Rogers Centre

Rogers Centre, formerly known as (and often still unofficially 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 fairs, and concerts.

Rogers Centre is also noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof and as a 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.)

History

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 west 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.

Recent developments

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 five-year 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 required 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.

In November 2005 Rogers Centre received a complete makeover in the 100 level concourse, making it larger. This required some seats to be removed, which lowered its capacity size.

They also have renovated 43 luxury boxes and converted some of them into larger party suites that can accommodate as many as 150 people.

A new Rogers Plus store was opened in the south end of the stadium on April 4, 2006.

Future developments

Next on the agenda is a complete makeover of both the Blue Jays, Argonauts and Visitors locker rooms.

Another project on the long-term agenda involves adding some type of facade to the exterior of the stadium, a monolith that is often criticized for being cold and imposing. * Article on Future developments

Features

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, known to many as the "Big O", having had an 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 Jumbotron television, at 33 by 110 feet. For a time, it was the largest of its kind in the world. The Jumbotron and the stadium played host to several television events, including the series finales for The Next Generation 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.

Other sports

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 two NFL American Bowl games. In June 1997, Rogers Centre featured a well-publicized 150 metre race between sprinters 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.

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.

Soccer fans were able to watch the FIFA World Cup on July 9th final at Rogers Centre, on the state of the art video board by Daktronics.

In January 2007, Rogers Centre will play host to the first ever International Bowl, a NCAA College Football game between U.S. Division I schools.

Other uses

Besides sporting events, the Rogers Centre contains a large exhibit space of 143,000 square feet (13,000 m²) that hosts a variety of events year-round.

It is home to several annual auto shows, 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), 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 speakers, including appearances by the Dalai Lama, Christian Evangelist Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, and J. K. Rowling, for a book reading.

The stadium's inward-looking hotel rooms have two-way windows, yielding some instances of arguably public sexual behaviour. When SkyDome first opened, a couple having sex was televised on the Jumbotron during a baseball game. 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."^*

Facts and figures

Largest Crowds on record at the Rogers Centre:
- Major League Baseball: The 1991 All-Star Game, played on July 9 attracted 52,383 spectators.
- Toronto Blue Jays Baseball: A crowd of 52,268 attended game 5 of the 1992 World Series, which saw Toronto take on the Atlanta Braves.
- CFL Football: 54,088 packed the Rogers Centre to watch the 1989 Grey Cup Game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
- Toronto Argonauts Football: The 1991 Eastern Division Final played against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers drew a crowd of 50,386.
- Toronto Raptors Basketball: A March 24, 1996 game against the Chicago Bulls drew a crowd of 36,131. For this game, the basketball venue was reconfigured to accommodate more fans due to the popularity of the visiting team. Surprisingly though, the expansion Raptors handed the record-setting Bulls one of their ten defeats that season, winning 109-108.
- World Wrestling Entertainment's WrestleMania X8 attracted the largest ever paid crowd to the Rogers Centre. The March 17 2002 event gathered 68,237 fans. WrestleMania VI held the previously record of 67,678 on April 1, 1990. Interestingly, both events were headlined by long-time wrestler Hulk Hogan, who is especially popular in Toronto.

Trivia

The original mascot of the stadium was a turtle by the name of Domer.
It is the tallest and most massive stadium used by any Major League Baseball team.
When the retractable roof is open, people standing on the glass floor of the observation deck of the nearby CN Tower can look down on the field.
Natural grass was installed at SkyDome in July 2004 for the club football games between Liverpool versus Porto on July 30 and AS Roma versus Celtic on July 31.
Fred McGriff hit the first home run ever at SkyDome on June 5, 1989.
John Cerutti recorded the first Blue Jays win at SkyDome on June 7, 1989.
Home to the 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the 1992 and 1993 World Series.

Notes

1. Usage note: 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 (especially locals) refuse to accept the 'Rogers Centre' as the stadium's name and continue referring to it as 'the SkyDome' or 'the Dome'. Also, several signs in the transit system have not adopted the name change, and still continue to display the 'SkyDome' name, as well as the 'D' logo.

External links

Ballpark Digest Visit to Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre - World's Greatest Entertainment Centre
Google satellite image
iBegin Toronto: Rogers Centre - Information, map, reviews
Skydome 3D model on Google Earth

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