Do you want to build a CFL stadium? Well, you'd better have some lawyers. James Bagnall has a fascinating Ottawa Citizen piece from last week on the array of lawsuits that have sprung up over the construction of TD Place (and the rest of the Lansdowne Park project), which include one company that went bankrupt, another one that lost 85 per cent of its workforce, eight other companies that either have sued or are suing the primary contractor, and the primary contractor suing the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG, which led the project and owns the Redblacks, the Ottawa Fury, the Ottawa 67s and more). While the Ottawa lawsuit details are significant in their own right, though, they're even more notable as part of a trend. All three CFL stadiums opened in the last three years (in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Hamilton) have featured significant litigation, as has the 2011 renovation of Vancouver's B.C. Place. That's a disturbing trend, and one that perhaps bodes poorly for the ongoing stadium project in Regina, the ongoing one in Toronto, and the contemplated one in Calgary.



First, let's discuss what's going on in Ottawa. Here's a well-constructed infographic explaining the situation from Bagnall and Dennis Leung, accompanying that Citizen piece:

View photos An outline of what's going on with the Lansdowne lawsuits. (James Bagnall and Dennis Leung/Ottawa Citizen.) More

Essentially, these lawsuits are arising from a dispute between OSEG and Pomerleau (the primary contractor) over who would pay unbudgeted expenses that arose from unexpected work and design changes. Both said the other should pay; Pomerleau said the extra bills from the changes should have been paid by OSEG, while OSEG maintained Pomerleau was responsible thanks to accepting a fixed-price contract. With the dispute going on, Pomerleau stopped paying subcontractors' invoices for the extra work, leading to a bankruptcy (Spring Valley Classic Custom, a 70-worker company that built the stadium's wooden veil and went bankrupt in October largely as a result of unpaid invoices), a massive downsizing, (Am-Tech Electrical went from 170 employees to less than 25, and is now being sued by its own suppliers) and more. Some of the lawsuits have been settled, but many are still pending. Pomerleau told The Citizen it “has resolved, or is in the process of resolving, all commercial issues with its sub-trades" and "trust[s] that all contracts will be closed within the next 60 days," so this may be wrapped up before too long, but it's still a fascinating web of just what can go wrong on a stadium project.

It's far from the only one, too. Winnipeg's Investors Group Field, which opened in 2013 and hosted the Grey Cup this November, already underwent some major renovations ahead of the big game (to partly fix drainage and flooding issues, plus do a $350,000 enclosure of the press box), and it's undergoing many more this winter. In October, the Manitoba government guaranteed a $35 million loan to fix the stadium's structural issues, including drainage, cracked concrete, and insufficient insulation. The stadium ownership consortium (which includes the province, the Bombers and the University of Manitoba) launched a major lawsuit against architect Ray Wan and builder Stuart Olson Construction in March, alleging they had already spent $4.7 million on repairs at that point and that significant further repairs (the $35 million) were still needed. That lawsuit remains before the courts. Also, that stadium was initially set to open in 2012, but didn't open until 2013 thanks to a variety of delays.