Saskatoon's long-sought pro soccer dream put on hold indefinitely

Plans for a multi-million-dollar FIFA-compliant soccer stadium in Saskatoon have been put on hold indefinitely.

Prairieland and Living Sky Sports & Entertainment announced last year that they planned to have shovels in the ground in spring 2023 for a soccer stadium, with the goal of having a team ready for kick-off of the 2024 season of the Canadian Premier League (CPL).

However, with a news release Tuesday announcing the pause on the stadium, the timeline has taken a hit.

"Sometimes in business you have to make these tough decisions where you just have to put a pause on things," Prairieland CEO Dan Kemppainen said.

Prairieland announced that it's pausing the stadium, with no future plans in place, because of changing economical landscapes. Kemppainen cited interest rates, inflation and other rising costs.

"When the economic situation changes and it looks favourable to embark down this road again, we'll certainly do that — or certainly take a look at it, I should say."

In a media briefing last year, Prairieland board chair Steve Chisholm said the 5500-seat soccer stadium was estimated to cost roughly $28 million. Additionally, the new stadium would have the potential to expand to 8,000 seats in the future, according to the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority's (SREDA) CPL soccer stadium economic impact study from 2021.

The proposed site of the stadium was Marquis Downs, the space formerly used for horse racing in the city.

Last year, Prairieland and Living Sky Sports took their case to a City of Saskatoon committee, requesting $8 million in public funds in $1 million annual instalments to help finance the project. However, Kemppainen said they never got to the stage of putting in a formal request for the