Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre Opening Today

Friday, September 21, 2007 04:00 AM

Front entrance of the new Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre ( photo Opinion250 staff)

This is it, the day the Northern Sport Centre will officially open.

The new facility at the University of Northern B.C. will officially open at 10 this morning. It is expected 1500 people will attend this morning’s ceremony which means parking may be a challenge. Shuttle service is being offered from the CN Centre every 15 minutes starting at 8:30 this morning till 2:00 this afternoon.

Built at a cost of 30.75 million dollars, the Province of B.C. paid $20.5 million, the balance is made up as follows:

City of Prince George: $2.925 million
Regional District Fraser Fort George $1 million
Northern Development Initiatives Trust $1.2 million
UNBC $4.575 million
Canfor $ 500 thousand
Re/Max Centre City $50 thousand.

The Sport Centre will officially be named the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre, to honour the former University President who was the key to UNBC’s growth over the past decade.

Northern Sport Centre Top Ten:

10. The number of weeks it took to put the roof on the facility

9. The number of offices in the facility for coaches

8. The number of change rooms for athletes, (there are another 2 change rooms for officials/refs)

7. The number of financial contributors to the cost of building the facility

6. The number of academic all- Canadians produced by UNBC Basketball: Kent Bergstrom, Lindsay Anderson, Nicole Kerr, Christina Neufeld, Brett Stewart and Laurel Wallace

5. The number of hockey rinks the facility could hold if it was an ice surface

4.The number of athletic all-Canadians that have come from UNBC athletics Dean Whalen (basketball), Nikki Kassel (skiing), Dana Larson (basketball) and Lindsay Anderson (basketball)

3. The number of basketball courts that can be accommodated in the gymnasium

2. The number of soccer fields the field house can accommodate / also the number of bleachers in the gymnasium which, (when both are installed) will seat 2,080 spectators.

1. the number of elevated running tracks, and its provincial ranking when it comes to the longest indoor tracks in B.C. (280 metres long, making it the longest indoor track in B.C.)

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Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Jigga on September 21 2007 8:56 AM

I know a lot of people look negatively on this facility...but i am super excited to get up there at 10 and take a tour of what it has to offer. Great building for our city (expensive mind you, but great).

Posted by: Belvedere on September 21 2007 9:46 AM

If they are worried about parking for 1500 people today, how do they expect to accommodate 2080 spectators at future games?

Posted by: owl on September 21 2007 10:07 AM

Belvedere ....... it sometimes takes a new pair of eyes to open up everyone else's, doesn't it!!!??

I suspect, however, that the thinking is that games will be normally held when the rest of the Uninversity is fairly quiet, such as Friday and Saturday nights. But, the University does have evening classes, so if there are spectator events on other nights, that could cause problems.

The other thing is that one of these days they will probably need to take a close look at the single exit from the entire campus that they have, especially one so close to curves in the arterial road. One entrance/exit without traffic control signals is not the best.

I suppose the UNBC is a work in progress. The new facility is great, although I won't be using it myself I know others will and will enjoy it. Great for the City.

Posted by: tiemens1 on September 21 2007 11:13 AM

I've taken evening courses at the University and there is tons of parking so I doubt that will be a huge concern. And the parking is cheap! $0.25 for 1.5 hours. I agree with the exit issues. It's really scary leaving the campus when the roads are icy.

Posted by: NMG on September 21 2007 11:48 AM

I think owl is probably correct about the parking. The parking during "off hours" for the normal University operations is quite reasonable. I suspect there would be no issues with parking at the times when major events are scheduled.

Just so happens that the grand opening is going on at the same time that the University is full from its normal operations.

As an aside, I think this is a great facility for PG. I certainly won't use it much, but it does add to the community in a pretty major way and I think that benefits PG as a whole.

Posted by: lunarguy on September 21 2007 12:13 PM

Actually they totally screwed up the parking in that there is not enough spaces at the University most days / nights and then to put events on at this facility at the same time just means more problems. (Kind of like how the city designed the Civic Centre and the facilities around there ).
Plus if you pay for parking at the NSC, it isn't valid at a UNBC lot and visa versa. So better make sure you can find a spot before paying and then having to move on to the other lots. Or if you have a UNBC parking pass it is not valid at the NSC.
The facility is nice and yes there are some kinks to work out but what project doesn't have that !

Posted by: zoom on September 21 2007 12:42 PM

Take the bus

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 21 2007 1:49 PM

On my first, and only visit so far, to UNBC I parked just opposite the main set of stairs. It was a winter evening last year so no shortage of parking, but what I remember most was the number of signs around the parking lot. I counted thirty two that I could see before I left the car. I was looking to see if I was going to get towed, so that's why I started reading signs.

But then I just started counting signs, I was amazed! No wonder they call it a place of higher learning. You can get an education without even leaving the car!