Asper adds inflatable bubble to Winnipeg stadium proposal

Winnipeg businessman David Asper has added an inflatable bubble roof to the stadium he hopes to build in the city, based on consultation withlocal sportsgroups and government officials.

Asper,executive vice-president of CanWestGlobal Communications, will release more details on the inflatable bubble, which would add about $2 million to the cost of the $120-million facility, later on Monday.

The bubble would be inflated during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' off-season, making the stadium usable year-round for groups such as amateur soccer, football and ultimate Frisbee clubs, walking groups and other fitness organizations.

Local sport groups have told him loud and clear that if a new stadium is built, it must be accessible to everyone, Asper said.

"We've probably had something close to 10,000 touch points now with fans, including one-on-one consultations with amateur sports, and while there were some very interesting outdoor winter-type activities [proposed], the message from the amateur sporting community was really clear, that they need year-round field space, and so we responded," he said.

"We've heard the message, as well, very loudly, that these groups need to obviously be able to afford it, and we're going to make it that way."

Bubble appeals to Blue Bombers' president

Lyle Bauer, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, said he likes the idea.

"I do like the bubble, because I like the expanded use, things along those lines," he told CBC News on Monday."It would more than double the amateur use, which I think is very important for the utilization."

Asper's plans for the stadium would see him provide $40 million for the $120-million project, with the provincial and federal government each providing half of the remaining $80 million andadditional support from the city.

So far, neither municipal nor federal government officials have made any financial commitments to Asper, whose proposed partially covered, 40,000-seat stadium would replace the 54-year-old Canad Inns Stadium in the Polo Park area of Winnipeg.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said in December that his government would consider reinvesting the revenues it would receive from the new stadium into the new facility, once it is open an estimated $17 million in taxes alone.

"I'll let the politicians speak publicly what they do, and they can do what they do privately or in other meetings, but I think there's a great push from the city and the province to get this done," Bauer said.

"The province and this city need to do something that will attract and retain our young people."

Under his plan, Asper proposes to take ownership of the Blue Bombers a team that's been community-owned for 80 years and spend $25 million to develop commercial property around the new stadium. The stadium itself would remain public property.

Asper hopes to begin construction on the new building in March and complete it by 2009.