The Best Seats
In The House

Here we are a mere few days ahead of the kickoff of the Queen’s Gaels home opener football game slated for this Saturday, September 17, 2016 in Kingston, Ontario.  It feels like just yesterday that our crews began to break ground at this historic site at Queen’s University and what has been erected is nothing short of breathtaking.

The 8,000 seat stadium, which rose from the demolition over the past few months will arguably stand to be Canada’s premier collegiate athletic stadium, boasting an innovative top-loading bowl seating design.

While this project initially kicked off in early 2016 with the demolition of the old grandstands and press box in the bitter cold of winter, we are now beginning to see what will be a new era of Queen’s Gaels football.

As we rolled into the summer months, the framework that will soon become one of the premier collegiate athletic venues in Canada began to take shape.  As the framework of what will soon house 8,000 avid fans was erected during the late spring, the past few months saw the stadium truly take shape.

With a new school year just around the corner, athletic directors, planners and maintenance staff are busy preparing for the upcoming term.  With a new influx of students, programming and amenities, now is the perfect time to quickly inspect your athletic equipment.

While in most cases, a professional inspection is always your best bet, they are not always entirely necessary, especially if your facility is diligent about year-round maintenance.  If however, you are unsure as to the condition of any piece of equipment, we urge you to schedule an inspection with a certified professional.

Here are few quick checks you and your staff can make in a number of different areas to ensure your athletic equipment such as basketball systems, bleachers and other sport-oriented products are ready to roll for the 2016-2017 season.

Donated in 1908 by John Walter Lyon, Lyon Park, located in Guelph, Ontario has come a long way over the years, due in part to the original agreement set forth by John Walter Lyon.  As part of the donation, Lyon added a condition to the agreement between himself and the City of Guelph.  His condition required that the city spend a minimum of $250/year towards upgrading the space over the course of 10 years.  He agreed to match the very same contributions that the city made in an effort to see this beautiful space upgraded over time and maintained regularly.

Much like the bulk of our athletic equipment and infrastructure products and solutions, customization to fit any use or facility is in most cases, possible.  The very same can be said about our telescopic bleacher seating structures. 

To the surprise of some, these seating structures are actually available in a wide variety of configurations and some variants are specifically designed to fit certain spaces and unique design elements found in gymnasiums and athletic complexes.

As one of the most practical and versatile indoor seating structures on the market today, these foldable seating structures allow for additional use of space, clean design and safe operation.  Here are a few of the different ways we can configure retractable bleachers for your next project:

Bowl seating concept our team designed for Richardson Stadium at Queen's University

Browsing through the sports column of your favourite newspaper or website these days, we can’t ignore the amount of stadium builds and re-designs being covered.  What used to be strictly an issue of safety for outdated facilities has now morphed into a crowd-focused undertaking by many amateur and professional sports clubs and franchises.

Today’s sports fan places a great deal of emphasis on attaining the most memorable experience possible. Where ticket stubs were once the only souvenir many got to take away from viewing a game, spectators are now leaving with the unforgettable memory of feeling like they were a part of the action.

The end of 2015 was an exciting time for us at Sport Systems, as we were proudly awarded the contract for the redevelopment of the historic Richardson Stadium at Queen’s University.  It was opened in 1921 and nearly a century later, it still remains home to the Queen’s Gaels Soccer and Football teams.

Iconic games and championships checker the stadium’s historic tenure in Kingston and now, once again, the stadium will enter into a new era of the school’s athletic programming.

The plan outlined a plethora of new amenities for teams, coaching staff members and spectators with the focus being on improving spectator sightlines and all-inclusive integrated seating options.  The innovative bowl seating design will soon house up to 8,000 spectators which aims to bring fans one step closer to the field of play, intensifying the stadium experience.

On Canada’s east coast, one of our most recent projects brought us to picturesque New Brunswick, one of the country’s four Maritime provinces.  Home of the Ganong Chocolate Company, St. Stephen, New Brunswick has long been noted as Canada’s Chocolate Town since the company established itself there back in 1873.

Since then, St. Stephen has blossomed into a government town as federal services such as Canada Post and Canada’s Customs and Border Agency opened large offices in the city.  Situated on the St. Croix River, the town sits directly on the border with the United States and each year co-hosts a week-long International Festival with their America neighbours in Calais, Maine.

When it comes to securing a large-scale grandstand bleachers there are, as one can imagine, a number of considerations to be taken into account well before the aluminum arrives at the site.  These structures are permanent in nature and as such, involve a number of key stakeholders early on in the process to ensure the proposed site can handle the structure and that it will be safe for years to come.

While our team can and will gladly aid your organization in completing all the necessary tasks needed to begin the design process of your new bleacher structure, here are three factors that can get you started on the right foot.