Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, the stadium was also home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) played an annual game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. While it is primarily a sports venue, it also hosts other large events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, travelling carnivals, circuses and monster truck shows.
"SkyDome" redirects here. For other uses, see SkyDome (disambiguation).Former names
SkyDome (1989–2005)
1 Blue Jays Way
Rogers Stadium Limited Partnership
Baseball: 39,150[3]
Concerts: 10,000–55,000
WrestleMania X8: 68,237 (March 17, 2002)
Left Field Line – 328 ft (100 m)
Left-Centre – 368 ft (112 m)
Left-Centre Power Alley – 381 ft (116 m)
Centre Field – 400 ft (120 m)
Right-Centre Power Alley – 372 ft (113 m)
Right-Centre – 359 ft (109 m)
Right Field Line – 328 ft (100 m)
Backstop – 60 ft (18 m)
October 3, 1986
June 3, 1989 (as SkyDome)
Rod Robbie, Robbie Adjeleian NORR Consortium
Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Ltd.[6]
The Mitchell Partnership Inc.[7]
EllisDon Construction
The stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the 2005 purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, the corporation that also owns the Toronto Blue Jays.[1][9] The venue is noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it with 70 rooms overlooking the field.[10] It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball. The stadium served as the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan American Games (renamed the Pan-Am Dome or Pan-Am Ceremonies Venue due to sponsorship regulations).[11]
History[edit]
Background and design[edit]
The idea of building a domed stadium can be traced back to the bid that Toronto lost to Montreal as the Canadian candidate city for the 1976 Summer Olympics. In the proposal, an 80,000–100,000 seat complex would be part of the planned Harbour City development on the site of Maple Leaf Stadium.[12]
The contemporary impetus for building an enclosed sports venue in Toronto came following the Grey Cup game in November 1982, held at the outdoor Exhibition Stadium. The game, in which the hometown Toronto Argonauts (also known as the Argos) were making their first Grey Cup appearance since 1971, was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched, leading the media to call it "the Rain Bowl". As many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, thousands watched the game from the concession section. To make a bad experience even worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, and the poor conditions were seen by the largest television audience in Canada (over 7.862 million viewers) to that point.[13] The following day, at a rally for the Argos at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!"[14]
Seven months later, in June 1983, Davis formally announced a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay.[15]
The committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to BC Place in Vancouver. In 1985, an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site. Some of the proposed sites included Exhibition Place, Downsview Airport, and York University. The final site was at the base of the CN Tower not far from Union Station, a major railway and transit hub. The Railway Lands were a major Canadian National Railway rail switching yard encompassing the CNR Spadina Roundhouse (the desolate downtown lands were part of a master plan for revitalizing the area, which includes CityPlace). Ultimately, the Robbie/Allen concept won because it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound.
The stadium was designed by architect Rod Robbie and structural engineer Michael Allen and was constructed by the EllisDon Construction company of London, Ontario and the Dominion Bridge Company of Lachine, Quebec. The stadium's construction lasted about 2+1⁄2 years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million[4] ($1.08 billion in 2021 dollars[16]) which was paid for by the federal government, Ontario provincial government, the City of Toronto, and a large consortium of corporations.[17]
Financing[edit]
The stadium was funded by a public–private partnership, with the government paying the largest percentage of the cost. The initial cost of $150 million was greatly underestimated,[18] as the final cost was C$570 million ($1.08 billion in 2021 dollars[16]).[4] Two levels of government (Metro Toronto and provincial) each initially contributed $30 million ($56.8 million in 2021 dollars[16]).[4][18][19] This does not include the value of the land that the stadium sits on, which was owned by the Canada Lands Company (a Crown corporation of Canada) and the City of Toronto and was leased for $900,000 a year through 2088.[20] Canada's three main breweries (Labatt's, Molson, and Carling O'Keefe) and the Toronto Blue Jays each paid $5 million ($9.47 million in 2021 dollars[16]) to help fund the stadium.[19] An additional 26 other Canadian corporations (selected by invitation only) also contributed $5 million,[19] for which they received one of the 161 Skyboxes with four parking spaces (for ten years, with an opportunity for renewal) and a 99-year exclusive option on stadium advertising. The initial cost of leasing a skybox ranged from $150,000 to $225,000 ($283,957 to $425,936 in 2021 dollars[16]) a year in 1989 – plus the cost of tickets for all events.
The then unusual financing structure created controversy. First of all, there was no public tender for supplies and equipment. Secondly, companies that paid the $5 million fee, such as Coca-Cola, TSN and CIBC, received 100 percent stadium exclusivity,[4] including advertising rights, for the life of their contract that could be extended up to 99 years. Third, the contracts were not put up for bid, meaning there was some doubt the contracts were made at a market rate: Pepsi stated at the time that had it known the terms of the contract it would have paid far more than $5 million for the rights. Local media like NOW Magazine called the amount charged to the companies "scandalously low".[21]
In popular culture[edit]
The stadium is the setting of the climax in the 2022 Pixar animated film Turning Red, in which the fictional boy band 4*Town performs a large-scale concert during which the stadium is partially destroyed. As the Toronto-set film's time period is set in 2002, the stadium is referred to by its original SkyDome name.[147]