Fallsview Stadium concept

[aci]

I've been working on this stadium concept off and on for a few months. Basically, I was roaming the city of Niagara Falls, and I came across an area near the Falls itself that is grossly under-used. It is intended to be a minor-league stadium for a team affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The whole area is built up as a tourist destination, aside from an area near Clifton Hill (located top right, just to the left of that little bed icon). This area i have highlighted in red, and it is currently filled by two parking lots. One parking lot is used exclusively for tour buses, and can have as many as 20 in an area that could realistically fit about 300 cars. Not a good use of space.

The other area is a very long parking lot that runs across the top of the Niagara Gorge and serves as overflow parking for Clifton Hill and the Skylon Tower, which is 520 feet tall, and reaches 775 feet above the base of the Horseshoe Falls, which it overlooks. I have only commandeered about 1/3 of the long parking lot, as I've noticed that even on a long weekend in the summer only about 10-20 cars are parked at this end of the lot (which is so rarely used that it isn't even paved).

To make up for the loss of parking and the fact that a ballpark in such a busy area will require much more), four large swaths in the area will be converted into parking specifically for the park. Two areas are currently grassy fields under power lines about 3 blocks away. One is the unused field of a school that used to be for children and is now for adults, which renders it unused. This is also about 3 blocks away. The fourth area is the largest and closest, and currently consists of two dumpy restaurants and a cheap motel. It is about 300x750 feet, maybe more, and could probably turn more of a profit as a parking lot, to be completely honest.

Now, for the stadium itself: It's got a second deck, 17 luxury boxes, 4 party suites and 2 dining areas. It is asymmetrical to allow for it to fit in a footprint that can be just about any length, but limited to approximately 450-475 feet wide due to its location overlooking the Niagara Gorge. In addition, it takes a very unique quality of the Rogers' Centre and pays homage to it: over the first base side, the Skylon Tower looms, just as the CN Tower overlooks the field in Toronto.

And just to give an idea of how it measures up inside:

Top: First base side

Middle: Third base side

Bottom: Behind the plate

[crashcarson15]

A couple things here:

1. Try to make the right field line a bit deeper, like 315 or 320 feet. 305 is extremely short.

2. I'd assume this would have to be a NYPL team, because I went to the Falls a week before baseball season started this past week and it was all iced over.

All things considered, this is a very nice concept. I'd personally run the bullpens parallel to the foul lines and the park wouldn't have the best sight lines with the stands curing in like they do.

[aci]

A couple things here:

1. Try to make the right field line a bit deeper, like 315 or 320 feet. 305 is extremely short.

2. I'd assume this would have to be a NYPL team, because I went to the Falls a week before baseball season started this past week and it was all iced over.

All things considered, this is a very nice concept. I'd personally run the bullpens parallel to the foul lines and the park wouldn't have the best sight lines with the stands curing in like they do.

Thanks for the C&C.

I actually forgot to mention this: because of where the park is located, the prevailing winds will actually blow heavy, misty air from the falls from the right field corner to the left field corner. That had a lot to do with me making the short field in right. Something tells me that even at 305, if the wind is blowing then nothing is going out that way.

And as for the second thing, Niagara Falls' weather was above 30 degrees Celsius for about 2 weeks in March this year. If you saw ice in March, it's because the water from the Niagara River flows from Lake Erie, which is so shallow that it mostly freezes over in the winter. It'll take a while to warm back up. Having a higher-level team in Niagara Falls shouldn't be an issue, as our weather is considerably warmer than Buffalo's and they can handle a Triple-A season.

[crashcarson15]

Oh, I'm not talking necessarily about the temperature, but about all the ice crystals that form from the mist freezing at the falls. Everything melted but then the mist re-froze.

That said, the IL wouldn't work (because of the reason you already stated with Buffalo) but the Eastern League could work, so could the Sally League, or the NYPL as I suggested earlier. I think it would benefit the Jays though to have a farm team that close, like they did in St Catharines some time ago.

[aci]

My original thoughts were to have it be a Double-A Eastern League stadium, and to move the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to Triple-A. I think it's pretty obvious that the situation with Las Vegas isn't ideal for the team, so a switcheroo like the Astros pulled a few years ago is probably the most sensible. New Hampsire and Lansing have great stadiums, but Las Vegas is in completely the wrong geographic area for an affiliate. I figure that if players can handle Michigan and New Hampshire, they can handle Niagara Falls.

And with the St Catharines Blue Jays/Stompers, they were fun to watch, but played in one of the worst affiliated minor-league stadiums of all time. That, and the fact that St Catharines sucks, were the two main reasons baseball left Niagara. Niagara Falls has a more concentrated 'fun district', an arseload of tourists who will overpay for everything, and the kind of finances for a real stadium and not something like this:

Gotta say, anything would be an improvement. I'll see what I can do about the bullpens, but it may take a while. MS Paint is a pain in the butt for changing ideas.

[crashcarson15]

Graph Paper FTW

[aci]

Haha I've made a million of these things over the years, and this is the second one I've made primarily on the computer. Regrets? You betcha.

[aci]

*bump*

I'm working on an update now, so if anyone has any more input before I'm finished, I'd be glad to hear it.

[ccfan95]

looks pretty good i would like to see a outfield wall view

[aci]

looks pretty good i would like to see a outfield wall view

By that, do you mean a panoramic view of the fences as if they'd been kinda flattened out?

[kbaker19]

I love stadium concepts and have drawn out some in the past on paper but I have no clue what to do on the computer to make them.

I like this a lot. I like the asymmetrical design, very cool. I would like to see a view as if I was in the batter's box.

[aci]

I love stadium concepts and have drawn out some in the past on paper but I have no clue what to do on the computer to make them.

I like this a lot. I like the asymmetrical design, very cool. I would like to see a view as if I was in the batter's box.

I'll see what I can do, but keep in mind that I'm using Paint.

And thank you for your opinions. I hope you like the updated second version as much as the first.

[droozer]

If you want a nice 3d model you should really use Sketchup. It's free and very easy to use.

[aci]

If you want a nice 3d model you should really use Sketchup. It's free and very easy to use.

I just looked that up, and it looks like a great program, but I have to say, it looks very intimidating. It'd suit my needs perfectly, though.

[aci]

I've finished the lower deck for the update, but I'm still working on the upper deck. Hopefully it'll be ready later tonight, but if not then tomorrow.

To keep the thread going, I decided to do some photography because I don't think an outdated Google Earth satellite image is very helpful when it comes to truly seeing the setting.

Photo 1: This would be the actual location of the stadium. The grassy area in the foreground is the path of a former rail line that has been removed. It's quite wide and currently sits empty; due to how incredibly busy this area of the city gets, it would be virtually impossible to ever be used again.

In the picture, home plate would be to the far right of the image, approximately where the trees meet the edge of the photo. The first base line would run along where the cars sit near the middle of the image, with the Skylon looming about 100 yards away.

Note the mist from Niagara Falls behind the treeline.

Photo 2: This is a view of the parking lot that is just to the right of the previous image. You can see, from left to right, the Skylon Tower, Fallsview Casino hotel, Embassy Suites hotel and the Hilton hotel on the skyline. The Hilton is actually the tallest hotel tower in Canada, at 58 stories.

The lot on the far side of the fence that runs across the image is used for tour bus parking

and for overflow parking for the IMAX Theatre (the pyramid-shaped thing) and the Skylon. There are usually 3x as many buses, but this might be the most cars I've seen in that particular lot.

In my scheme, the whole lot would be transformed into a gateway-type area and courtyard for fans to gather before and after games, and to wait for shuttle buses to take them to their cars if they parked at one of the lots that is a couple blocks away, or at their hotel.

It's not visible in the pictures because of the trees, but the railway line actually slopes down to pass under the road that leads to the Skylon Tower and the parking lot where the stadium would be located. The city actually built a bridge that when you cross over it, you immediately have to turn either right or left into a parking lot. Straight = driving into the Niagara Gorge.

In the unlikely event a stadium was ever built there, the underpass/bridge combination would be flattened to create more space and less confusion, and that whole block would just become a driveway for the Skylon.

Photo 3: This photo is to the right of Photo 2. It shows the dumpy businesses that would be torn down to make space for parking lots. On the far left, there is a dark brown building that is a 'casual fine dining' restaurant (LOL), then there is an Indian restaurant that was built in a house, and then a pay-by-the-hour motel. Just past that motel is a somewhat better one that faces Victoria Avenue, which is one of the busiest streets in the city. That motel would remain, as it's not actually an eyesore.

The hotel in the background is the Doubletree, which is on the next block over, but faces away from the block that would be used for parking.

[aci]

Update:

New upper and lower decks. I took some suggestions into account (mostly for sight-lines, etc), and also added entrances for the grounds crew,

Thoughts?

[aci]

*bump*

[crashcarson15]

Definitely looks better on your second go. I'd say it's pretty perfect for a Minor League stadium. Nice job here!

[aci]

Definitely looks better on your second go. I'd say it's pretty perfect for a Minor League stadium. Nice job here!

Thanks! Anything you could think of that could be improved or expanded upon?

[crashcarson15]

Not much. I'd probably add a plaza area somewhere by a major entrance, where you could maybe add some games (i.e. speed pitch, etc.) but other than that, it's really nice.