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The shovels were officially planted today behind the Canadore College Commerce Court campus for the announcement of a new $8.5 million indoor athletic facility.
The announcement for the 85,000 square foot dome will benefit the school and several community user groups. It will feature indoor surfaces for soccer, football, cricket, baseball, and golf, as well as hard court surfaces for tennis, basketball, and dry-land training and sports conditioning options.
“It’s a proud day for us, it’s part of our growth plan to create benefits for our programs, school sports and recreation, but also allows us to expand our campus health and wellness program and user groups across the city support the turfs require both pitches and hard court surfaces,” said George Burton, President and CEO of Canadore College.
“It fits well and I’m really happy about it.”
The new Canadore multi-purpose recreational facility is also free to taxpayers.
“Thanks to our efforts, we were able to put money aside for years because in those times we had to go through a bidding process to ensure it would be affordable and sustainable,” Burton said.
“It met those two criteria for us to let user groups know it’s going to become a reality.”
North Bay Bulldogs football program president Marc Mathon is thrilled that this project is moving forward.
Mathon says they’re the only team in their respective leagues that doesn’t have an indoor paddock for training.
“It means everything to us,” Mathon said.
“Actually, I think our dreams have come true of being able to put a lot more things together; I can imagine all the things we can do now.”
Dave Saad, longtime baseball coach and member of the Canadore Foundation board of directors, says the facility gives North Bay an opportunity to address the geographic issue facing North Bay sports teams and athletes.
“Short seasons, no time for skill development, top athletes who have to travel out of town in the off-season to hone their skills – get the right coaching. We have all of that here, but the only thing missing was the facility and those addresses of that facility,” Saad noted.
See Related: Canadore Sports Facility Project Continues to Move Forward
The new facility is expected to be completed and open by September 2023.
The project has been in the works for nearly a decade, and in 2015 the focus was on the possibility of building a two-pad indoor arena where the new dome will be built.