Questions abound as downtown Saskatoon arena debate hits 10 years

When representatives from a Denver-based arena management company appear before city council in March it will mark 10 years since a letter from Tourism Saskatoon arrived at city hall.

That letter, coupled with reflection from management at SaskTel Centre, signaled the resurrection of the downtown arena debate in the Bridge City.

The letter from Randy Fernets, then an official with Tourism Saskatoon, suggested the city consider a new downtown arena as part of its growth plan.

At the same time, SaskTel Centre CEO Will Lofdahl was contemplating the future of the remotely located arena, which made its debut in 1988 as Saskatchewan Place and was closing in on 30 years.

Saskatoon's arena was already older than many similar venues in Canada, almost all of which are located in or near downtown areas.

A decision loomed on whether to invest in modernizing the aging facility or building new.

Later in 2016, as a city council election approached in the fall, TCU Place signed on to combine on a study about the future of both facilities. 

TCU Place, a downtown convention centre and concert venue, opened in 1968 as Centennial Auditorium — a delayed project that ballooned in cost and likely sparked the reticence of Saskatoon residents about big, expensive projects.

Even after reducing the scope of the project, the bill for Centennial Auditorium in 1968 skyrocketed to $6.92 million (or $59.3 million when adjusted for inflation).

Today, that seems like an incredible bargain compared with the estimated $1.2-billion price tag for the proposed arena district vision that emerged from the TCU Place/SaskTel Centre study.

That study suggested the preferred route would be to build a new downtown arena and a refurbished TCU Place. Renovations to SaskTel Centre were then pegged at $100 million to add a ring around the existing building to expand it. 

This option was dismissed as costly, impractical and unable to address what the consultants called the “unfortunate” location of the arena, eight kilometres north of the city’s downtown.

And the facility would be shuttered during the renovation for two years or more.

Saskatchewan Place was built at its location after a divisive debate and two votes in the 1980s over whether to build it there or downtown.