| Empire Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Location | East Hastings Street, Vancouver |
| Opened | 1954 |
| Demolished | 1993 |
| Owner | City of Vancouver |
| Surface | Natural Grass (1954–1970), Artificial Grass (1970–1993) |
| Capacity | 32,729 |
| Tenants | |
| BC Lions (CFL) (1954–1982) Vancouver Whitecaps (NASL) (1974–1983) Vancouver Royals (USA/NASL) (1967–1968) 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games |
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Empire Stadium was a multipurpose stadium that formerly stood at the Pacific National Exhibition site at Hastings Park in Vancouver. Track and field and Canadian football, as well as soccer and musical events, were held in the stadium. The stadium was originally constructed for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. The stadium, which sat 32,375 upon opening, but 30,229 after 1974, was Vancouver's venue for both Elvis Presley and The Beatles. It saw most of its use as the home of the BC Lions of the CFL from 1954–1982, in which the venue also played host to the first Grey Cup game held west of Ontario in 1955. Empire Stadium also hosted the Grey Cup game in 1958, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1971, and 1974; seven times in total.
Empire Stadium was often home to the Shrine Bowl Provincial Championship for provincial senior high school[1]
The stadium was also home to the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League during the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as the Vancouver Royals of the same league for their only year of play in 1968.
In 1970, it became the first facility in Canada to have artificial playing surface installed made by 3M, under the brand name "Tartan Turf".
Both the Lions and Whitecaps moved to BC Place Stadium for the 1983 season. The stadium was demolished in the early 1990s. The site served as a parking lot for the neighbouring Pacific National Exhibition as well as Playland for many years before being converted to a soccer field and track on the site of the old field.
With BC Place Stadium undergoing renovations, the BC Lions played their home games at a temporary field constructed on the former grounds of Empire Stadium during the 2010 season.[2] The Vancouver Whitecaps, are currently playing the first few months of their 2011 MLS season at the site as well while renovations are completed.[3],[4]
Once the temporary stadium is removed, the park and smaller playing (sports) fields will be restored for community use.
Vancouver hosted the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 at Empire Stadium. The most famous event of the games was the One Mile Race in which both John Landy and Roger Bannister ran the distance in under four minutes. The race's end is memorialized in a statue of the two (with Landy glancing over his shoulder, thus losing the race), that stood outside the stadium until its demolition. The statue formerly stood near the site of the former stadium but since its demolition the statue has been moved to the Pacific National Exhibition entrance plaza at the intersection of Renfrew and Hastings Streets.
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