CFL Stadiums and Game Day Experiences

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What is your favourite CFL Stadium for a game day experience?

BC Place Stadium
17
46%
McMahon Stadium
2
5%
Commonwealth Stadium
1
3%
Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field
2
5%
Canad Inns Stadium
4
11%
Ivor Wynne Stadium
8
22%
Rogers Centre
1
3%
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium
0
No votes
Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park
2
5%
 
Total votes: 37
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Robbie
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I really enjoyed reading about ThreeTimesOneMinusOne's experiences and looking at his pictures from his recent trip to Commonwealth Stadium on this thread:
http://www.lionbackers.com/cheer/viewtopic.php?t=13671

Last year, Pinkfreud also provided some good pictures from her trip to McMahon Stadium:
http://www.lionbackers.com/cheer/viewtopic.php?t=11055

Let's use this thread to discuss other game day experiences at other CFL stadiums. Let's just stick with regular season games and not the Grey Cup game held at those stadiums as that is a special event and not one that represents a typical game day experience. If you have any pictures from inside those stadiums, please share them.

For those of you who have attended a regular season game at another CFL stadium, let's hear about what you thought about the off-field, non-playing aspects of the game, such as:

1. The overall appearance and ambiance of being inside the stadium.
2. The pre-game and half-time festivities.
3. The cheerleaders and dance teams.
4. The scoreboard and replay screen.
5. The concession stand selections, quality, and prices.
6. The decoration of the stadium with regards to how it acknowledges past championships and retired players.
7. The souvenir stands and other concourse entertainment.
8. And for those of you who have taken a backstage tour, the locker room facilities.

I have never attended a CFL game at another stadium, although I've walked around the outsides of a few stadiums and these are my comments on each:

Commonwealth Stadium
ImageImage
ThreeTimesOneMinusOne already provided a detailed experience so I won't say too much further. There is a public exercise facility and recreation centre inside the stadium. Just like BC Place and GM Place, Commonwealth is close to Rexall Place although not side-by-side as there is one train station away.

McMahon Stadium
ImageImage
I remember it very well for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics. It doesn't seem to have any end zone seating. No covered grandstands.

Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field
Image
The multi-coloured seating areas look good.

Canad Inns Stadium
ImageImage
Of all the CFL stadiums, I think the grandstand rises highest in this stadium. Right beside the stadium is the Winnipeg Arena where the former Winnipeg Jets used to play.

Rogers Centre
Image
Aside from the retractable roof, I think what's great about this stadium is that unlike other multipurpose stadiums, this stadium suits both football and baseball very well. There are many other stadiums that serve football and baseball, including its predecessor CNE Stadium, in which baseball viewers often complain about bad viewing angles. There are lots of banners to commemorate past championships and retired numbers of both the Argos and Blue Jays. And I believe this stadium has the most private suites.

Ivor Wynne Stadium
ImageImage
I don't know too much about this stadium, other than the fact that it has attracted large CIS crowds for the Vanier Cup. The black and yellow seating sections match the team colours. Also no covered grandstands.

Olympic and Molson Stadiums
ImageImage
Olympic Stadium doesn't really have a good reputation in Montreal as it has been dubbed The Big Owe. But given the choice, I'd still want to attend my first Alouettes game at Olympic Stadium over Molson Stadium.

Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park
ImageImage

I'll include this one as well. I'd say over the outdoor stadiums, this one has the biggest roof over one side of the grandstands. Looking at how far the roof extends over the grandstand, it must be a great architectural feat to design such a structure that can support an extremely massive weight.
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Of these stadiums, only the three indoor ones completely enclose the field with seats.

If you could see a CFL game at any one of these stadiums, which one would it be? And if you could replace BC Place with a stadium identical in design to any of these ones, which would it be?
Last edited by Robbie on Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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joesports
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I have lots of experience in McMahon stadium in Calgary, being a STH there for years, until our move to BC in 2001. Things may have changed slightly in the stadium since we left, but here's my impressions:

--McMahon seats only had backs in the mid-field sections. The cheaper endzone sections were bleacher-style.

--no endzone seating unless brought in for a GC game. One endzone holds the Red&White Club (Olympic volunteer centre) where wheelchair seating is available. The other endzone is the locker rooms--this is the endzone where they usually add the extra seating (over the locker rooms.)

--concourse was a joke. At half-time (or even before the games), it was wall-to-wall people in the wind tunnels.

--the TD horse (Itsy, Blue, or whichever it was at the time) runs up & down behind the opposition bench. Kind of exciting, though I doubt it intimidates the other teams at all.

--the cameras on carts run up & down the Stamps sideline (hence the reason the horse does not).

--media booths (and others) are on the Stamps side of the field.

--atmosphere was fairly good. It was often disappointing how the team could have 30 thousand + for a regular season game, then have only 15 thousand show up for a playoff game the next week due to the game being televised and it being cold out. I never minded sitting outside in below 0 weather. I wouldn't enjoy sitting outside in cold Vancouver winter rain, however. I'd do it, but wouldn't be my first choice. :wink:

--parking was awesome for STH at the time. At first it was practically free, then I think there was a charge of about $40 for the season. This was for parking that was literally beside the stadium. For non-STH you could park at the University (a few blocks down the street) for cheap, or take the C-train LRT. The stadium station was just on the East side of the stadium, off Crowchild.

--no covered seating at all. Not too much of an issue in Calgary. It doesn't rain a whole lot there.
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Dan_Payne_fan!!
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i saw the Labour Day classic at Calgary last season and it was an amazing experience. the souviners stands had alot of stuff from each cfl team but mostly calgary stuff
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joesports
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Dan_Payne_fan!! wrote:i saw the Labour Day classic at Calgary last season and it was an amazing experience. the souviners stands had alot of stuff from each cfl team but mostly calgary stuff
How could I have forgotten about the Labour Day Classic? It was always the biggest game and crowd of the year. :thup:
Used to be the one sell-out crowd they could expect each year.
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Of all the CFL stadiums, I think the grandstand rises highest in this stadium. Right beside the stadium is the Winnipeg Arena where the former Winnipeg Jets used to play.


The arena in Winnipeg is no longer beside the stadium....was demolished 2 years ago after being empty for 2 years. New arena has been downtown for almost 4 years.
I'd love you to say it to my face because you'd only say it once...if you ever had the courage to say it at all!! Blitz, 05/24/2008
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LFITQ
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Commonwealth is close to Rexall Place although not side-by-side as there is one train station away.
Just to be clear they are 2.5 km's apart. I never really thought of them as being "close" to each other. Especially when trying to drive around Edmonton in that part of town.
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Solar Max
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Ivor Wynn hands down for best game day experience, and sight lines.

Canad Inns second, Lansdowne Park third.
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Zarquon
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This was the second year that a buddy and I have taken a road trip. We have decided to take in an away game each year and work our way through the league. Last year was Calgary and this year Toronto. On top of that I when to the August 17th game a McMahon this year as well.

My observation from this year - Toronto:
* Although this is not a stadium activity I was impressed by the Argos sending the cheerleaders around to some of the local pubs and restaurants to try and drum up some business.
Image
* The sight lines were very good.
* I liked that they served beer in the stands. You could buy can (which they would pour into a cup for you) for about same as a pint at the concession, but it was convenient.
* The cheer leaders would do some activities in the stands which was ok but not all that impressive.
* They had some really nice banners in the upper deck end zone, similar to the CFL team ones in BC Place. These banners however were action photos of some of the former Argo greats. This was very cool, and looked much better than the team banners we have in the Dome.
* The replay screen was nice, very large and easy to see.
* Didn't care for the scoreboard. it was in the one end zone at field level.
* The roof was open on the night of the game and the view of the CN tower all lite up was impressive.

My observation from this year - Calgary:
* It was a sunny day so the tail gates were in full swing. Great atmosphere, I also met David there.
* Seating wasn't great as I bought the tickets last minute. We were in the cheaper bleacher seating at about the goal line. Since that game went into overtime we were ripped off as they played both sets of OT at the other end.
* Although not part of their regular activities, the cheerleaders were in the stands selling their calenders for this game.
Image
* I liked the beer selling system. Very efficient. You first buy beer tickets. You can buy tickets for the whole season if you so choose. This way when you get your beer there is no delay in making change or processing CC cards. What I didn't think was a good idea is that they give you a full can of beer. This is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
* Love the score board. Has more stats on it, such as rushing and passing yards for both teams. The replay screen is not even as good as the one in the Dome.
* They have a great store outside the stadium with every piece of Stampeder (and even some Lions) merchandise imaginable.

Anyways these were my quick observations from this year, some of which I sent on to the Lions as I see some value in adopting some of them.
Joshua

Toronto - gets a bad rap from some for being a baseball stadium, however, I really enjoyed it. The roof was closed but opened during the first half...best of both worlds. Love the big screen as well. thumbs up

Ottawa - Concourse was bad and unlike other older stadiums it didn't bring an atmosphere that made up for it being old. The speakers were horrible too. Thumbs down

Calgary - I'm a fan for sure. Great tailgates, liquor box right across the street. The end seats by the endzone are backless, however, it's older but great in it's atmosphere. Could use a bigger/better screen. thumbs up

Regina - Love the maxtron and how you are soooo close to the field. the cans on the eastside are a joke...really, they're funny it's so small and crowded with a low roof. Loud crowd without having to be prompted to do so. The tailgate is team controlled so RickyG uses his front yard instead (just a block away). love walking up and seeing the Ron and Reed banners hanging off the stadium. Thumbs up

BC Place - Not a fan of the lighting myself. Upper deck seats are great but I stay out of the corners. Too bad 1/4 of the stadium doesn't get to see the reply screen. Never have to wait long to take a leak though. Meh
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No Ordinary Joe
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I was at Taylor Field way back in '97 but don't remember a lot about it. I was there for my cousin's wedding and was talking to one of my uncles telling him that we drove by Taylor Field on our way into town and was really excited to see it. He asked me if I had ever been to a game there and when I said no he said,"oh, you should go to the game tomorrow afternoon then." When I said I didn't have any money (was still in high school at this time and didn't have a job) he pulled $50 from his wallet and told me to have fun. Sweet!

The game was great. The 'Riders were playing Montreal. I bought a green and white pom-pom as a souvenir and had a blast. At the time, the Lions were getting 12,000-15,000 a game and in BC Place it seemed like a drop in a glass. To be there with 25,000+ (or whatever TF's capacity is) people in a packed house all going crazy was something I wasn't used to back home. Saskatchewan lost a close game. Mike Pringle scored a TD directly in front of us, and I remember being excited to see Don Narcisse in person.
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please post some pics of Commonwealth Stadium all sold out, such as the 2002 Grey Cup, or SkyDome or Olympic Stadium all sold out
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Robbie
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Does anybody know if they still fire that blue cannon at Canad Inns stadium? Does anybody have a picture of it?
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fireworks out the tops of the uprights?
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Robbie
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I've added a poll to this thread.

What is your favourite CFL stadium to watch a game? Please do NOT take into consideration the home team and instead, judge on the off-field, non-playing aspects of the game, such as:

1. The overall appearance and ambiance of being inside the stadium.
2. The pre-game and half-time festivities.
3. The cheerleaders and dance teams.
4. The scoreboard and replay screen.
5. The concession stand selections, quality, and prices.
6. The decoration of the stadium with regards to how it acknowledges past championships and retired players.
7. The souvenir stands and other concourse entertainment.
8. The cleanliness of the washrooms.

A lot of you have provided criticisms about BC Place Stadium. Fine. But what about the other CFL stadiums? Are they any better, relatively speaking?

If you like other CFL stadiums better, then share your thoughts about how BC Place Stadium could be improved to be more like the other CFL stadium that you like better.
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Robbie wrote:I've added a poll to this thread.

What is your favourite CFL stadium to watch a game? Please do NOT take into consideration the home team and instead, judge on the off-field, non-playing aspects of the game, such as:

1. The overall appearance and ambiance of being inside the stadium.
2. The pre-game and half-time festivities.
3. The cheerleaders and dance teams.
4. The scoreboard and replay screen.
5. The concession stand selections, quality, and prices.
6. The decoration of the stadium with regards to how it acknowledges past championships and retired players.
7. The souvenir stands and other concourse entertainment.
8. The cleanliness of the washrooms.

A lot of you have provided criticisms about BC Place Stadium. Fine. But what about the other CFL stadiums? Are they any better, relatively speaking?

If you like other CFL stadiums better, then share your thoughts about how BC Place Stadium could be improved to be more like the other CFL stadium that you like better.
They are already remedying my main *beeotch* about bc place. In the summer its just so damn hot in the dome, when the retractable roof comes in they should be able to get a lot more ppl when its hot out as you wont sweat just sitting in your seat.
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