“The Big Owe” Finally Paid For
I heard on the news today that the Olympic stadium is 30 years old this year. No surprise there, it was completed in 1976 for the Summer Olympics after all. Simple math and the desire to be bothered to notice in the first place would have told me how old it was.
What I did learn today, however, was how much this thing cost. I’ve always heard over the years that the total was astronomical, but I never cared to know the actual number, I think I just assumed it was in the tens of millions of dollars, which would seem “reasonable” for the time period, no? Turns out the projected cost was $156 million. I huge amount for a building, even by todays standards (or not, what do I know?), but alright, I’ll believe that.
Nope, turns out it ended up costing the City of Montreal right about $2 BILLION.
I don’t even want to know how something like that happens. The good news is that it will finally be paid up within a couple of months. I wonder what “new toy” the city will buy now that we’re clear of this debt. I know I tend to celebrate clearing up a bill by making some obscene purchase!
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Today’s cheap stadiums like the one they had proposed to replace the Stade Olympique and sit south of the Bell Center would have run about $250 million to $300 million. When you get into the more complex ones like Miller Park in Milwaukee that has a retractable roof, you’re looking at $400 to $500 million. The Soldier Field renovation in Chicago cost $350 mil for the stadium and renovation and $250 for the extensive infrastructure. Though this is what I remember from a few years back so the price tags may have gone up.