, formerly known as (and often still called) '''SkyDome''',
1 is a multi-purpose
Stadium in
Toronto ,
Ontario , situated next to the
CN Tower near the shores of
Lake Ontario . It is home to
Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays and the
Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts . While it is primarily a sports
Venue , Rogers Centre also hosts other large-scale events such as
Conventions ,
Trade Fair s, and
Concerts .
Rogers Centre is also noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof and the only stadium to have hotel rooms attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both
Football and
Baseball . Since 1989, all the newer major-league stadia in
Canada and the
United States have been built specifically for one sport or the other (although some of the newer baseball parks have been known to host the occasional
College Football game.)
Rogers Centre was designed by
Rod Robbie and
Michael Allen and was constructed by
Ellis-Don Construction of
London, Ontario . The stadium's construction lasted just over three years, from April
1986 to May
1989 . The approximate cost of construction was $600 million (
CAD ) which was paid for by the
Canadian Federal Government ,
Ontario provincial government, and a large
Consortium of corporations. Though nominally a multi-purpose stadium the primary impetus for its construction was the need for a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays, who until
1989 played at
Exhibition Stadium , which was seen as substandard due to a layout originally designed for football and exposure to cold weather. It was the
1982 CFL Grey Cup game that began the process of looking for a new stadium. The professional football match turned into chaos as the sleet and snow turned the playing field into a muddy pit, the washrooms were overflowing and the crowds were exposed to the miserable autumn weather. In attendance was Ontario Premier,
Bill Davis . Following the fiasco began the search for an all-purpose, all-weather stadium. Over the years various tangible projects emerged, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air supported dome - similar to Vancouver's
BC Place . In
1985 an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site for the stadium. Some of the sites included
Exhibition Place and
York University . The final site was located at the base of the
CN Tower just east of a major railway and transit hub
Union Station , downtown Toronto. The land was a major
CN rail switching yard (The desolate downtown lands were part of a masterplan for revitalizing the area which includes
Cityplace ).
Ultimately the Robbie/Allen concept won for it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound. Others stadium designs included one that was like a bow tie, which cast a shadow over the field.
The stadium was publicly funded. The initial cost was greatly underestimated, with the final tab coming in at $570 million CAD. The stadium was also completed late, having been planned to open for the first regular season Toronto Blue Jays game. The stadium would later become the thorn in the side of
David Peterson 's Ontario Liberal government for its overspending in the venture. An election in
1990 saw the party lose power.
The name ''SkyDome'' was coined by a private citizen who entered a Province-wide contest to name the stadium. Sponsored by the
Toronto Sun , ballots were offered for people to submit their suggested name. Several people did choose 'SkyDome', and as a result a winning name was drawn from all the similar entries. The selected winners won lifetime seats to SkyDome.
In the early
1990s the consortium of companies that had built the stadium had amassed a huge debt and a massive, and controversial, government bail-out was arranged. In 1998, Sportsco International LP bought the stadium for $85 million (Canadian). However, by
2004 ,
Rogers Communications , parent company of the Blue Jays, agreed to acquire SkyDome from Sportco International, LP for about $25 million
CAD (about $21.24 million
USD ) which was 1/24 the cost of construction.
On
February 2 ,
2005 Ted Rogers , President and
CEO of
Rogers Communications , which owns the Blue Jays, announced that his company will significantly increase the Blue Jays team payroll to the tune of $210 million over the next three seasons, starting in
2005 and announced a three-year corporate contract to change the name of SkyDome to the Rogers Centre.
1
After the purchase, Rogers refurbished the stadium by erecting a new state of the art, integrated scoring and display system along with replacing the Jumbotron. Rogers Centre features a new artificial playing surface called
FieldTurf .
In May
2005 , the
Toronto Argonauts agreed to three 5 years leases at Rogers Centre, which could see the Argonauts playing out of Rogers Centre up to and including 2019. The team has the option to leave at the end of each of the three lease agreements. The Argos also announced that they will not move into a new stadium that was being planned at
York University , a project which York subsequently cancelled.
In April
2006 , the Rogers Centre became one of the first buildings of its size to adopt a completely smoke-free policy. The Rogers Centre made this decision in advance of an act of provincial legislature that requires all Ontario public places to go smoke-free by June 1, 2006. Designated smoking rooms, or "puffers" as they were known, will no longer be available to patrons. As a result, smokers will no longer be able to smoke during events due to the pre-existing no pass-out policy. The no pass-out policy does not allow for readmittance to the facility after exiting.
Rogers Communications announced in November
2005 that the Rogers Centre will receive a complete makeover in the 100 level concourse, and also make it larger. This will require some seats to be removed, which will lower its capacity size.
They will also be renovating 43 luxury boxes and will convert some of them into larger party suites that can accommodate as many as 150 people.
A new Rogers Plus store will be opened in the south end of the stadium on
April 4 ,
2006 .
Next on the agenda is a complete makeover of both the Blue Jays, Argonauts and Visitors locker rooms.
SkyDome, as it was then properly called, was the first major team sports arena in
North America to sport a fully retractable roof; Montreal's
Olympic Stadium earlier roof being a total failure. The roof is composed of four panels and covers an area of 345,000 square
Feet . It takes 20 minutes for the roof to open or close.
The venue is also well known for its enormous '' and ''
Cheers '' along with live coverage of the funeral of Princess Diana.
The centre also has an on-site
Fitness Club , and
Hard Rock Café . The
Renaissance Toronto Hotel is also located within Rogers Centre, with some of the hotel rooms overlooking the field.
Besides
Baseball and
Canadian Football , Rogers Centre was the original home of the
National Basketball Association's Toronto Raptors , who played at the venue from November
1995 - February
1999 . The centre has also hosted exhibition
Soccer ,
Cricket and
NFL games. In June
1997 , Rogers Centre featured a well-publicized 150 metre race between
Sprinter s
Donovan Bailey and
Michael Johnson . Soccer matches have also become commonplace in the past few years. Previous attempts were few and far between when the old astroturf was in place.
In 1990, the arena hosted
WrestleMania VI , which boasted a record attendance of 67,678, presumably not counting
WWF wrestlers and staff. In
2002 , the centre hosted
WrestleMania X8 , drawing another record figure of 68,237.
Rogers Centre is the site of several major
High School and
Collegiate sporting competitions including the
Prentice Cup for baseball and, from
1989 to
2003 , the
Vanier Cup for
Canadian Interuniversity Sport football.
In January 2007, Rogers Centre will play host to the first ever
International Bowl , a
NCAA College Football game between
US Division I schools.
performing at Rogers Centre, October
2003 ]]
Besides sporting events, the Rogers Centre contains a large exhibit space of 143,000
Square Feet (13,000 m&
2) that hosts a variety of events year-round.
It is home to several annual
Auto Show s, with the
Canadian International AutoShow in February and Importfest in October. Travelling shows like
World Wrestling Entertainment (which has used the facility to host two
WrestleMania events,
WM VI and
WM X8 ),
Disney On Ice and
Circuses also have used the venue.
Rogers Centre is the largest indoor concert venue in Toronto and over the years it has hosted many international acts including
U2 ,
The Rolling Stones ,
Garth Brooks ,
Avril Lavigne , and
Andy Lau . The stadium has several concert configurations, including smaller Theatre (capacity 5,000 to 7,000) and Concert Hall (formerly SkyTent; capacity 10,000-25,000) setups with acoustical curtains to improve sound quality.
The centre has also hosted many
Public Speaker s, including appearances by the
Dalai Lama ,
Nelson Mandela , and
J. K. Rowling , for a
Book Reading .
The stadium's inward-looking hotel rooms have two-way
Window s, yielding some instances of
Arguably Public Sexual Behaviour . When SkyDome first opened, a couple was
Having Sex during a baseball game and this was televised on the Jumbotron. Days later, a man was caught
Masturbating during a game in full view of the packed stands. The man, later tracked down by a ''
Sports Illustrated '' reporter, calmly said, "I thought they were one-way windows."
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- 1. According to the building's owners, correct usage of the former name was ''SkyDome'', without a Definite Article . This usage had been more or less accepted outside of Toronto, especially by ESPN , but in everyday conversation 'the SkyDome' was common. It remains to be seen whether the new name will replace the former one in common speech. Although popular media outlets have adopted the new branding (immediately in most cases), many people refuse to accept the 'Rogers Centre' as the stadium's name and continue referring to it as 'the SkyDome.'
