Cardiff 15000 arena

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local ... a-13723353

Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:14 pm
Re: Cardiff Retail
PostFri Dec 08, 2017 11:00 am
Ok putting aside the argument for the feasibility of having a multipurpose arena, if the Blues could be incorporated into the arena like tthat one, there are six sites choosen if agreement can't be made with the athletic club would blues support mind going to any of the other areas
Red Dragon Centre
Cardiff Prison
Dumballs Road
Cardiff Arms Park
County Hall
Callaghan Square
Surely Callaghan Square and Dumballs Road aren't too far away from arms park and closer to the station. Can't see the prison being closed for years!

Just noticed the dedicated thread, so will re-post my previous comment from the retail discussion, below:

If they could get the project to stack up financially, then I could imagine Blues fans being prepared to take a short walk from the City Arms to Callaghan Square or the northern end of Dumballs Road. Even Atlantic Wharf or the Red Dragon Centre site would feel a lot closer to town (and to the Cardiff Arms Park experience) than the Cardiff City Stadium did.

Certainly, from my own perspective as (these days) an occasional attendee of Blues matches, I could imagine going to watch them in any of those locations. The Sports Village, on the other hand, would be far more inconvenient to get to and there's nowhere in the area to get a decent drink before or after the match.

As an occasional attendee myself to Cardiff City Stadium and Arms Park, the comparison in facilities is stark.

The blues need a modern fit for purpose stadium and if city deal money can be used I'm sure Peter Thomas would be more than pleased about that.

Agree about pubs down ISV but they could be incorporated into the ground or a case of if you build it they will come? I still feel that it needs a few more sports to be a sports village.

Although I'm guessing that the poor transport links you talk of are more than likely the case that the new arena wasn't mentioned for the ISV site also.

I can see the logic of creating a multipurpose arena suitable for rugby and concerts, but the rugby stadium would only work at a Central location such as CAP or Dumballs Road. I don't think Callaghan Sqare would be big enough - and the prison site wont be ready for development any time soon. But Atlantic Wharf or ISV would probably kill the Blues off.

The development cost of CAP would be huge and I think that overall the Dumballs Road site would be best- convenient for public transport - and linking well with Central Quay - and should be a viable sustainable development.

Meanwhile CAP can be developed for hotel, luxury appts etc to help fund the deal

Ps on the subject of Middle East money...look at who will start flying to Cardiff airport soon....and who own Bein Sports Channel....

I don't want to see this Arena being incorporated for Rugby. We need a 15k arena primarily for concerts and such like events, without being restricted to Rugby union. I'm totally against that.

I am not convinced about mixing up the Arena with the Blues...especially the cost of retractable roofs and pitches like Lille - but if it is to be done then maybe something like the Paris 92 Arena would work...

Looking at that arena in Paris it looks like a lot of effort to change from rugby to concert, could you play rugby one day and have a concert the next?

If it were just an arena I like the idea of the red dragon centre, the lay out of the cinema takes up a lot of space compared to vue or cineworld. It has also not got the draw for visitors it used to, and no connection to the bay from the glass blocks side being dark and unwelcoming.

While i dislike the red dragon center it is actually quite popular and has been relatively well looked after, recently being refurbished to an extent. The cinema is Cardiffs only IMAX and for me living in the bay, its quite a nice facility.

There is a lot of peripheral land around it that is not well used, there is quite good connections between it and Mermaid quay but they are not so logical since the WMC was built, there is a lot of underutalised land between it and Mermaid Quay and the surface car park is now looking like a waste of valuable space.

I think the arena would work well on this and the county hall site, i think the county hall site would be best with a large residential and restaurant led redevelopment of the red dragon center (ie move the restaurants to face the flourish) with a logical route from Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay station through to the new arena.

If Cardiff Bay is the chosen location then I'd like to see both County Hall and Red Dragon redeveloped. I live just across the road and I do like the facilities but as it's already been mentioned, the space isn't put to best use.

There's a great opportunity here to build a state of the art arena with a direct train / tram access. I'd like to see county hall demolished to make way for a mix of new residential flats, restaurants, hotel and a new location for the Odeon, Hollywood bowl, the casino. Essentially moving red dragon across.

Then Red Dragon to be demolished to build the arena and a 2,000 space multistorey car park. A tram down Lloyd George Avenue could even go straight into the venue. They could even configure the train to do the same.