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"Great group of people – and speakers. Glad the presentation was well received. Would have loved more time but good discipline to keep it short and sharp!"
Paul Barber, CEO,
Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Canada
"Congratulations on organising such an excellent conference. I greatly enjoyed the discussions and debates..."
Simon Clegg CBE, Chief Executive,
Ipswich Town FC, UK
"I wanted to say ‘thank you’ and congratulations for the event. Learned a lot, made some new friends and opened some new opportunities"
Mark Bradley,
Fan Experience Company, UK
"Thank you once again for a great conference"
Ebru Köksal, General Manager,
Galatasaray SC, Turkey
"Your event was certainly a success from the outset, well-planed, well- orchestrated and in a superb venue. We look forward to making sure that Sony are more involved next year"
Jason Shave,
Sony Professional
"I was very impressed with the whole conference, particularly by the calibre of people there. Well done!"
Michael Bolingbroke, Chief Operating Officer ,
Manchester United FC
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New projects: Montreal Impact’s expanding Stade Saputo
Thursday, January 05, 2012
As the Montreal Impact prepare to become Major League Soccer’s 19th franchise in 2012, their home venue – the Stade Saputo – is currently undergoing renovation, as it expands into a stadium fit to host America’s top soccer stars.
In May 2010, MLS commissioner Don Garber announced that Montreal in Quebec, Canada would become the league’s 19th host city in 2012… on the proviso that the club expand their host stadium.
The 13,000-seat venue only opened in 2008, built in the grounds of the former practice track and field site of the 1976 Summer Olympics. However, as originally reported by the excellent StadiumPorn the stadium is currently being transformed into a 20,000+ capacity venue, in a $23million project; designed by Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes, and funded by the Quebec government.
The Impact’s EVP Stadium Operations, Richard Legendre, explains the project in the following video:
Construction is expected to be completed in summer 2012. Full renderings of the project, as well as the latest construction photos, may be viewed here.
Credit: StadiumPorn.com / Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes.
Montreal will become the third Canadian team in MLS, following the introduction of expansion teams Toronto FC (in 2007) and the Vancouver Whitecaps (in 2011).
Last year, Vancouver Whitecaps’ CEO Paul Barber joined the speaking panel for the 2011 edition of TheStadiumBusiness Summit in Barcelona.
Presenting just months after the Whitecaps’ debut in the MLS, Paul gave delegates a unique insight into marketing a new major league franchise and the task of building an audience in the face of several significant challenges; not least the dominance of the Big Four sports leagues in the North American market.
>>Network with a world of stadium projects at TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2012, from 14-16 May in Turin, Italy.
