I see a lot of comments on this forum about various stadiums.
There seem to be a lot of "experts" regarding the quality of the stadiums for watching a CFL game.
I have my doubts about a lot of these comments coming from first hand experience.
So, tell me in which CFL stadiums you have actually attended a CFL game live - not "experienced" it on TV, not "I can tell from seeing the stands on TV" - first-hand live experience.
Then comment on what you liked or didn't like about each stadium.
Empire Field( not Empire stadium)
Bc place
Commonwealth
Taylor Field
Winnipeg stadium
Investors group field
Skydump
And the HOF.
I lived in calgary in 2010/2011 from november to june… Did not see a game there
McMahon Stadium - not bad, nothing fancy about it but very good sight lines, easy to get to on the LRT
Commonwealth - nice - but too far from the field for my liking
Ivor Wynne Stadium - a dump with no legroom, benches for seats that the fibreglass was peeling off from so that you ended up with slivers of fibreglass sometimes - but I loved it because you were right on top of the field. The best sight lines anywhere
Tim Hortons Field - LOVING it so far, great seats, lots of legroom, love you can see the field from he concession area excellent sight lines close to the field. Should be great once it is finally finished
Exhibition Stadium both pre and post expansion for the Blue Jays. Pre - excellent unless you got stuck behind a poll supporting the roof of the Grandstand. Post expansion - awful. Way too many terrible seats with the field angled. Metal bench seating that seemed to conduct the damp cold right through your body.
Olympic Stadium - awesome structure, but not very good for football mainly because of how far from the field you can be. Plus one game I ended up in about the tenth row, way too low and too far from the field to get a decent view and because it had rained hours before the game the lip of the partial roof dripped a giant drop of water once every minute or so - right on my head - lol
also was at the old Landsdowne Stadium - good view of the game. Don't remember much else about it though.
Rogers Centre - nice facility in terms of amenities, mid field 200 level seats aren't bad - but fairly far from the field. I've actually sat up in the 500 level for football which they don't sell for Argos games and although high the view is actually not too bad from up there in the first few rows. The 100 level seats - most of them not very good at all, too far from the field and too gradually sloped. Plus in both the 200 (and when open for games the 500 level) there are a fair number of slightly obstructed seats where at least part of the end zone if not more of the field - is cutoff. Last night for example I was on one of the bar stool seats - the last row of the 200 level (VIP section in baseball configuration behind home plate). My friends season seats are there so I've sat in them for lots of football games there - but in CFL football configuration you could not actually see about 20% of the end zone. Ironically no such issue with the smaller US sized football field as I've sat there for some Bills games and an International Bowl game and you see the entire field. So any throws deep into one corner of the end zone the players disappear.
Hopefully this pic I took last night illustrates it better than I'm explaining it.
McMahon Stadium - early sixties; Cool from what I do remember
Old Empire Stadium - seen a few great games there; as kids we sat on the grass in the endzone. Big posts got in the way when sitting in the stands, none the less watching Deiter Brock was vintage; autograph from Jack Abendschan 1970 :thup:
Taylor Field - only once in 1977; excellent view and very cool walking through the neighborhood on route to the game.
BC Place - nice view always upbeat, seen 2 Grey Cup games there 1990 and 1994
Commonwealth Stadium - decent view awesome experience on the games I did attend; Jackie Parker room is class. Walking through neighborhood 2 times on Halloween was a hoot.
McMahon was built in 100 days for a fraction of what todays stadiums cost even after adjusted to inflation.. Compare that with todays stadiums that take years to build and cost much more. Considering that wages were higher (after adjusted to inflation) back then and you realize how much corporate corruption there is nowadays.
Most of the higher costs now are because of higher safety standards and regulations, along with inflated engineering costs because the stadiums are much much more intricate than previous ones. To put it in perspective, when McMahon was built people would have scratched their heads when you talked about scaffolding and full fall arrest and handrails and mandatory gloves etc etc etc. This slows down a work force that already lacks motivation in general compared to the past.
As a pretty serious investor, I have shied away from infesting in a lot of industrial and large facilities on start-up because there actual costs blow forecast costs out of the water and it is not getting any better. It has become near impossible for estimators to bid accurately on large-scale projects.
Wow... that McMahon got built in 100 days is unbelievable. I had to Wiki that... And it sure gets used with 5 football teams using it.
I've been to several stadiums but as funny as it may sound my favorite was the temp stadium built by the Lions as BC place was getting renovated. Players hated it tho as there were trailers etc for dressing rooms.
Outdoor, beautiful view, right beside the horse track and PNE. Out door food kiosks. Just felt like a carnival and 22,000 seats (I think) were jammed. It was really simple and fun.
I love Molsons too because of its simplicity and location. Downtown Montreal can't be beat.
Not a huge fan of BC Place. Beautiful but just too big for me and non stop piped in music. I just never seem to have a good time there.
Commonwealth is good but you do feel a bit distant. But a very good outdoor stadium and the fans are really knowledgeable.
Looks to me that the models in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Ottawa have it right but haven't been yet.
Well I am a scaffolder in the oil sands so I already knew this.. Some days Our three man crew literally does what one person could do in a few hours.. Commercial sites are not quite as bad though. I worked on the Port mann Bridge in Vancouver and they slave drove us, so I Just thought it was an Alberta thing.
