VANCOUVER - Long before the roof fell in on B.C. Place Stadium, politicians were considering what should be done with the sports dome.
Just before taking a tour of the deflated dome on Monday, Tourism and Sport Minister Stan Hagen said politicians have been looking at the fate of the stadium for over a year.
"I think there are some questions about whether the stadium should be here or whether is should be somewhere else,'' he said.
Hagen noted that when the stadium was built in the early 1980's, the land wasn't good for much else.
Since then, the property around B.C. Place -- once used for Expo 86 and now home to the CFL's B.C. Lions -- has been sold and developed, leaving the dome looking like a giant mushroom among a forest of expensive, high-rise condominiums.
"Maybe there's a different use for the stadium,'' Hagen said.
The opening and closing ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will be at the stadium and conventions and other events have been booked at B.C. Place through to 2012.
Hagen said it's prudent to look at the life and location of any public building.
The province and taxpayers subsidize the stadium by about $4 million to $5 million each year.
"We certainly would like to get away from that,'' Hagen said.
It's an added cost that Chris Shaw, head of an Olympics watchdog group, suspects the B.C. government would not be making if the venue wasn't needed for the 2010 Games.
"I think we would probably be just plowing it down,'' said Shaw, a spokesman for 2010 Watch, which opposes holding the Games in Vancouver.
"Again, it's one more raid on the taxpayers' wallet.''
But Hagen said the city needs a stadium such as B.C. Place, not only for football games, but for other events.
"It's a necessary and an important function from a tourism point of view, from an economic development point of view.''
Hagen admitted he was caught unaware of a developer's value estimate for the land of $250 million dollars to $400 million.
"We need to do a lot of research and a lot of work before we formulate any opinions or views.''
The stadium cost taxpayers $172 million dollars to build.
B.C. Lions owner David Braley has offered to buy the facility.
Hagen said the government hasn't ruled anything out.
After patching the Teflon roof all weekend, officials in charge of raising the dome again were worried about another dump of snow predicted for overnight Monday.
"We're looking at a reinflation date of Wednesday or Thursday of this week,'' said B.C. Place general manager Howard Crosley.
It should only take 30 minutes to an hour to raise the roof.
Crosley said the roof's heating system is working and any melted snow will be pumped out through the stadium's drainage system.
Crosley said the stadium will be ready for an event next Monday.
"We're still confident the show will go on next week,'' he said.
A preliminary report released last week said a combination of human error and natural causes led to the roof collapse on Jan. 5.
The report said weakened fabric on the dome, a rapid pressurization of the roof and heavy winds caused the roof to tear.
