City, stadium hoping for capital funds to renovate Commonwealth after string of big events

Concourse congestion at the Morgan Wallen concert at Commonwealth Stadium are highlighting the need for facility upgrades. Nicole Weisberg reports.

After Commonwealth Stadium saw more than 114,000 people last weekend for two Morgan Wallen concerts, the city and venue are renewing asks for provincial funding to renovate the building as it nears the 50-year mark.

“We do need some additional concourse spaces,” said stadium director Heather Seutter. “We look for those extended gates and extended concourses to be able to ensure the safety for the event, but also to relieve some of the pressure on the concourse.”

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Additional washrooms, concession spaces and more hosting and hospitality would continue to make the stadium a sustainable venue, she added.

Seutter said every time they do a big show, it’s like an interview for the next.

“If we’re able to do the things we say we’re able to do, fulfill our commitments, it puts our city and our stadium in a great place to say yes to big shows, and we want to attract the big acts to Edmonton,” said Seutter.

Jason Staroszik, who went to the Friday night Morgan Wallen concert, said it was a 40-minute ordeal to get drinks and use the bathroom.

“When you have 55,000 to 60,000 people all going into one concourse, doing a bottleneck like that – it’s not safe,” he told CTV News Edmonton. “If you had two concourses, or were able to widen the main concourse somehow … that would help a lot.”

The stadium saw The Weeknd perform earlier this summer, filling more than 54,000 seats. Garth Brooks sold two sold-out concerts in 2022, with Metallica coming close in 2023.

Edmonton mayor Amarjeet Sohi said city administration presented a plan to the province to upgrade the stadium about a year ago as part of its next stage of investment into downtown.

He said he is optimistic that the province will come through after a deal went through on the $250-million Event Park next to Rogers Place.

“We were able to work very collaboratively with the province to have $186 million invested into our downtown core to build more housing, to upgrade infrastructure and also build the Event Park,” said Sohi. “I think there are ways we can figure out how to work with the province.”

He said the stadium needs upgrades because of its age and because it has a reputation for holding big events.

“We want to make sure that international reputation remains,” he continued. “We are the fastest growing city in North America … people are flocking to Edmonton because of the opportunities this community presents … we are attracting big events.”

The mayor said the city will have to wait until the province approves its 2026-27 budget.

With the municipal election just over a month away, Sohi said he hopes the city will elect a council that will continue to work hard on behalf of Edmontonians.

“We are the fourth-largest economy in Canada, and when we have amenities like Commonwealth, Rogers Place, the Winspear, the Citadel, they attract investment and they attract talent … I think they’re the drivers of our economy and we want to make sure the province understands that,” he said.

A statement from the province said it is providing the city with more than $207 million in funding this year.

“While there are no plans at this time to provide direct funding upgrades to Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton has the flexibility to use this funding, as well as their municipal revenue, to upgrade the stadium should it be a priority for them,” said a statement from municipal affairs minister Dan Williams.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg