Quebec Tourism Minister Julie Boulet says the province will spend $250 million on a new roof for Olympic Stadium because … dear lord, why?
Radio-Canada reported in May the roof tore 677 times over the last year and 7,453 times over the past 10 years.
Okay, yes, that’s a problem, as is the fact that the stadium can’t currently be used when there’s more than two inches of snow on the roof, which is basically “winter” in Montreal. But Olympic Stadium was a perfectly functional stadium for a decade before the roof was built, and since right now the place is mostly used for the occasional Impact or Alouettes playoff game, for that kind of cash you could just buy 60,000 parkas and hand them out to fans for each game.
Stadium chief Michel Labrecque told CBC that tearing down the stadium doesn’t make sense because “It’s part of what we call the patrimoine. My father, your father, paid for it, built it. So it’s impossible, foolish to think about dismantling it.” (Someone please direct Labrecque to read this explanation of sunk costs, or the French equivalent.) Then he said it would cost between $500 million and $700 million to demolish it, which seems a little excessive, and suggested that the stadium has to be maintained in good shape so that it can keep hosting exhibition series with the Toronto Blue Jays each spring so that MLB will give Montreal a new team, not that it would play at Olympic Stadium or anything, but just, you know, as a showcase.
I have been to Olympic Stadium a couple of times, and have an admitted soft spot for the place, but this is just madness. If you want to impress MLB, better to save the $250 million to put toward an actual baseball stadium eventually. Or, since repairing the old roof only costs $1 million a year, take $50 million of that, put it in a savings account, and pay for roof maintenance with the interest, while saving the other $200 million for anything else.
This just goes to show that the “stadiums are economic engines” meme has sunk into elected officials’ consciousness so much that they’ll even spend public money on them when there’s no team owner shaking them down for funds. I’m going to have to keep running this website forever, aren’t I?