Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field

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Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field
Taylor Field
Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field during a Roughrider game
Location	1910 Piffles Taylor Way P.O. Box 1966 Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3E1
Opened	1927
Owner	City of Regina
Surface	Dirt (1927-45) Grass (1946-76) 3M Tartan Turf (1979-87) OmniTurf (1988-1999) AstroTurf (2000-06) FieldTurf (2007-)
Construction cost	Unknown
Architect	Unknown
Tenants	Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL) Regina Rams (CIS football) 2005 Canada Games (field hockey) Regina Prairie Thunder (CJFL) Regina High School Football
Capacity	Football: 28,800 (51,000 with temporary seating)

Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field is a sports stadium located in Regina, Saskatchewan which is used primarily to play Canadian football. Taylor Field is the home field of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who play in the Canadian Football League. Additionally, it is also the home field for the University of Regina Rams, who play in CIS and the Regina Thunder who play in the Canadian Junior Football League. The field is also used to play high school football.

The stadium was built in 1927 as Park de Young and became home to the Roughriders that same year. In 1946 it was renamed Taylor Field. It is owned and managed by the city of Regina. The field currently has artificial turf and a seating capacity of 28,800. Renovations in 1978-79 increased the seating capacity by about 7,000 seats with the addition of an upper-level grandstand on one side of the field. In 2005, a new scoreboard was installed, which included the stadium's first permanent giant replay screen.

Taylor Field was the site of the 83rd and 91st Grey Cup games. A temporary grandstand seating for an additional 20,000 spectators was added for each of these games. It has also played host to the field hockey competition at the 2005 Canada Games among other notable sporting events over the decades. The stadium also hosts the annual Labour Day Classic game between the Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers which is usually played on the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend

Currently, there are plans to renovate the stadium costing about C$13 million which could include new permanent seating at the endzones and the already built Jumbotron. The city hopes these renovations will help them host the 2012 Grey Cup, which will be the 100th anniversary of the first championship game. As it currently stands, Mosaic Stadium is one of the most antiquated stadiums in the CFL.

The stadium was named after Neil J. "Piffles" Taylor, a First World War fighter pilot and postwar lawyer who played and coached rugby union and football in the city, and subsequently served as president of the Regina Roughriders (forerunner of the Saskatchewan Roughriders), the Canadian Rugby Union and the Western Interprovincial Football Union. A man of legendary toughness, Taylor lost an eye in action during the First World War, and spent more than a year in a German prisoner of war camp, but persisted in playing football in the 1920s.^[1] Roughrider folklore holds his artificial glass eye was once jolted out of its socket when he was tackled. All play stopped while players from both teams hunted for the missing eye. When found, Taylor cleaned it, then popped it back into its socket and resumed play.^[2]

On June 23, 2006, the Roughriders and The Mosaic Company announced a 10 year, $3.75 million naming rights deal. Unlike other similar deals, which have seen original names of facilities disappear, it was decided to retain the Taylor Field name, thus the facility was renamed Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field.^[1]^[2]

The stadium was the site of the three longest field goals in Canadian Football League history (note that Taylor Field is one of the most windy venues in the CFL due to the windy Saskatchewan climate and the structure of the stadium itself). Paul Watson tied the league record with a 59-yarder against Winnipeg July 12, 1981. Dave Ridgway hit a 60-yarder against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers September 6, 1987. That record was broken by Paul McCallum, who kicked a 62-yard field goal against the Edmonton Eskimos on October 27, 2001 in a 12-3 victory.^[3] Ridgway and Mark McLoughlin of the Calgary Stampeders have also kicked 58-yard field goals at Taylor Field.

The Rolling Stones played at Mosaic Stadium on the 6th and 8th of October, 2006. The first concert sold out so quickly a second concert was announced for October 6. Both shows sold out in less than an hour. The concerts reportedly pumped over $10 million into the province of Saskatchewan and together serve as the highest grossing concert event in Canadian history. Together, the concerts are also in the top-40 highest grossing concert events in North America.

The stadium was the last in the CFL to use the outdated artificial surface AstroTurf. FieldTurf was installed prior to the 2007 season, leaving the Edmonton Eskimos' home field, Commonwealth Stadium, as the lone CFL venue not to sport next-generation artificial turf (Commonwealth has a natural grass surface).