| Canadian National Exhibition Stadium | |
|---|---|
Exhibition Stadium in 1992 |
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| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Built | 1948 (grandstand) 1959 (football seats) 1976 (football and baseball seats) |
| Opened | 1959 |
| Closed | May 28, 1989 |
| Demolished | January 31, 1999 |
| Owner | City of Toronto |
| Surface | Grass (1959-1975) AstroTurf (1976-1989) |
| Construction cost | $17.6 million (1976 baseball reconfiguration) |
| Capacity | 33,150 (1959-1974 football) 41,890 (1975 football) 54,000 (1976-1988 football) 38,522 (1977 baseball) 43,737 (1978-1989 baseball) |
| Field dimensions | Left Field - 330 ft (101 m) Left-Centre - 375 ft (114 m) Centre Field - 400 ft (122 m) Right-Centre - 375 ft (114 m) Right Field - 330 ft (101 m) Backstop - 60 ft (18 m) |
| Tenants | |
| Toronto Blue Jays (MLB) (1977-1989) Toronto Argonauts (CFL) (1959-1988) Vanier Cup (CIS) (1973-1975) |
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Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly CNE Stadium or Exhibition Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium, that formerly stood on the Exhibition Place grounds, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
It was actually the fourth stadium to be built on the site since 1879. The covered north-side grandstand was constructed in 1948, followed by a south bleacher section for football in 1959. When converted for football in 1959, the stadium seated 33,150.[1] The stadium was reconfigured again in the mid-1970s to allow the expansion Toronto Blue Jays to play there, with additional seating opposite the covered grandstand on the first base side and curving around to the third base side. It was the only major league stadium where the outfield seats were covered but the main grandstand was not.
Originally built for Canadian football, the Canadian National Exhibition and other events, the stadium served as the home of the Toronto Blue Jays, of Major League Baseball, from 1977-1989. It also served as the home of the Toronto Argonauts, of the Canadian Football League, from 1959-1988. The stadium hosted the Grey Cup game twelve times, over a 24-year period.
In 1999, the stadium was demolished, with the site being used for parking until 2006. BMO Field, a soccer-specific stadium for Toronto FC, was built on the site and opened in 2007.
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Exhibition Stadium was problematic for hosting baseball. Like most multi-purpose stadiums, the outfield seats were far from the field. This was magnified by the fact that Canadian football fields are 30 yards longer, and considerably wider, than American football fields. Combined with the vaguely horseshoe-shape of the stadium, this resulted in many of the seats down the right field line and in the seats in right-centre being extremely far from the infield; they actually faced each other rather than the action. In fact, some seats were as far as 820 feet from home plate — the farthest such distance of any stadium ever used as a principal home field in the majors.[2] Over 10,000 seats in centre field and down the right-field line were so far from the playing field (and did not even directly face the baseball diamond) that the Blue Jays did not even offer them for sale during the regular season.
The left-field seats were the only seats that offered protection from the elements. Ironically, they were the cheapest seats.
Relatively close to Lake Ontario, the stadium was often quite cold at the beginning and end of the season. The first Blue Jays game played there on April 7, 1977 was the only major league game ever played with the field covered entirely by snow. The Blue Jays had to borrow Maple Leaf Gardens' Zamboni to clear off the field. Conditions at the stadium led to another odd incident that first year. On September 15, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver pulled his team off the field because he felt the bricks holding down the bullpen tarps were a hazard to his players. This garnered a win by forfeit for the Jays. It remains the last time in major league baseball history - and the only time since 1914 - that a team deliberately forfeited a game (as opposed to having an umpire call a forfeiture due to unruly fan behaviour).
An April 30, 1984 game against the Texas Rangers was postponed due to 60 mph winds. Prior to the game, Ranger manager Doug Rader named Jim Bibby as his starting pitcher, stating that "he's the heaviest man in the world, and thus will be unaffected by the wind." However, Bibby would never make it to the mound. Two Rangers batters complained about dirt swirling in their eyes, and Blue Jays starting pitcher Jim Clancy was blown off balance several times. The umpires stopped the game after only six pitches. After a 30-minute delay, the game was called off.
The stadium also occasionally had problems with fog, once causing a bizarre inside the park home run for Kelly Gruber when an otherwise routine pop up was lost by the outfielders in the thick fog.
Because of the variable climate and the stadium's multiple tenants in 1976, the original grass surface was replaced with AstroTurf.
Due to its position next to the lake, and the food disposed by baseball and football fans, the stadium was a popular feeding ground for seagulls. New York Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield was arrested on August 4, 1983 for killing a seagull with a baseball. Winfield had just finished his warm-up exercises in the 5th inning and threw a ball to the ball boy, striking a seagull in the head. the seagull died, and some claimed that Winfield hit the bird on purpose, which prompted Yankees manager Billy Martin to state "They wouldn't say that if they'd seen the throws he'd been making all year. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man". The charges were later dropped. Winfield would later play for the Blue Jays, winning a World Series with the club in 1992.
Exhibition Stadium's fate was sealed during the 70th Grey Cup, popularly known as "the Rain Bowl" because it was played in a driving rainstorm. Many fans were forced to spend most of the game in the concession area because their seats offered no protection from the elements. By 1983, officials with Metro Toronto, the Blue Jays and Argonauts agreed to abandon Exhibition Stadium once a domed stadium could be built closer to Toronto's downtown. The decision to build a retractable roof stadium – the second in North America, and the first with rigid roof panels – along with engineering and cost questions meant that SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) was not completed until 1989. If not delayed, it would have been the first retractable roof in North America; Olympic Stadium in Montreal finally got its retractable roof to work in 1988. However, the Montreal design was problematic — soon after it was put into use it ripped on several occasions. In the months that followed, it was plagued by further rips and even leaks whenever it rained, bringing water down into the stadium. It was shut down for good in 1989, and replaced by a fixed roof in 1992. For this reason, SkyDome is sometimes said to have been the first fully functioning retractable roof in North America.
Exhibition Stadium lay mostly dormant over the decade following the opening of SkyDome, except for the occasional concert or minor sporting event. The World Wrestling Federation, (now World Wrestling Entertainment) needing a new venue after a decision to discontinue traditional events at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1995, held one card there on August 24, 1996 for a crowd of 21,211. The main event was Shawn Michaels vs. Goldust in a ladder match. The stadium was demolished in 1999 and the site became a parking lot. A few chairs from the stadium can be found on the southeast corner just north of the bridge to cross over to Ontario Place's main entrance. The remaining chairs were sold off to collectors during the dismantling of the stadium.
Although not widely used while the stadium was in operation (given the well known references to Cleveland's Municipal Stadium), the term "Mistake by the Lake" has been used more recently in reflection by Toronto media to refer to the now-demolished venue.[3][4]
On October 26, 2005, the City of Toronto approved $69 million CAD to build a new 20,000 seat stadium in almost the same spot where the old Stadium once was. The governments of Canada and Ontario combined for $35 million CAD, with the city paying $9.8 million CAD, and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment paying the rest, including any runoff costs. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment got the naming rights of the new stadium, and has a Major League Soccer team in the new stadium, named Toronto FC. The stadium, called BMO Field, also held the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup along with other cities in Canada.
| Events and tenants | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by first ballpark |
Home of the Toronto Blue Jays 1977–1989 |
Succeeded by SkyDome |
| Preceded by Varsity Stadium |
Home of the Toronto Argonauts 1959–1988 |
Succeeded by SkyDome |
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