Prairieland Park working hard to bring professional soccer through the construction of a new stadium for Saskatoon.
The park had earlier this month applied for a concept plan amendment to engage the public and see how the influx of people in the area could change the atmosphere.
The budget for the project currently sits at $30 million, with Prairieland allocating $8 million of its own money. The remaining funds will be requested from provincial and municipal coffers.
Currently, governments haven’t made any official funding commitments, but Prairieland Park CEO Dan Kemppenen said governments are “definitely interested, they’re really looking into it.”
“We are very optimistic about it,” Kemppenen said. “There’s a lot of interest in bringing in a professional (Canadian Premier Soccer League) team, it’s key to the city, the province.”
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Prairieland Park held a concept meeting open to the public on December 1 to address questions and concerns from the community.
“Things went great, we answered a lot of questions; People seem generally supportive about the project,” Kemppenen said.
Although the stadium will house a CPL team, the facility will also be used for local sports including football, cricket and lacrosse.
“Eighty-eight percent of facility use is for local sports, but having a professional sport as an anchor tenant is important in the business plan.”
The building would come after 50 years of purebred horse racing at grounds in the former Marquis Downs. The frustrated horse racing community was forced to establish alternative tracks to keep the industry alive.
“It’s a pretty significant change in terms of some of the other types of events that are held there. It will generate some new traffic,” said Prairieland Park Area Councilor Myrin Loewen.
Prairieland has made two separate requests to the city council. The first is a concept plan amendment, which would include a procedural change that would allow for the construction of the stadium. The second request is expected to bring in funding for the proposal.
After analyzing Prairieland’s requests, the City Council Administrator will make recommendations regarding funding assistance and the City Council will evaluate its options.
Any amendments to the plans must be approved by Saskatoon City Council committees before proceeding. Prairieland expects to hear from the City Council in the second quarter of 2023 about where the project is going.
Until then, Kemppenen says they’re “still working on the business plan with the different groups that will use the facility and are still exploring. Clearly costs are rising in the construction world, so we Trying to reduce those costs and see what we can do.
Prairieland is also exploring the possibility of building a covered dome over the facility to make it operational year-round.
The operation and construction of the facility is intended to be funded entirely by the park and donors, with no property tax impact on the public.
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