Canad Inns Stadium (also known as Winnipeg Stadium) was a
multipurpose stadium
A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy th ...
in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
,
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
, Canada.
The stadium was located at the corner of
St. James Street and Maroons Road, immediately north of the
Polo Park Shopping Centre
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaba ...
and the now-defunct
Winnipeg Arena
Winnipeg Arena was an indoor arena located in the Polo Park district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The arena was the city's premier ice hockey venue from 1955 to 2004 and is best remembered as the home of the first Winnipeg Jets franchise, whi ...
. Although built for the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
's
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...
, the stadium also accommodated
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
and
soccer, and was used by various iterations of the
Winnipeg Goldeyes
The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a minor-league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which they joined in 2011. Previously, the Goldeyes were members of the Norther ...
and
Winnipeg Whips
The Winnipeg Whips were a professional Triple-A minor league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that played in the International League from 1970 to 1971. The team was affiliated with the Montreal Expos of Major League Baseball ...
. The stadium was demolished after the Blue Bombers moved to
Investors Group Field
IG Field (formerly Investors Group Field) is an outdoor stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stadium, which opened in 2013, is located on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium.
Owned by Triple B Stadium Inc., a consortium ...
(now IG Field) in 2013.
History
During the
Blue Bombers
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...
' early years, the team played at
Osborne Stadium
Osborne Stadium was a multi-sport outdoor stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It operated from 1932 until 1956, and hosted Canadian football home games for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and baseball games in the Mandak League. The stadium was a ...
, a much smaller venue located near the
Manitoba Legislative Buildings The Manitoba Legislative Building (french: Palais législatif du Manitoba), originally named the Manitoba Parliament Building, is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, located in central Winnipeg, as well as being the twelfth pr ...
. The fast passing-dominated play of Bombers quarterback
Jack Jacobs
Jack Jacobs (August 7, 1919 – January 12, 1974), nicknamed "Indian Jack", was an American and Canadian football player in the National Football League and Western Interprovincial Football Union. He was a charter member of the Canadian Foot ...
dramatically increased attendance at Blue Bombers games and precipitated the need for a new, larger stadium.
In the wake of several unsuccessful proposals for a new stadium,
Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation, a newly created non-profit organization led by
Winnipeg Football Club
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play their h ...
president Culver Riley, presented a plan for the construction of a new 15,700 seat stadium in the
Polo Park
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaba ...
district. The plan was approved by the City of Winnipeg in August 1952. Winnipeg Stadium was officially opened on August 14, 1953, with a fundraising gala to benefit the Winnipeg Unit of the
Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...
.
Foster Hewitt
Foster William Hewitt, (November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985) was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.
Biography
...
served as the master of ceremonies as 12,000 spectators watched an array of
Shriners
Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Shriners International describes itself ...
, athletes, politicians, and Hollywood actress
Corinne Calvet
Corinne Calvet (April 30, 1925 – June 23, 2001), born Corinne Dibos, was a French actress who appeared mostly in American films. According to one obituary, she was promoted "as a combination of Dietrich and Rita Hayworth", but her person ...
inaugurate the stadium. The following night, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers played the first football game at the new facility against the
Ottawa Rough Riders. The stadium became known as "the house that Jack built" in recognition of the contributions of Jack Jacobs.
![Winnipeg Blue Bombers game](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Winnipeg_Blue_Bombers_game.jpg)
The on-field success of the Blue Bombers and their growing fan base led to numerous expansions of the facility beginning in 1954, when capacity was raised to 17,995. Of those seats, only 10,166 were on permanent concrete grandstands, with the remainder being temporary seating in the stadium corners. Further additions included the construction of new north end-zone seating in 1966 and expansion of the west side grandstands, including a new upper deck, in 1972. In 1978, the east side grandstands were expanded, with a new upper deck, raising capacity to 32,946. Seats were also added in 1987 when the stadium was configured to accommodate baseball, at which point its capacity peaked at 33,675.
AstroTurf was installed in time for the 1988 season (when it was installed, the Edmonton Eskimos became the last CFL team to have a natural grass surface, but it would switch to a next-generation artificial surface in 2010), which the team welcomed with a
Grey Cup victory that year at
Lansdowne Park
Lansdowne Park is a urban park, historic sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by the City of Ottawa. It is located on Bank Street adjacent to the Rideau Canal in The Glebe neighbourhood of central Ot ...
in
Ottawa. In 1999, the lower deck benches were replaced by theatre-style seats, the press boxes were enlarged, and a club lounge was added. As a result,
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
was reduced to 29,533 and remained that way until the stadium's closure. The artificial turf was replaced by a next-generation
AstroPlay surface in 2003.
Winnipeg-based hotel chain
Canad Inns
Canad Inns is a chain of hotels headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Company overview
Canad Inns operates a total of 12 hotel properties in the province of Manitoba and one in the U.S. state of North Dakota. Canad Inns also operates re ...
acquired the
naming rights
Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...
to Winnipeg Stadium in 2001, after which the facility became known as Canad Inns Stadium. In 2004, Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation was dissolved and operation of the facility was turned over to the Winnipeg Football Club.
Baseball
The original baseball grandstands were built in 1954, at a cost of $184,000, and located in the southwest corner of the complex. The grandstands housed the original incarnation of the Winnipeg Goldeyes and the
Winnipeg Whips
The Winnipeg Whips were a professional Triple-A minor league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that played in the International League from 1970 to 1971. The team was affiliated with the Montreal Expos of Major League Baseball ...
, the
Class AAA
Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...
affiliate of the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
. The grandstands were demolished in the early 1980s to make way for the Blue and Gold Room and, for nearly a decade, baseball could not be accommodated at the stadium.
The stadium once again became a multi-sport venue in the late 1980s. Artificial turf, retractable seats on the east side stands, and new seating behind the home plate area (the northwest corner of the football field) were installed in an effort to attract another professional baseball team to Winnipeg. Although official
minor league baseball never returned to the city, the new
Winnipeg Goldeyes
The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a minor-league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which they joined in 2011. Previously, the Goldeyes were members of the Norther ...
, an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
team, began play at the stadium in 1994. The Goldeyes played five seasons at the stadium, which included a
Northern League championship in 1994 and an independent baseball single-game attendance record of 22,081 set in 1997. The Goldeyes moved into
their own ballpark in 1999, which marked the end of baseball at Winnipeg Stadium.
Major events
The stadium hosted the opening ceremonies of both the
1967 and
1999 Pan-American Games. The 1967 Games saw the construction of new north end zone seating. The 1999 Games saw several improvements in preparation for the event, including new seats to replace old benches, additional media and club seating facilities, improved lighting and sound, and a new
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
JumboTron scoreboard.
The CFL's championship game, the
Grey Cup, was held at the stadium in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
,
1998, and
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
. In each instance, temporary seating was installed to increase the stadium's capacity. The stadium's attendance record for football was set at the 1991 game, when 51,985 fans watched the
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
defeat the
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...
. For the 2006 game, temporary seats were erected at the south end of the football field, raising the Stadium's capacity to 44,784.
The stadium also hosted numerous outdoor concerts, including big-name acts such as
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
,
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
,
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
,
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...
,
the Eagles
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...
and
U2. Many outdoor music festivals, such as
Festival Express
''Festival Express'' is a 2003 documentary film about the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito B ...
and
Rock on the Range
Rock on the Range was an annual rock festival that was held at two locations. The first and main location was in Columbus, Ohio, United States at Mapfre Stadium (originally Columbus Crew Stadium; renamed in 2015) from 2007 to 2018, while the ...
, were also held at the stadium.
Closure
Increasing maintenance costs and the accidental death of a fan during a football game in 2006 intensified discussions on the future of Canad Inns Stadium. By 2009, it was estimated that the aging stadium would require over $52 million in upgrades as early as 2012 in order to make it safe and viable for another decade. Faced with the decision on whether to refurbish the old stadium or replace it, the
Manitoba government fast-tracked financing for a new stadium. In 2010, Premier
Greg Selinger
Gregory Francis Selinger (born February 16, 1951) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 21st premier of Manitoba from 2009 until 2016, leading an NDP government. From 1999 to 2009 he was the Minister of Finance in the government of ...
, together with the
Winnipeg Football Club
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play their h ...
and the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.[2012 CFL season
The 2012 CFL season was the 59th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012, and the regular season started on June 29, 2012. Rogers Centre ...](_blank)
, after which Canad Inns Stadium would be demolished.
![CanadaInnsStadium](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/CanadaInnsStadium.jpg)
In anticipation of the scheduled move to Investors Group Field, the Blue Bombers held a special ceremony to close out Canad Inns Stadium prior to their last regular season game of
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
. However, as construction delays at the new stadium pushed back its opening date by several months, the team was forced to return to Canad Inns Stadium for the 2012 season. The Blue Bombers played their final game at the stadium on November 3, 2012, defeating the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
19–11. The football club officially closed its offices at Canad Inns Stadium on January 3, 2013.
Demolition
In June 2012, the city announced the proposed sale of the stadium to Polo Park Holdings Inc, owner of the nearby
Polo Park
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaba ...
shopping centre, for $30.25 million. The sale was finalized in April 2013 and demolition began soon after. The stadium was dismantled piece-by-piece over a period of four months, beginning with the north end zone and west side grandstands.
Fans had the opportunity to purchase memorabilia from the old stadium prior to its demolition, including seats, pieces of turf, and other equipment not moved to Investors Group Field. Other fixtures, such as stadium benches, were donated to local community clubs and sports teams.
The site is currently being developed into a retail and commercial park known as ''The Plaza at Polo Park''. Demolition of the stadium has also permitted the city to connect two segments of
Milt Stegall
Milton Eugene Stegall (born January 25, 1970) is a former professional gridiron football player who played 17 years of professional football, three years in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals and 14 years in the Canadian Foo ...
Drive (formerly Arena Road) which were separated by the stadium.
See also
*
List of Canadian Football League stadiums
The following is a list of stadiums in the Canadian Football League.
Current stadiums
;Notes
Map of current stadiums
Future stadiums
Neutral site stadiums
;Notes
Former stadiums
Defunct team stadiums
See also
*List of stadiums ...
References
{{Authority control
Canadian Football League venues
Canadian football venues in Manitoba
Defunct baseball venues in Canada
Defunct Canadian football venues
Defunct minor league baseball venues
Defunct soccer venues in Canada
Former music venues in Canada
Multi-purpose stadiums in Canada
Music venues in Winnipeg
Pan American Games opening ceremony stadiums
Sports venues completed in 1953
Sports venues demolished in 2013
Sports venues in Winnipeg
Venues of the 1999 Pan American Games
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg Goldeyes
Defunct sports venues in Canada
Demolished buildings and structures in Canada
Demolished sports venues
St. James, Winnipeg