Amateur sports get $205 million boost

Sep 28, 2012 | Biz/Tech

This is the outside view of the new Aquatics Centre and Field House for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. COURTESY CNW

By Kelly Snider

Canada’s largest investment in amateur sport infrastructure has been announced for the 2015 Toronto Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.

Combined, the federal government, City of Toronto and University of Toronto Scarborough will be investing $205 million into the Aquatics Centre and the Field House complex, which began construction  in July.  The project is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2014.

CEO of TO2015, Ian Troop, told Humber News 56 per cent of funds will be from the government and the rest will be split between the city and university. He said although the total is $205 million, $158 million will be going into infrastructural costs like construction and equipment.

Troop added that they are investing in facilities all over for the 2015 games, which includes new buildings and renovations, like the Etobicoke Olympium.

This investment was announced yesterday at a groundbreaking ceremony that took place at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where the facility will be built.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford told City News that the athletic centre being built for the 2015 games will boost the city’s international reputation and aid the local economy.

Ford also said that the games would reaffirm and strengthen Toronto’s reputation as a world class city, create economic opportunity and boost economic development.

UTSC Director of Athletics Scott McRoberts, said the money was very wisely spent because of the amount of users of this facility and the length of time that it will be around.  He added that it will also help the community.

“It was a great mix at the groundbreaking yesterday,” said McRoberts. “Internal as well as external communities, and once they actually knew what the design looks like, you could see on their faces there was tremendous excitement from the 7-year-olds to the 70-year-olds that were there.”

 

[SlideDeck2 id=5230]