start spending millions on sustaining a 50-year-old building or we’re making plans, in my mind, to do the replacement that allows the city the opportunity to bid on those big events and have something that’s more commensurate with our population size,” said Masters.

Not only is there talk of a new arena, but there is work currently in place to build a new aquatic centre. As well, a new Central library branch is currently in the planning stages.

The mayor said projects like those will only be beneficial for the city in the long run.

“There’s the economic impact of being able to host regional, western and national events,” she said.

“How we get folks here is by hosting business and sporting events. We do a really good job when they’re here, so being able to invest in something that’s going to draw folks into the city that is going to have an economic impact is important.”

Along with those major projects, Masters and the city are working on revitalization efforts.

Masters said she has a lot of plans.

“Dewdney Avenue has needed to be dug up for more than 10 years because you can’t actually build without water and wastewater,” she said.

“So Dewdney Avenue goes. That construction starts. We’ll finish in a couple years on Dewdney Avenue, which then allows The Yards to go, which was always supposed to include a pedestrian bridge into downtown. We need that connection to get over those rail lines.”