The Skydome/Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, is now 28 years old. It is in good condition, has had some renovations over the years, but is essentially the same facility as when it was opened. I can’t imagine it being replaced even 20 years from now. Only something on the scale of an Olympic games or NFL franchise (neither of which will happen in my lifetime) would generate the need for a larger stadium in Canada’s largest metropolitan area (almost 6.5 million people, compared to 5.7 million in Greater Atlanta).
The Skydome was funded mostly by public money and was a huge money pit before the Ontario government sold it in the 1990’s (the buyers paid pennies on the dollar). The whole enterprise created significant cynicism among taxpayers, and it is now much more difficult to get political support for these mega pro sport stadia. We face the same type of corporate blackmail here, “fund our stadium or we’ll relocate”. The Calgary Flames of the NHL have been trying to get public funding for a new hockey arena and it hasn’t gone well.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/new-arena-negotiations-end-ken-king-nenshi-1.4286660
Sorry, I just can’t stomach the taxpayers financing stadiums for billionaires who own the millionaires who hate our country.
Pay for your own damn stadiums.