Developers look beyond Brampton for National Cricket Stadium site, but still time to ‘reverse course’

Time is running out if Brampton wants to be home of Canada’s National Cricket Stadium as developers and stakeholders have begun courting other cities for the multi-million dollar project.

Cary Kaplan is president of Cosmos Sports & Entertainment and one member of a development consortium that came to Brampton City Council last week to make their case for building the multi-use venue in Brampton.

The group asked council for 60 days of non-binding negotiations to explore building a 20,000 seat, $100 million stadium facility as the centrepiece of the CAA lands.

Kaplan said the group’s stadium proposal would have been a public-private partnership and a “net positive for the taxpayers,” with the developers covering the bill.

It also had the backing of Cricket Canada, and could have been home to the Canadian National Cricket Program, as well as a venue for both the 2024 Cricket World Cup and 2030 Commonwealth Games.

But the negotiations were shot down in favour of sending a city report on the proposed stadium back to staff for more information on how the project could impact the development of the entire CAA lands.

That decision could mean Brampton is left out of the cricket conversation, with Kaplan telling insauga.com that stakeholders have now begun the hunt for another Canadian municipality to build the stadium.

“We’d like the council to reconsider,” Kaplan said in an interview with insauga.com, adding that there is still time “to reverse course” and bring the national cricket stadium to Brampton.

Kaplan said Surrey, B.C., is one possible option for the stadium, but didn’t reveal the full list of municipalities the group is looking at for the project.

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Kaplan said all signs pointed to Brampton as the ideal home of the stadium, but the developers are on a tight timeline as they try to break ground on the project in time for the 2024 Cricket World Cup in order to attract tournament games to Brampton.

The developers said it would take between 18 and 24 months to build the proposed 20,000 seat facility at the CAA lands, and delays could mean Canada loses out on hosting any world cup games.

Members of a development consortium say Brampton is the ideal home of a proposed National Cricket Stadium, like the cricket pitch pictured in this report submitted to Brampton City Council.

Talks around a new stadium for cricket, soccer, and field hockey began last year with the city considering building the facility.

A report on the stadium project from city staff earlier this month recommended moving forward with a public-private-partnership, like the one proposed by Kaplan and the developers, as the best way to move forward with the stadium project.

Other options included a city-funded capital project, which could come with a tax hike in future city budgets to pay for some of the stadium’s estimated minimum $49 million price tag.

Kaplan said messaging from the city hasn’t been clear about the two proposed options for the stadium, particularly the public-private-partnership, and that council has been “acting extremely bureaucratic” leading to delays on moving the project forward.

“If they can’t come to terms with us, that’s fine,” Kaplan said of city council. “We’ve given Brampton its chance for eight months,” adding the developers “probably stayed on Brampton longer than was necessary.”

Kaplan insisted that talks of pulling the stadium out of Brampton are “not a bluff,” but are a necessary step in order to find another Canadian city that “has the appetite” for the project.

“Everything points to Brampton,” he said. “That’s where the stadium should be.”