No Dome For Their New Home

   The replacement for the ageing Mosaic Stadium will be open-topped. Regina mayor Michael Fougere has come out saying there will be no dome for the new multi-purpose facility due to the cost. He says adding a roof of any sort will add between 50 and 100 million dollars to the pricetag, and that's simply far too high a burden for residents.
   And while keeping the cost down is certainly laudable, I can see several potential issues. Not the least of which was provincial funding for the new home for the 'Riders was, so I had been lead to believe, contingent on the design being able to have a roof put on in the future. True, I have not seen the official plan, which in all likelihood will have that contingency addressed.
   But there are also several other issues, not the least of which is fan comfort. I know purists will say a dome isn't needed, and that the elements, especially in late November, are an integral part of the game.
   While admittedly 50 to 100 million to add a dome is an awful lot of money, there's a very good chance that will increase each year it's not added, just like the cost for Moose Jaw's new arena did.
   And at the risk of sounding critical, I think a dome would pay for itself in short order, giving the new venue the capacity to host events year round. Things like Rolling Stone or AC/DC concerts. Things like a massive indoor RV show and sale and other events like that.
   In my humble opinion, that would be preferable to having the new stadium used as nothing but a snow dump for 5 months of the year, like Mosaic is now.

TTFN