A new grandstand for the sports field on the Community Knowledge Campus will be made shovel ready for 2017. The project will cost an estimated $3,145,000. There is $1,150,000 already carved out in the City of Grande Prairie’s Capital Budget with $1,995,000 still needed. Recreation and sport manager Kylee Haining says despite still needing funds, they will go forward with the process to get it ready which would open up opportunity to access more grants and funds.
The structure would allow Grande Prairie to host provincial tournaments in the future. Haining says having the facility would allow locals and people from across the province to watch games on the sidelines comfortably. She adds that this is especially important when it comes to provincial tournaments.
“Football has very specific requirements about how much change space, how much seating, how many change rooms, spotting boxes, concession and all those kind of things. This would be in order to bid and have to ability to successfully host.”
Haining adds that there are benefits to having the structure that would reverberate into the community.
“If you host just a game, the economic spin-off is about $10,000 for a team to come up and stay in a hotel plus eat at a restaurant. If you host a jamboree level, what we were estimating is $60,000 to $100,000 depending on the number teams that you had come in.”
She adds there is a social impact as well and the bigger benefit is having people out to cheer on a home team.
“When you look at the statistics, about 57 per cent of people participate in sport by watching it. You think what difference does that make, they are just watching. Well, they got up, they got into their car, they walked to the stadium.”
She says attending sports creates connectivity in the community.
A community consultation will be held November 15th at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Coca-Cola Centre. The project will be looked at by the city at the next budget meeting on November 18th.
