WINNIPEG — The bubble has burst on Winnipeg’s plan to extend the life of its new football field into the winter.
Part of the original design for Investors Group Stadium had an inflatable, vinyl bubble covering the turf to accommodate winter-play for soccer, football and ultimate Frisbee.
But the province has decided to take cash it had allocated to the bubble project and divert it to a new soccer facility in another part of Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz is disappointed, saying the bubble was on the table when they first started the project to build the stadium, home to the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the University of Manitoba Bisons.
Ron East, executive director of Football Manitoba, also says they were disappointed at the province’s decision.
East was looking forward to having an indoor facility to host football practices and games into the winter.
“It’s difficult to build a multimillion-dollar facility, in this case a couple million dollars, if you’re using it thirty, forty times a year,” said Katz. “You’d like to get that usage up to over 100 plus and that was one of the ways of doing it.”
Katz also said the province hasn’t asked for the land where the new soccer complex is proposed to be built.
The province says the $1.8 million dedicated to the new soccer complex is one third of the funding and the city would be expected to chip in money as well.
