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Rogers Centre????!?!?!? (pg. 5)
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| ShadoWolf |
The thing is, SkyDome is a Toronto landmark. It's on our water front, part of the sky line. It's not just another stadium. Foriegners know the name SkyDome, but they don't know Air Canada Centre. I guarantee that people will continue to call it SkyDome.
It's also the balls to the CN Tower's cock. Do we really want people thinking of it as "Rogers' Balls?" :toothless |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by Swamper
Lame. |
+1
i'm gonna continue referring to it as the SkyDome .. i think we all should out of spite :D
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| StereoPrincess |
if he owns it he can call it whatever the he wants.
if i owned it i would name it whatever the hell i want.
it's just a stadium. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
if he owns it he can call it whatever the he wants.
if i owned it i would name it whatever the hell i want.
it's just a stadium. |
i'm gonna buy it and call it the "StereoPrincess Sucks Stadium" :toothless
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| ShadoWolf |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
if he owns it he can call it whatever the he wants.
if i owned it i would name it whatever the hell i want.
it's just a stadium. |
I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to change the name.
All I'm saying is that the old name was great and the new name is uber-lame.
"Rogers SkyDome" would have been a good compromise. |
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| StereoPrincess |
| StereoLand!!! |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: |
Feb. 2, 2005. 01:06 PM
SkyDome renamed Rogers Centre
Extensive renovations and additions planned for 16-year-old stadium
GEOFF BAKER
SPORTS REPORTER
Toronto's famous downtown landmark SkyDome has been renamed Rogers Centre, Rogers Communications announced this morning.
Rogers, which also owns the Toronto Blue Jays, released the new name as it revealed plans for extensive renovations and additions at the nearly 16-year-old stadium.
Blue Jay fans will have several new video scoreboards to look at when they visit the SkyDome next season, including one that replaces the old JumboTron and two smaller versions built into the outfield fence.
A so-called "ribbon board" for video advertising and messaging, similar to one now in place at the Air Canada Centre, will also run along the middle rim of the stadium between the upper and lower decks.
Those changes were announced at a news conference the Jays held this morning.
The team is also expected to replace their artificial playing surface with a new one designed by Montreal-based FieldTurf Inc.
In addition, the Blue Jays made another major announcement.
Ted Rogers, President and CEO, Rogers Communications Inc. said Rogers will significantly increase the team payroll of the Toronto Blue Jays. Rogers is committed to a cumulative three year total player payroll of U.S. $210 million.
"We're thrilled to show our support for the team and management", said Ted Rogers. "The Jays today are an even more important part of the Canadian sports landscape. The Blue Jays management has demonstrated their financial responsibility over the last four years and significantly turned around the finances of the club. These additional funds, and the three year commitment, will provide JP Ricciardi and Paul Godfrey the ability to build upon the system that they've started."
The Jays have been working to implement scoreboard and field changes since November, when they purchased control of the SkyDome from Sportsco International. Those familiar with the changes say fans will notice an immediate visual difference in the stadium, especially when it comes to the videoboard technology being implemented by a partnership of Sony Canada and Daktronics Canada.
"Just think about the television sets we were seeing in the 1980s and the ones we are seeing now in 2005," said John Challinor, a spokesman for Sony Canada, which is designing the control room that will operate the new boards. "It's just going to make a better experience for fans who attend the games."
Sony designed the SkyDome's JumboTron in the 1980s, but is no longer in the scoreboard-making business. Instead, the company now uses its technological expertise in partnerships with firms like Daktronics, a South Dakota-based designer of thousands of videoboards used by sports teams and facilities in Canada and the United States.
Daktronics built the videoboard being used at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., the site of Sunday's Super Bowl. The firm's Canadian branch, headquartered in Montreal, also put up the board being used at Ivor Wynne Stadium by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Challinor said the SkyDome's new board will be similar in size to the JumboTron, but with crisper, clearer video and "intense brightness capability" enabling fans to easily see the screen even on sunny days. The two smaller videoboards, positioned on the outfield fence in the gaps in left-centre and right-centre, will carry out-of-town scores and other displays.
Those boards will run from the top of the outfield fence to the bottom and be covered with a see-through plastic shield to protect them from collisions with baseballs and outfielders.
Jays president and CEO Paul Godfrey first announced plans to upgrade the JumboTron and artificial turf — the last of its kind in the major leagues — at the November news conference when the team's $25 million (U.S.) purchase of the SkyDome was announced. But the additional outfield scoreboards and the "ribbon board" go well beyond those initial plans and the ball club, having suffered the departure of Carlos Delgado and getting mixed results on the free-agent market, hopes the improvements will make a major splash with fans.
The last of the videoboard additions will be the approximately metre-high "ribbon board" running along the stadium's middle rim. Godfrey's son, Rob, a senior vice-president (marketing) with the team, told the Star several weeks ago that those boards — known for their vivid colours and ability to grab fans' attention — would carry advertisements and other messages and look similar to what is now used at the ACC.
The new playing surface will be the other major change, although representatives of FieldTurf would not confirm that their company had finalized a deal with the Jays. FieldTurf has been in negotiations with the team for several months and if their product is implemented, it could have a significant impact on the games.
In the past, ground balls were known to rocket off the harder artificial turf surface and beyond the gloves of infielders for hits. Hitters were also often deprived of triples or runs batted in when balls they hit to the outfield gaps would carom off the turf and over the fence for ground-rule doubles.
FieldTurf acts more like real grass, using synthetic green polyethylene blades and a dirt-like base of sand and rubber pellets. It's the sand in that mixture that makes FieldTurf different from other infill-type systems like the one used by the Toronto Argonauts last season — allowing the turf to have more balance and give.
The Montreal Expos and Tampa Bay Devil Rays both used FieldTurf surfaces last season.
Argos president Keith Pelley met with the Jays yesterday, but said he talked more about scheduling than the type of turf that will be used next season. Pelley said last night that no decision has been made on whether the Argos will keep using that infill field, made by an American company, or work out a deal to share the new system.
Jays spokesman Jay Stenhouse confirmed that the JumboTron had been taken down several weeks ago but declined further comment.
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...id=968332188492
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| starsearcher |
So what will they do witht he Jumbotron now? Can I have it?
:thepirate :happy2: |
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| bass drive |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
Thats another thing. How much did the province (us taxpayers) pay to build the dome? Wasnt it 250 million or something ridiculous? And then they sell it for $25 million? sounds fishy to me! |
$25 m?? is this for real?
I actually agree with jayx. Some people in TO are just way too passive.. |
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | Originally posted by bass drive
$25 m?? is this for real?
I actually agree with jayx. Some people in TO are just way too passive.. |
yep it was sold for $25 mil because that's what it's worth apparently :) |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by bass drive
$25 m?? is this for real?
I actually agree with jayx. Some people in TO are just way too passive.. |
Imagine if the renamed the Louvre to the Peugeot Centre? "It's just a museum!"
Or if they renamed the Empire State Building to the McDonald's Building and flew a giant golden arches from the top? "its just a building!"
No wonder we have no culture. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by starsearcher
yep it was sold for $25 mil because that's what it's worth apparently :) |
I have a hard time believing that a building like the skydome can depreciate over 95% in 16 years. If thats the case then everyone who owns a home would be flat ass broke. |
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