It has served northern Ontario for 50 years, but some think the Laurentian track stadium could be so much more

When you look at photos from the 1988 World Junior Track and Field championships, it's tough to recognize the Laurentian University stadium.

The seats are full of spectators, packed intobleachers that encircle the track on the Sudbury campus.

The goal of stadiumbuilt for$148,500 in 1974in a partnership between the university and the city was to regularly host major national and international events.

But 50 years later, it is mostly local athletes who run on that track.

"We would like to host championships here. I would like to see us not going to Toronto every weekend. Let the world come back to us," said Robert Esmie, an Olympic gold medallist sprinter who grew up in Sudbury and now uses the track for his private training business.

"Make this the '80s again."

Peter Hellstrom, Laurentian University's director of athleticsand recreation, says the grandstand "needs some attention obviously" and he's hopeful that could meanadding on to the stadium.

"I'd like to see a multi-purpose stadium here," he said.

"I think with everything growing the way it is. This is a great complex. The footprint is here. I think that has to be looked at next time, whenever the powers that be want to look at this."

It's unclear how much that would cost. Laurentian is currently replacing the boilers and sewage lift station in the grandstand at a cost of $290,000. In 2010, the track itself was redone for$2.6 million, including $800,000 from the city and $500,000 from Laurentian,

That has been the partnership from the beginning. The track itself is owned by the city, but the land underneath it and all around it is owned by the university.

Greater Sudbury's director of leisure services Jeff Pafford says the city spendsabout$15,000 every year to maintain the track surface and it's booked every spring and summer for a total of 511 hours.

"It's an important facility as we look to bid on other regional and provincial events," he said.

It was built in 1974 in time for the Ontario Summer Games and Junior Olympics and did host the national track and field championships in 1977.

Sudbury won the bid for the 1982 nationals as well, but had to pull out due to "deteriorating conditions" at the track.

An injection of $600,000 paid for track repairs and temporary seating ahead of the 1988 world juniors, that attracted some 17,000 spectators to the stadium.

But the $1 million debt left behind from the event that was absorbed by Sudbury city taxpayers reportedly left a "cloud" hanging over the track and made local officials gun-shy about bidding on other sporting competitions.

Dick Moss grew up running on the dirt track at Queen Elizabeth Public School in the Flour Mill neighbourhood before the Laurentian track was built and has spent many days there since coaching for the Track North club, as well as the Laurentian University varsity team.

"It's highly used, especially during the spring. You can come here any time of the day and you'll see people walking, jogging, doing yoga, you name it," he said.

"In terms of its mandate, I think it's been amazing. It's gotten its use and it's really contributed to the economy of the city over the years. I think it's well worth the money we put into it."

Moss thinks it's a "wonderful facility" and would like to see it remain a "stand-alone" track stadium, worrying what changing the in field to fit soccer or other sports could mean.

Hellstrom agrees that the track is the "first point of contact" between young local athletes and the university, with a crowded schedule of school track meets through the spring.

But he says even to hold major high school competitions in the near future, the stadium will need at least some upgrades.

"We do have some accessibility issues. We really do," he said, mentioning the gravel roads leading into the stadium and thelack of ramps forthe grandstand.

Hellstrom says that Sudbury lost points in the bidding for the 2021 Canada Games, the latest major sporting event the city tried to land.