Three months earlier, Emmott had floated the concept of a 53,000-seat, $6 million “coliseum-stadium complex” in Burnaby.
“I’ll just tell him that South Burnaby has been attacked by North Burnaby,” said Emmott, an allusion to the Vietnam War.Article content He claimed he could cut the cost of the Houston Astrodome by “30 to 40 per cent by improved design and prefabrication.” “In Houston,” Whitehead wrote, “the baseball seating plan can be hydraulically changed to form a perfect sideline gridiron seating arrangement, in a matter of two hours.
But there were strings attached — Bennett wanted the federal and municipal governments to ante up an equal amount. He also wouldn’t fund a building with a mortgage or loan, and wanted it to be run by a non-profit organization.Article content