We're definitely losing the run of ourselves, but it's good craic. I always marvel at the millennium stadium in Cardiff. It's hands down the best rugby venue in the world in my opinion, and that's partly because it is slap bang in the middle of the city (the roof also helps with atmosphere). You really can't overestimate the value rugby fans place in proximity to the pub (whether they'll admit it or not). The sportsground location has that, but a location in the docklands would have it too. Here's a link to an image outlining the proposed docklands redevelopment - surely they'd squeeze an ould stadium in there somewhere: www.galway.net/GalwayNet/img/orig/506.jpg

swift4prez wrote: Feck, you got there before me,
I read the first post before leaving the house today and had to head down to the docks for a reason.
They were taking down the ice rink etc and tried to imagine a lovely shinny stadium there. I think it just might be too small. Remember that foothill graveyard is there and that can't be moved, .
How unreal would it be to have it that close. 2mins from shop street. .

haha...... the early bird catches the worm!!!!

Theres a lot more land down there than that small bit by the docks:

www.google.ie/maps/place/Galway/@53.2691...ff:0x32b1b440a495281

Theres a huge chunk of land on the 'renmore' side of the Lough, which im pretty sure is part of the proposed development although I could be wrong.

Built in 2009 for 65 million euro in norway (the sports venue cost 35 million euro apparently). 26,000 seater (edit see below) is too big for our needs but it shows it can be done (although not sure if a rugby venue would need a higher roof):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenor_Arena

Lets get writing to enda!!!

EDIT: 15,000 seater for football, 26,000 for concerts

Glad to see nobody's losing the run of themselves! Even Gerry's on board!

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gerry-tho...-ambitions-1.2055716

bigdog wrote: However, thinking a bit outside the box, theres a huge development jointly in the works between CIE and the Harbour Board in their lands to the back of the train station. What a place to have a stadium! Certainly enough land to accommodate a modest stadium along with the rest of the plans (transport hub, residential, retail etc).

Feck, you got there before me,
I read the first post before leaving the house today and had to head down to the docks for a reason.
They were taking down the ice rink etc and tried to imagine a lovely shinny stadium there. I think it just might be too small. Remember that foothill graveyard is there and that can't be moved, .
How unreal would it be to have it that close. 2mins from shop street. .

RonanL wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote:

RonanL wrote:

bigdog wrote: A 1,000,000/1 shot but with a bit of government arm twisting this could be a reality for 2023!! Remember, this is essentially public land anyway.

Enda is a Connacht fan, but infacta previous leaders have struggled to make stadia happen

This stadium you propose by the docks - would it be nearer to/further from O'Connell's than the Sportsground is today?!

4 minutes closer, if the new stadium was beside the Harbour Hotel

Then I'm in! Probably closer to the quay street side of town too. And we can solve the traffic problems with boats

Any stadium down there would need to be good protection from the wind though. No open sides.
A fine September game could always begin down the Spanish Arch :woohoo:

ConnachtCows wrote:

RonanL wrote:

bigdog wrote: A 1,000,000/1 shot but with a bit of government arm twisting this could be a reality for 2023!! Remember, this is essentially public land anyway.

Enda is a Connacht fan, but infacta previous leaders have struggled to make stadia happen

This stadium you propose by the docks - would it be nearer to/further from O'Connell's than the Sportsground is today?!

4 minutes closer, if the new stadium was beside the Harbour Hotel

Then I'm in! Probably closer to the quay street side of town too. And we can solve the traffic problems with boats

RonanL wrote:

bigdog wrote: A 1,000,000/1 shot but with a bit of government arm twisting this could be a reality for 2023!! Remember, this is essentially public land anyway.

Enda is a Connacht fan, but infacta previous leaders have struggled to make stadia happen

This stadium you propose by the docks - would it be nearer to/further from O'Connell's than the Sportsground is today?!

4 minutes closer, if the new stadium was beside the Harbour Hotel

bigdog wrote: A 1,000,000/1 shot but with a bit of government arm twisting this could be a reality for 2023!! Remember, this is essentially public land anyway.

Enda is a Connacht fan, but infacta previous leaders have struggled to make stadia happen

This stadium you propose by the docks - would it be nearer to/further from O'Connell's than the Sportsground is today?!

I do like the look of that.
If they could build that, and get rid of the temporary seating beside the Main Stand, there wouldn't be a major increase in capacity, which we dont need at the moment.
But then for big games, they can bring back in the temporary seating

Adding the attachment to my previous post didn't work.....

I agree with others 20,000 might be a bit much. As others have said the dogs are the problem and theres not much that could be done with them there to make it acceptable for a world cup bid (besides an extra level on the clan stand and temporary terraces on the ends). The New Zealand stadiums with the grass banks were ridiculed by some, i dont see a dogtrack being used in 2023.

If the dogs are gone (not that likely in my opinion, despite the dire financial straits that bord na gcon are in) then a complete redevelopment is needed and this would certainly be my first choice.

However, thinking a bit outside the box, theres a huge development jointly in the works between CIE and the Harbour Board in their lands to the back of the train station. What a place to have a stadium! Certainly enough land to accommodate a modest stadium along with the rest of the plans (transport hub, residential, retail etc).

Would be great to get Galway United on board too, im sure they would love a city centre stadium. The GAA might want on board too but I think their pitch footprint is too big to make a decent rugby/soccer stadium but all options should be considered. A municipal stadium incorporating more than one sport would certainly help split the costs and make it more likely.

Pat has also said he envisions a roof on the stadium, would this be feasible on this newly constructed pipe dream? I dont know, but a 15,00-20,000 indoor stadium in the west of Ireland would be a magnet for Concerts much more so than an outdoor Thomond.

A 1,000,000/1 shot but with a bit of government arm twisting this could be a reality for 2023!! Remember, this is essentially public land anyway.

ConnachtCows wrote:

wp_rathead wrote:
Arms Park, North Stand is what I have in mind.

If we did get rid of the Dogs, the Main Stand could be redeveloped to include more seating - but we gotta keep terracing, that is where the atmosphere is generated imo

I like the look of that. Wouldnt look bad on tv either, if numbers took a hit

Pinky, I think there was something on here a couple of years ago, showing the planning permission that was submitted for the Clan Terrace.
I could be completely off, but I think it was built with foundations so deep, that adding seating above the stand would be fine.

Here's a link, which I think will only work in Internet Explorer:

gis.galwaycity.ie/WebDocsViewer/displayimage.asp?ID=19350530



Edit: The application was made in 2009, so maybe this isn't the one they're still planning on building? Anyway!

wp_rathead wrote:
Arms Park, North Stand is what I have in mind.

If we did get rid of the Dogs, the Main Stand could be redeveloped to include more seating - but we gotta keep terracing, that is where the atmosphere is generated imo

I like the look of that. Wouldnt look bad on tv either, if numbers took a hit

Pinky, I think there was something on here a couple of years ago, showing the planning permission that was submitted for the Clan Terrace.
I could be completely off, but I think it was built with foundations so deep, that adding seating above the stand would be fine.

pinky wrote: Ideally we should have about 10k permanent capacity with the possibility to expand by another 5 for big games. Whether or not that is doable is another matter.
One thing that keeps cropping up is the idea of putting an upper tier on the existing Clan Terrace. Now I'm the wrong kind of engineer to comment definitively on that, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible. It would be like adding a penthouse to your garden shed.
More realistic would be building a stand more like the ones in Thomond/Ravenhill with terrace in front and seats behind. Either way you have to find somewhere for the vehicular access to the clubhouse, etc.
I can't see the World Cup bid succeeding to be honest, but if it does, any games in Galway should be in Connacht's ground (presumably still the Sportsground) rather than Pearse Stadium. Even with the dogs gone temporarily for a month or so and RDS style temporary stands build across the dog track at the ends, it could probably be increased to 15k for a few pool games. I think the official minimum is 20k for the RWC but realistically there are a lot of games that don't need anywhere near that so it might be negotiable.

Arms Park, North Stand is what I have in mind.

If we did get rid of the Dogs, the Main Stand could be redeveloped to include more seating - but we gotta keep terracing, that is where the atmosphere is generated imo

Ideally we should have about 10k permanent capacity with the possibility to expand by another 5 for big games. Whether or not that is doable is another matter.
One thing that keeps cropping up is the idea of putting an upper tier on the existing Clan Terrace. Now I'm the wrong kind of engineer to comment definitively on that, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible. It would be like adding a penthouse to your garden shed.
More realistic would be building a stand more like the ones in Thomond/Ravenhill with terrace in front and seats behind. Either way you have to find somewhere for the vehicular access to the clubhouse, etc.
I can't see the World Cup bid succeeding to be honest, but if it does, any games in Galway should be in Connacht's ground (presumably still the Sportsground) rather than Pearse Stadium. Even with the dogs gone temporarily for a month or so and RDS style temporary stands build across the dog track at the ends, it could probably be increased to 15k for a few pool games. I think the official minimum is 20k for the RWC but realistically there are a lot of games that don't need anywhere near that so it might be negotiable.