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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:24 pm
by David
What's so coincidental about this thread is that this was the first Lions game that I distinctly remember attending. I was a soon-to-be 7 year old and was sitting in the south end not too far from that replay screen!

I remember it being a crystal clear Sunday afternoon in September. Dad and I departed for the game in a neighbour's car with some friends of his and parked in a gravel lot across Hastings street from the south end of Empire.

For the record, the Lions defeated Winnipeg that day 16-13 in front of 36,250 - until BC Place opened, the 4th largest attendance for a Lions' game in their history. And to TheZeppo's point about attendance being larger than capacity, here I did some research and you're right. They must have jammed more people into the park than the official capacity in those days. My 1970 yearbook lists Empire Stadium's capacity at 30,229! In fact, they list the 1955 Grey Cup game as being 39,417. :shock:

Image

This is the famous aerial photo of Empire that I mentioned in another thread. Two things worth noting - if you look closely you can see the mountain lion astride a football logo in each endzone, :rockin: and to the right is the wooden rollercoaster at the PNE!

DH 8)

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:01 am
by sj-roc
David wrote:Two things worth noting - if you look closely you can see the mountain lion astride a football logo in each endzone, :rockin: and to the right is the wooden rollercoaster at the PNE!

DH 8)
Also apparent: the end zones are twenty-FIVE yds deep, which was the standard of the day, no?

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:21 am
by Robbie
And it also looks like the likes that mark corners of the end zone are cut by the gravel on the running track. What if a possible TD pass was caught at one of those corners? How did the officials determine whether the ball was caught in bounds if there were no line markings there?

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:12 am
by B.C.FAN
Robbie wrote:And it also looks like the likes that mark corners of the end zone are cut by the gravel on the running track. What if a possible TD pass was caught at one of those corners? How did the officials determine whether the ball was caught in bounds if there were no line markings there?
The track at Empire was out of bounds. The white sideline marker curved around the inside of the track until it met the back of the end zone.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 7:20 pm
by Robbie
I will share with you something that I found that will finally shed some light on this cold case mystery as to whether or not there was indeed a replay screen in the old Empire Stadium. First of all, there are may existing pictures showing the north side of the stadium that shows the scoreboard: http://www.bclions.com/page/empire-memories-photo-album

But aside from the overhead picture that's been posted twice already on this thread, there's no other picture showing the south side of the stadium. From that existing picture, we all thought that perhaps that was indeed a replay screen. But from what I found now, while that black box on that south end of the stadium was indeed a scoreboard, there was no replay screen beside the scoreboard - at least not in 1974.

Here is a good clip showing the highlights of the 1974 Grey Cup which was the last Grey Cup game to be hosted at Empire Stadium:



At 1:20, there's a scene in which Montreal coach Marv Levy consults with Ray Watrin. Look in the background and you will see two brief glimpses of that scoreboard. There is a very good view of the quick second glimpse and if you pause it, you will see that to the right of the scoreboard there is only a large billboard advertising Players cigarettes and no replay screen.

I don't know if that billboard was ever replaced by a replay screen before or after 1974. But at least we now know that there was no replay screen in 1974. :i:

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:34 pm
by B.C.FAN
Remember that in the '70s at Empire and until recent years at B.C. Place, no live action was shown on the replay screen. It was for replays only. You wouldn't see any video on the screen during the play, just advertising.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:00 pm
by Robbie
B.C.FAN wrote:Remember that in the '70s at Empire and until recent years at B.C. Place, no live action was shown on the replay screen. It was for replays only. You wouldn't see any video on the screen during the play, just advertising.
Okay, so did it at least show static images of action shots or was it totally used for advertising only? If it showed static action shots, I wonder how long it would take from the time the action took place to when the action was replayed on the screen.
TheZeppo wrote:Wouldn't it be great if David, or someone else, could dig up a photo
of the south end scoreboard? I would love to see it again.
Here you go:

Re:

Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:32 am
by Robbie
Jim Mullin wrote:I remember as an added feature they used it in a late season game in the mid 70's, maybe 1976. Had the resolution of the old Commonwealth Stadium screen. Some might remember that there was a "Players Filter" billboard placed over it in Empire's dying days.
Two more videos that seem to confirm that there was no real replay screen beside the south end scoreboard in the old Empire Stadium - at least not in 1971 and 1974 and instead, there was only a large billboard advertising Player's tobacco.

1971 Grey Cup highlights and commentary

At 5:39 there's a closeup of the scoreboard and to its right you can see the Player's ad.
I'd say that a closeup view of the scoreboard at old Empire Stadium is a very nostagic shot in itself regardless of how plain it was. :yes:

The last Grey Cup game played at old Empire Stadium in 1974

At the very end of the video there's a distant but adequate view of the scoreboard with the redesigned Player's billboard.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:48 am
by B.C.FAN
As I recall, Player's sponsored the replay screen. The Player's ad showed on the screen at all times except when replays were shown between plays.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:37 pm
by Robbie
In light of the recent conversation on the MLS final and sharing information whenever I can on this topic, I found some new things.

When the Vancouver Whitecaps were in the NASL, obviously the most memorably season was 1979 when the team won it all and capture the Soccer Bowl. But perhaps what is more memorable than the final itself, the semi-final series against the New York Cosmos was probably more memorable in that the Whitecaps squeaked a win. Just like the MLS these days in that aside from the first and final bracket, the playoff series consisted of two games, the method was very different back in the NASL.

Game 1 of the National Conference Championship on August 29, 1979 with the Whitecaps hosting the NY Cosmos. The Whitecaps won 2-0. At 20:05 there's a scoreboard of the final score and to the right, instead of a large billboard advertising Players Cigarettes, there's now a billboard advertising a First Chevrolet 1980 car.


So it looks like in 1979 there was still no replay screen.

And what made the NASL very unique is that shootout consisted of a player dribbling to the net and attempting to score within 5 seconds instead of penalty kicks. But more unique was that there were no ties, even in games in which it was not the deciding game. There had to be a winner for each game - similar to playoff games series in the NHL, NBA, and MLB. And in that particular 1979 National Conference finals that involved 2 games, the result was:

Game 1: Whitecaps 2, Cosmos 0
Game 2 after regulation: Whitecaps 2, Cosmos 2

The Whitecaps did not advance right away as a winner still had to be made for game 2. It went to overtime and eventually a shootout which the Cosmos won. So now the series was tied 1-1. Immediately after that there was a 30 minute mini-game and it remained a tie so another shootout was made and this time the Whitecaps won. And the total goals rule was not used, let alone away-goal rules.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:16 pm
by B.C.FAN
Here's a high-resolution B&W aerial pic from the City of Vancouver archives showing the replay screen clearly between plays. Click on the image to enlarge it. I can't quite make out whether a replay is being shown but the Player's ad isn't.
Empire Stadium

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:57 am
by Dusty
Great to see the hi-rez view. Thanks for the link. Funny how memory fades. I'd forgotten about the houses being between Cassiar and the stadium.... and I note that the Player's ad has moved across the street to the Cassiar and Hastings corner.....

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 5:04 pm
by zeppo
Dusty wrote:Great to see the hi-rez view. Thanks for the link. Funny how memory fades. I'd forgotten about the houses being between Cassiar and the stadium.... and I note that the Player's ad has moved across the street to the Cassiar and Hastings corner.....
Me too. We used to park on the other side of Cassiar and walk down the hill to the stadium, and I don't remember any houses
on the west side of Cassiar either.
As for the south end scoreboard, I can say, with a high degree of certainty, that there was no functioning replay screen on it. I attended many
Lions' games from 1969 to 1982, as well as Whitecaps' games in the seventies, and I would remember something as important as replays being
shown. As for the smaller scoreboard at the north end of the stadium, I have no memory of it ever working.
Earlier in this thread, there was a discussion about the capacity of Empire Stadium in which David recalled the attendance being 36,000 for
a September, 1970 game that he attended, even though the official capacity of the stadium was just over 30,000. The reason for this
discrepancy is revealed in the aerial photo. Note that the north end bleachers are full, there are many fans sitting on the grassy slope
in the northwest corner of the stadium, and there are even spectators on the track at the back of the north end zone. Those people
probably make up the extra 6,000. I can remember crowds of over 32,000 when the north end bleachers were full, but don't ever recall
fans sitting on the track or the grassy slope.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 5:37 pm
by B.C.FAN
We also used to park (for free) on the east side of Cassiar near Sir John Franklin Elementary and walk down the hill. I don't remember ever worrying about traffic at uncontrolled intersections on Cassiar, even though it was the direct link between the Valley and the North Shore. I remember the houses well beside the stadium. They were later bulldozed to build the Cassiar Connector.

For a few years I also used the charter buses that brought fans from downtown and regional shopping centres and lined up along Hastings Street to take them home. Traffic, transit and parking were a lot simpler in those days.

The seats around the track were in place for many years and were used for Grey Cups and occasional big games. I never sat there and wouldn't want to. Your view would be blocked by the team benches and the high crown on the field.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:42 am
by zeppo
B.C.FAN wrote:We also used to park (for free) on the east side of Cassiar near Sir John Franklin Elementary and walk down the hill. I don't remember ever worrying about traffic at uncontrolled intersections on Cassiar, even though it was the direct link between the Valley and the North Shore.
Yes, it's amazing to think that, in the sixties and seventies, entire families could walk across Cassiar St. between Hastings and the Second Narrows Bridge.
When I was at SFU, I can even recall hitchhiking on Cassiar looking for a ride over the bridge, and I never had to wait very long for somebody to pull over.