Whose Stadium is it Anyway?

Any of my friends will tell you that for most of my life I have been a fan of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I have fond and vivid memories of watching the Bombers as a young person and cheering on greats like Dieter Brock, Tom Clements, James West and Milt Stegall just to name a few.

As season ticket holders, my wife and I enjoy going to the games, win or lose. We try to support the team in any way we can, even through the long Grey Cup drought. When a couple of Bombers visited Steinbach last week along with team CEO Wade Miller, we were excited to take our son to the event and welcome them to our region.

Many Manitobans have a similar feeling toward their professional football team and many are hopeful that the changes to the team’s management structure will pay dividends on the field. But because the Blue Bombers are structured as a community owned organization, wins and losses are not the only factor in the success of the team.

Manitobans have a more direct stake in the football team than in a strictly privately run entity. The same holds true for the Bombers new stadium, Investors Group Field (IGF). While the stadium is a beautiful facility to watch a sporting event or concert in, it has had its share of problems from the beginning. From debate over the location of the stadium, to the massive cost overruns to the year long construction delay to parking challenges, the problems with the stadium have been well documented. And because almost all of the stadium is financed publicly, it is the taxpayer who has been paying for the fixes.

The most recent concerns came to light when it was revealed the stadium wasn’t fully constructed for a winter climate, which Manitoba clearly has. The outdoor press box and lack of insulation will need to be fixed. More money, much of it tax dollars.

Then, when the snow melted, water damaged some of the stadium interiors and luxury boxes which we were told this week would cost another half million dollars or so. But the media, and thus the public, were banned from seeing the damage. The NDP said it would be too dangerous for the media to see it. This despite the fact the NDP toured the media around regularly when the stadium was being built and was an active construction site.

The fact is that, with each problem, the province has either tried to hid or minimize its impact on the stadium, the Bombers or the taxpayers. And that understandably frustrates the public because the stadium belongs to Manitobans. We paid for it after all.

Manitoba football fans want their Blue Bombers to succeed, both on and off the field. There is after all new reason to be optimistic about the teams on field chances. But the NDP need to realize that Manitobans, through the contributions they make in taxes, deserve to have full and transparent answers about the stadium that belongs to them. Because we want to be as proud of the building as the team that plays in it.