Medavie Blue Cross Stadium (french: Stade Croix-Bleue Medavie), formerly Moncton Stadium (french: Stade Moncton), is a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

on the campus of the

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian francophone university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on higher ed ...

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, built to host the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics ...

. The $17 million venue opened in 2010. Although

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 ...

had fluctuated early in construction (original plans called for as many as 28,000 seats), the stadium has 8,300 permanent seats, and is expandable to 25,000 via temporary seating. It is the home field for the

Moncton Aigles Bleus The Moncton Aigles Bleus and Moncton Aigles Bleues (French language, French for: ''Moncton Blue Eagles'') are the athletic teams that represent Université de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. They play in U Sports, which encompasses uni ...

soccer teams.

Construction

Construction by Acadian Construction began on April 22, 2009 and was completely finished in July 2010, just in time for the

. Though the stadium was only completely finished in July, it was used on November 23, 2009 as the Vancouver 2010 Winter

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic ...

stayed there overnight. The stadium was re-named to Stade Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium on March 20, 2019 following a $1 million contribution by

Medavie Blue Cross Medavie Blue Cross (French: Croix Bleue Medavie) is a not-for-profit Canadian medical care insurance company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick. Affiliated with the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans, Medavie Blue Cross traces its hist ...

to support scholarships to student athletes in health science programs.

CFL events

The facility has also been proposed as a potential venue for a future

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 ...

(CFL) expansion team, but a significant expansion to 25,000 seats would be recommended. CFL Commissioner

Mark Cohon Mark Steven Cohon, (born March 16, 1966) is the chairman of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). He was also the 12th commissioner of the Canadian Football League. The son of McDonald's Canada founder George Cohon, he was a ...

said he wanted to see "neutral-site" regular season games played in the new Moncton Stadium by 2010. On February 1, 2010, it was announced that 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 ...

would play host to the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

in an event dubbed "

Touchdown Atlantic Touchdown Atlantic ( French: ''Touché Atlantique'') is a series of neutral site Canadian Football League games played in the maritime provinces of Canada. In 2003, the league had struck a committee to examine the feasibility of adding a tenth ...

" that took place on September 26, 2010. On February 18, 2011, it was announced that the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

would play host to 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 ...

in an event dubbed "Touchdown Atlantic 2" that took place on September 25, 2011. As every CFL stadium had an artificial surface until 2016 (the Argonauts began playing on natural grass at

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former Exhibit ...

in that year), the Touchdown Atlantic game had been the only CFL game played all season on a grass surface, although a temporary strip of artificial turf must be laid over the track in order to accommodate the end zones.

Other major events

The stadium plays host to numerous events during the year. Its state of the art track brings numerous track & field events to the stadium, including an annual youth competition for qualifying for the

Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships The Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by the Royal Canadian Legion and sanctioned by Athletics Canada. It serves as the Canadian youth national championships for the sport. Hist ...

. The stadium has also been used for university soccer games and has had the

stay there overnight on November 23, 2009 during the torch relay for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. During the Olympic flame's visit to Moncton, the attendance was only 12,000 due to the construction not being finished at the time. On September 22, 2010 it was announced that the 2011, 2013, and 2015

Uteck Bowl The Uteck Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the easternmost of the two semifinal venues. The Uteck Bowl champion moves on to f ...

would be played at Moncton Stadium due to the crumbling infrastructure of

Huskies Stadium Huskies Stadium is a Canadian football stadium at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, home to the Saint Mary's Huskies. It had a promoted capacity of 9,000 to 11,000 that is achievable via temporary seating, but the actual perman ...

in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. On November 12, 2012 it was announced that the AUS would cancel its Uteck Bowl partnership with the City of Moncton due to low attendance at the 2011 game. On May 4, 2012 it was announced that Moncton would join

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, and

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 749,6 ...

in hosting the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, hosting 6 group stage matches and a round of 16 match. Moncton will also join

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in hosting the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. ...

, hosting 6 group stage matches, a quarterfinal match and a semi-final match. On May 20, 2016, it was announced on September 4, 2016, the stadium will host Atlantic Fest 2016 featuring

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

DNCE DNCE is an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. ...

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

Shawn Hook Shawn Hlookoff (born September 5, 1984), known as Shawn Hook, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer. Career Hook studied piano through the Royal Conservatory from as early as age 4. In high school, he played piano and trombone in a ja ...

and

Francesco Yates Francesco Yates (born September 11, 1995) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Biography Yates was born in Toronto and started writing music at the age of 11. He signed to Atlantic Records when he was 16. His self-titled debut EP, released on ...

Turf controversy

In order to host matches for the

, the stadium was required to remove the grass surface and replace it with

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

. The stadium paid $1.5 million for the conversion to FieldTurf and is paying an additional $500,000 to create a new grass surface adjacent to the stadium for use where the turf surface cannot be used due to safety concerns, such as

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

Track-and-field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...

, prompting allegations of discrimination against Paralympic athletes. A coalition of elite female players from around the world filed a lawsuit challenging FIFA’s decision to play the 2015 Women’s World Cup on artificial turf. Alleging

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

, the lawsuit states that they would never have the Men's World Cup held on "unsafe" artificial turf and thus violates the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

References

{{2015 FIFA Women's World Cup stadiums Sports venues in Moncton Athletics (track and field) venues in Canada Canadian Football League venues Multi-purpose stadiums in Canada Université de Moncton 2010 establishments in New Brunswick Sports venues completed in 2010 Soccer venues in New Brunswick 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup stadiums

Construction

CFL events

Other major events

Turf controversy

See also

References