Past CFL Stadiums - Thoughts and Memories

[Robbie]

The first time the Grey Cup was held outside of Toronto or Hamilton was in 1922 when it was held at Richardson Memorial Stadium in Kingston, Ontario. The modern day reincarnation was built in 1971.

[Robbie]

Have any of you heard of the Sarnia Imperials? They won the Grey Cup in 1934 and 1936. And in 1933, they lost the Grey Cup to the Toronto Argonauts in the lowest scoring game, 4-3. The 1933 Grey Cup was held at Sarnia's Athletic Park, now known as Norm Perry Park after the former star football player and Sarnia mayor.

Here are some pictures of their current reincarnation and how Norm Perry Park appears today.

[Willie_the_wisp]

This is another view of Empire Stadium. Compared to that earlier picture, the roof covering the grandstand is much smaller. I don't know what year this picture is from, but I assume it was sometime between 1954 to 1957. The reason being that the Playland wooden rollercoaster built in 1958 is not visible.

I think this aerial photo of Empire Stadium was taken during the 1954 British Empire Games. If you look closely, you can see that the field is lined for field events such as javelin and shot put, plus on both edges of the field, there are tracks for long jump, high jump, pole vault, etc.

It's a nice trip down memory lane to see the houses to the east, where the cassiar connector is today.

[Robbie]

Courtesy of ThreeTimesOneMinusOne, a good view of Clarke Stadium as seen from inside Commonwealth Stadium.

[chimpy]

That was a good look on empire stadium but i remember later in the early 70's they expanded the roof to couver more fans.

[Lions4ever]

This is another view of Empire Stadium. Compared to that earlier picture, the roof covering the grandstand is much smaller. I don't know what year this picture is from, but I assume it was sometime between 1954 to 1957. The reason being that the Playland wooden rollercoaster built in 1958 is not visible.

I think this aerial photo of Empire Stadium was taken during the 1954 British Empire Games. If you look closely, you can see that the field is lined for field events such as javelin and shot put, plus on both edges of the field, there are tracks for long jump, high jump, pole vault, etc.

It's a nice trip down memory lane to see the houses to the east, where the cassiar connector is today.

I would never have recognized that as Empire Stadium. I did not realize that at one time it was a complete oval. Why would they have taken out the north end zone part of the oval and replace it with the rickety little grandstand that I remember?

[120dB]

can you please post some pics of Olympic Stadium sold out?

[hexx]

I want to point out that, including Ottawa, only two of the nine CFL teams have never changed stadiums. The Saskatchwan Roughriders have only played at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field since their inception in 1927, while the various Ottawa Teams have played at Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park since 1908.

The Roughriders were definitely around before 1927, and where did Ottawa play before 1908? I think they played at Lansdowne long before the first version of the stadium was completed, but I'm not sure.



Here's a pic that's just called "The varsity Ottawa rugby match" - dated 1909. Looks like the early Lansdowne stadium to me, though if you look closely at the far side of the field there is a large "TORONTO" sign - so I would guess this is a U of O vs. U of T game. Presumably, this was Toronto on their way to winning the very first ever Grey Cup. Nowadays they can't even win a game - they set the record for the longest losing streak in Canadian university history a few days ago - 48 games.

[ThreeTimesOneMinusOne]

I took that one from the very top of Commonwealth. Quite the workout to get up there, even for my skinny ass. Very steep steps and a lot of them, at that. Man, TELUS Field has some fugly turf. It looks like 1980's Olympic Stadium/Exhibition Stadium crossed with a modern outfield. Just nasty!

[Robbie]

The Roughriders were definitely around before 1927

You're right. According to:

http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/Saska ... /index.htm

From 1910 to 1916, the Riders played at Dominion Park. After the war, they played from 1919-c.1922 at the Exhibition Grounds, before moving to Park Hughes c. 1923. This was supposedly located right next to Taylor Field. In 1928, they moved to Park de Young, which was renamed Taylor Field in 1947.

[Robbie]

where did Ottawa play before 1908?

Taken from:
http://www.cfl.ca/index.php?module=page&id=40

On September 19, 1876, a meeting was held at the Russell Hotel to form the Ottawa Football Club. The club was initially run by the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association, yet it would be another 21 years before a proper nickname would be chosen. Four days later, on September 23, 1876, Ottawa FC, dressed in cerise (moderate red), French grey, and navy blue colours, played their first game, which was held at Jacques Cartier Square against the Aylmer Football Club.

[Robbie]

On September 21, there was a farewell ceremony in Yankee Stadium when the NY Yankees played their last home game before moving to their new stadium. And on September 28, there will be a similar farewell ceremony when the Mets play their last game at Shea Stadium.

Does anybody know whether there was a farewell ceremony when the Lions played their last game in Empire Stadium late in the 1982 season?

And like American college football fields, do you know if fans ever stormed on to the field in Empire Stadium after a Lions game?

[Robbie]

In the last decade, several stadiums have been imploded and demolished to make way for new stadiums. In this day and age with YouTube technology, we could witness it. Here are just a few.

In March 26, 2000 Seattle's Kingdome was imploded. I was glad that I managed to see a few Seattle Mariners and Seahawks game there.
[youtube][/youtube]

For those Blue Jays fans, I'm sure you remember the 1992 World Series in game 6 in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium when Dave Winfield hit a two run double to left field at the top of the 11th, and then Mike Timlin throwing to Joe Carter for the final out.
[youtube][/youtube]

And for Blue Jays fans, there's memories for the 1993 World Series in game 4 of Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium when the Blue Jays scored six runs in the eighth to edge out the Phillies 15-14, with the highlight being a two run triple by Devon White.
[youtube][/youtube]

Other stadium implosions include:

Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium:
[youtube][/youtube]

Pittsburg's Three River Stadium:
[youtube][/youtube]

Does anybody know if there has been an stadium implosions in Canada?

Vancouver's Empire Stadium was demolished in 1993. But was there an actual implosion and was anybody there to see it?

Toronto's Exhibition Stadium was demolished on February 1, 1999. Was there an implosion?

Edmonton's Clarke Stadium was demolished on May 3, 2000 although the field is still there. Was there an actual implosion?

[Bosco]

Watching things 'splode...cool!

I remember when the Kingdome imploded - all of the local Seattle tv stations held weekend long vigils outside the stadium and chronicled events over the 25 year history of the drab, gray structure.

Say what you want about BC Place, but at least the building isn't the eyesore that the Kingdome was.

[crburrows]

Vancouver's Empire Stadium was demolished in 1993. But was there an actual implosion and was anybody there to see it?

I think with Empire, all they had needed was to undo a couple of retaining bolts and the whole thing came down.