Lions kickoff at newly reopened BC Place

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VANCOUVER – Construction workers, professional athletes and provincial politicians cut the ribbon this evening to open the newly revitalized BC Place stadium.

Excited fans came down early to take in the newly refurbished stadium ahead of the game. The retractable roof was closed for the opening ceremony, but opened in time for Sarah McLachlan’s performance of the national anthem and the kickoff, which was delayed to just before 8 p.m. by another CFL game.

More than 50,000 football fans eager to see the first game in the facility between the BC Lions and Edmonton Eskimos flooded through the doors and into the 55,000-seat stadium.

Premier Christy Clark said the revitalized BC Place is a magnificent building that British Columbians can be proud of. The stadium houses the second-largest centre-hung video screen in North America and all-weather turf.

While fans said the stadium was beautiful the beer line-ups were another story. We heard a lot of complaining about huge waits, up to 45 minutes, for a $10.50 cup of Bud.

Beer sales are cut-off in the third quarter.

Concession stands also ran out of food, especially hot dogs.

Long line-ups for beer also plagued Empire Stadium. 

The total cost of the renovations for BC Place was $563 million. There are critics who say the new roof and retrofit were a hugely expensive luxury and a spiky eyesore. Others love the new design and the changes to Vancouver’s skyline.

This man says as a taxpayer he doesn’t mind the half-billion dollar price tag. “Every civilization since the beginning of time has had their gathering places like Greece and Rome. They had their places to see sports and gatherings and we’re no different,” he says.

Another man who is a soccer fan has concerns about those games.

“You might be far away from the field.  At Empire Field, you were really close to the pitch. You could see the players. You’re a bit farther back in BC Place. But from what I hear, they’ve found a way to create that intimacy in the bigger stadium, so that remains to be seen.”

Tom Becher, an architect and associate professor of design at Emily Carr University, calls it a majestic statement.

“With these masts, we have a much more heraldic kind of elevated quality to that building,” he says.

“It obviously works as kind of a crown,” he explains. “We talk about the majestic antlers of an elk or something like that – the term ‘majesty’ is associated with this sort of heraldic quality of going up and out”

Becher believes putting 15-storey masts on the building is a tremendous gesture.

“It really adds a lot to the visual quality and the heraldic quality of the building. I think it stands out much more as the largest, most significant gathering place we have in the community.”

He calls the retractable roof a feat of engineering and the kinetics ‘fascinating,’ adding the retrofit is a vast improvement over the ‘sepulchral’ and ‘mausoleum’-like atmosphere of the old BC Place, which he thinks was “under-designed” when it came to use of light and colour.

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