I wonder if she lurks this board because I'm pretty certain we are the ones who initially started discussing using the auditorium property many months ago. It is absolutely the most sensible location and I know GRH is already considering it, though negotiating the transfer of land or buying it from the City of Kitchener would cost a fortune and health care does not have very deep pockets in this crappy country.
Putting a new auditorium nearer to downtown would be hard though - if not outright impossible. There is very little land where you could realistically build an auditorium that could hold thousands of people and provide a shit ton of parking (because let's face it, most sports fans are suburbanites who own cars and no the LRT isn't going to change that). Some people on this forum have suggested the old terminal Charles Street but anyone suggesting that needs to fire up their brain. You couldn't fit 1/6th the current building on the Charles Street site (it's about 200 by 90 meters). The entire terminal plot is only 145 by 75 meters, so there is absolutely not enough room for an auditorium complex, the associated building facilities and parking.
There really isn't a single place you could move it while keeping it in the existing urban areas of the city - or close to downtown - unless the city magically came into possession of something like Westmount Golf & Country Club because it's absurdly large compared to, say, the city owned golf courts but there is basically zero chance they would sell that land. Or actually...it might be possible to build a decently sized auditorium/convention centre thing beside the Stirling Road bridge that goes over the tracks (The Metz property is beside it). Currently there are a number of industrial and commercial properties there as well as some now vacant lots where factories once stood. It's pretty close to downtown, near Mill Station (and if we run an LRT down Ottawa in the future, that's even more rapid transit connections), not too far from 2 separate Highway 8 on/off ramps and because it's vaguely in the Rockway PARTS area there will be a lot of high density development going up and with that lots of retail/food options for anyone visiting a game or whatever. It would require a parking structure to handle parking but the site itself ought to be large enough to hold an auditorium and that. There are really no other options to build a decently sized facility in the city besides those...unless you put it in the suburbs.
Putting a new auditorium nearer to downtown would be hard though - if not outright impossible. There is very little land where you could realistically build an auditorium that could hold thousands of people and provide a shit ton of parking (because let's face it, most sports fans are suburbanites who own cars and no the LRT isn't going to change that). Some people on this forum have suggested the old terminal Charles Street but anyone suggesting that needs to fire up their brain. You couldn't fit 1/6th the current building on the Charles Street site (it's about 200 by 90 meters). The entire terminal plot is only 145 by 75 meters, so there is absolutely not enough room for an auditorium complex, the associated building facilities and parking.
There really isn't a single place you could move it while keeping it in the existing urban areas of the city - or close to downtown - unless the city magically came into possession of something like Westmount Golf & Country Club because it's absurdly large compared to, say, the city owned golf courts but there is basically zero chance they would sell that land. Or actually...it might be possible to build a decently sized auditorium/convention centre thing beside the Stirling Road bridge that goes over the tracks (The Metz property is beside it). Currently there are a number of industrial and commercial properties there as well as some now vacant lots where factories once stood. It's pretty close to downtown, near Mill Station (and if we run an LRT down Ottawa in the future, that's even more rapid transit connections), not too far from 2 separate Highway 8 on/off ramps and because it's vaguely in the Rockway PARTS area there will be a lot of high density development going up and with that lots of retail/food options for anyone visiting a game or whatever. It would require a parking structure to handle parking but the site itself ought to be large enough to hold an auditorium and that. There are really no other options to build a decently sized facility in the city besides those...unless you put it in the suburbs.