News Article: Practice Facility a Joint Venture with SFU?

[canuckfan75]

Canucks in talks with Simon Fraser University to build practice facility on Burnaby campus

Shortly after the Vancouver Canucks hired him as their president, Jim...

canucksarmy.com

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[kylek023]

Players can practice and earn their degrees

 

[Vector]

Sure, why not? If you can create a mutually beneficial situation then I don’t see a strong downside.

 

[credulous]

sfu is far from where virtually all the players live. i guess they're not gonna put a practice facility at vanier park tho

 

[StreetHawk]

sfu is far from where virtually all the players live. i guess they're not gonna put a practice facility at vanier park tho

Thought with their talks about a downtown area location the plan would be to have it be open to the public for use when the Canucks don’t use it. SFU doesn’t seem like the right location for it.

 

[Bubbles]

The Canucks and Calgary Flames are currently the only two NHL teams without a practise facility.

That's kind of crazy to think about.

As a counterpoint, I visited the Kraken's practise facility. Brand new with 3 rinks! and I really liked how they've really involved the community into it. It's also right by the Northgate mall and transit station so it's super accessible.

 

[Fatass]

Thought with their talks about a downtown area location the plan would be to have it be open to the public for use when the Canucks don’t use it. SFU doesn’t seem like the right location for it.

If Aquilini is involved in any rink building it’s got to include an opportunity for him to develop around the area around the rink. SFU must mean housing and shopping around the rink.

 

[DFAC]

As a former SFU student - why? It’s depressing, out of the way and just plain boring up there on Burnaby Mountain. There must be hundreds of better spots

 

[Vector]

As a former SFU student - why? It’s depressing, out of the way and just plain boring up there on Burnaby Mountain. There must be hundreds of better spots

Not at the price point the Aquilinis are willing to shell out. This lets them point and say they did what everyone said they needed to do without paying for the full property, construction, and upkeep. You gotta think like a slumlord!

 

[Tob]

Sounds like the kind of joint venture that takes a huge burden off of the pocket books of ownership. Universities like SFU are chalk full of money with insane money streams to dabble in projects like this. It's a very inconvenient location for players I would think.

 

[rypper]

I'm only speculating but I feel like the deal with the new facility where the plaza of nations is fell through because the Canucks (ie Aquilini) probably welched on the money and tried to offer "exposure" instead.

"We won't contribute as much financially but think of all the business you'll get because the Canucks practice here!" Just my own thoughts.

 

[arttk]

As a former SFU student - why? It’s depressing, out of the way and just plain boring up there on Burnaby Mountain. There must be hundreds of better spots

$$$$$$$$$$

 

[StreetHawk]

As a former SFU student - why? It’s depressing, out of the way and just plain boring up there on Burnaby Mountain. There must be hundreds of better spots

My understanding is that most of the Canucks younger single players live in the coal harbour and Yale town areas. While the older married players prefer something on the west side of Vancouver. SFU isn’t exactly convenient and this is where players are spending most of their time vs at Rogers.

A practice facility is meant to also house your gym, treatment area, team offices, etc. wouldn’t SFU be better off using the land for student housing?

 

[The Stig]

I talked to my dad (construction VP) about this topic and he had some insight. All that land by the water including the Plaza of Nations was bought up by Peter Oei right after Expo86 and he still owns it today and is planning on building multiple high-rise apartments. He outright refuses to sell the land. The city has tried buying it, Orca Bay tried buying it, McCaw tried, and Aqualini has tried. He rejects every offer. The amount of proposed building and event sites for that spot over the years have been insane. Stuff like a concert hall, a waterfront market (ala Pikes Place in Seattle), a Canuck practice facility and moving the team store there, a shared hockey and basketball practice facility, a theme park, a mall, a baseball field, a soccer stadium, you name it. And it's really the only real estate in the city center that you could really fit an arena. You could technically convert the Coliseum but that would be expensive and the PNE owns that. The Agrodome is being demolished to make way for the new concert amphitheater and the Forum still hosts events so those are out.

 

[StreetHawk]

I'm only speculating but I feel like the deal with the new facility where the plaza of nations is fell through because the Canucks (ie Aquilini) probably welched on the money and tried to offer "exposure" instead.

"We won't contribute as much financially but think of all the business you'll get because the Canucks practice here!" Just my own thoughts.

Seems to fit the Aquillini MO. Try to leverage the "brand" of the Canucks like pro teams have done with the city to get a new arena. SFU, I don't think it makes sense as most of the public isn't going to drive up Burnaby Mountain to use the rink and facilities. And for SFU itself, better to use the land for a gym and student housing. Would make more sense than partnering with the Canucks.

But, in the end, the practice facility is a cost of doing business in pro sports. The sad thing is that both the Aquillini's and the Flames ownership have owned the team for a 15 plus years. And they don't have their own practice facility. Like, even Arizona built theirs back in the late 90's.

It's the place for the players to train on and off the ice. Get in their rehab and treatment. Place to lounge, bond, and eat together. Watch film of the opposition and review games.

Again, Canucks ownership has had well over a decade and a half to make this happen.

 

[Breakers]

I dont know why Aquilini didnt close on the food/warehouse facility over on terminal

extremely convenient for players downtown

I can't get over that Vancouver is one of 2 teams without a practice facility. Great priorities from this family.

 

[StreetHawk]

I dont know why Aquilini didnt close on the food/warehouse facility over on terminal

extremely convenient for players downtown

I can't get over that Vancouver is one of 2 teams without a practice facility. Great priorities from this family.

Location is important. I posted earlier, that I believe most of the players live in the downtown Coal Harbour and Yaletown areas (younger ones), while the vets live in the west side of Vancouver. We saw Bo and OEL put their homes up for sale after they were moved out of town and they were both in the West Side. So, asking these guys to drive to Burnaby Mountain, doesn't seem to make a lot of sense given where they mostly reside.

The downtown location of the old casino made sense, but I do agree that I think the Aquillini's tried to leverage the Canucks brand and not put up as much money as they should. The public only needs access to certain aspects of the facility. Canucks would have their own private gym, treatment facilities, etc. that the public wouldn't have access to.

They've been the primary owners since the change from the Burke to Nonis era. So, pushing 20 years now. All that time and they haven't prioritized their own practice facility. Again, Arizona built theirs within 5 years of arriving in AZ in Scottsdale.

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

this is a very funny idea!

 

[tradervik]

I talked to my dad (construction VP) about this topic and he had some insight. All that land by the water including the Plaza of Nations was bought up by Peter Oei right after Expo86 and he still owns it today and is planning on building multiple high-rise apartments. He outright refuses to sell the land. The city has tried buying it, Orca Bay tried buying it, McCaw tried, and Aqualini has tried. He rejects every offer. The amount of proposed building and event sites for that spot over the years have been insane. Stuff like a concert hall, a waterfront market (ala Pikes Place in Seattle), a Canuck practice facility and moving the team store there, a shared hockey and basketball practice facility, a theme park, a mall, a baseball field, a soccer stadium, you name it. And it's really the only real estate in the city center that you could really fit an arena. You could technically convert the Coliseum but that would be expensive and the PNE owns that. The Agrodome is being demolished to make way for the new concert amphitheater and the Forum still hosts events so those are out.

What the city needs to do is introduce a land value tax . That will be a strong inducement to do something with empty or underdeveloped lots. PofN is already zoned for mixed commercial and residential. When you read details of the zoning, you can see the Aquilini's fingerprints all over it.

 

[Hit the post]

I dont know why Aquilini didnt close on the food/warehouse facility over on terminal

extremely convenient for players downtown

I can't get over that Vancouver is one of 2 teams without a practice facility. Great priorities from this family.

They own the arena. Some teams that don't have a choice but to have plan/contingencies for a practice arena since they aren't in control of what times are available in the main arena as they aren't the owner.

 

[StreetHawk]

They own the arena. Some teams that don't have a choice but to have plan/contingencies for a practice arena since they aren't in control of what times are available in the main arena as they aren't the owner.

Lots of teams have control or own the arena. Still pay for the practice facility. That is by definition where you spend most of your time. As the arena may be book for a concert or something.

Plus the road team typically will have access to practice at the arena on game day.

No excuses for the aquilinis as they’ve owned the c sucks for almost 2 decades now.

 

[Hit the post]

Lots of teams have control or own the arena. Still pay for the practice facility. That is by definition where you spend most of your time. As the arena may be book for a concert or something.

Plus the road team typically will have access to practice at the arena on game day.

No excuses for the aquilinis as they’ve owned the c sucks for almost 2 decades now.

Didn't mean to give the impression I was defending Aquaman; only to explain how even a cheap-azz team like the Yotes have a practice facility (I would assume as the things I've read said the Canucks and Flames were the only two teams (soon to be one as I think Calgary's practice facility is 'in the works').

 

[StreetHawk]

Didn't mean to give the impression I was defending Aquaman; only to explain how even a cheap-azz team like the Yotes have a practice facility (I would assume as the things I've read said the Canucks and Flames were the only two teams (soon to be one as I think Calgary's practice facility is 'in the works').

When you consider how long they have owned the team plus what their main business is away from the Canucks, there is no excuse for taking this long.

 

[Hit the post]

When you consider how long they have owned the team plus what their main business is away from the Canucks, there is no excuse for taking this long.

Fredo certainly never the impression he was the 'smart one'.