The 1970s were the peak stadium decade in Canada. The CFL was as popular as it would ever be, the Summer Olympics came to Montreal, the Toronto Blue Jays were born – it was a great time to be a sports fan in the Great White North, and we had the tall new buildings to prove it.
Those buildings are starting to show their age. While the NFL and other sports leagues expand down south, attendance has dropped in the CFL, the Summer Games have yet to return, and the Montreal Expos are no longer with us. New arenas are still popping up across Canada; new stadiums, not so much.
There are exceptions. The first two entries on our official Bodog Sportsbook list of the top seven biggest stadiums in Canada were built during the 2010s. And while the top five stadiums are getting old, recent facelifts have helped most of them hold on to that youthful spirit.
7. IG Field, Winnipeg (cap. 33,134)
We begin our list of the biggest stadiums in Canada with the relatively new home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – and the U. of Manitoba Bisons, among others. IG Field opened in 2013 as Investors Group Field (it’s still the same sponsor), built on the U. of M. campus at a cost of $210 million. The Blue Bombers footed $85 million of the bill, with the provincial and local governments absorbing the rest.
Speaking of absorption, it turns out they botched several key elements of this stadium, including the drainage. The Bombers ended up suing the architect and the building company; their defence was that the province knew about the structural deficiencies, but insisted they plow ahead regardless.
This boondoggle forced Premier Greg Selinger to put up a $35-million loan guarantee in 2015 for the leaky stadium to get fixed. That loan was finally issued in 2019, then they threw another $10 million at it in 2021. While they wait for further repairs, fans in Winnipeg continue to pack IG Field and cheer for the True Blue, and they also came out in droves to watch both the NHL Heritage Classic in 2016 and NFL exhibition play in 2019. Taylor Swift even gave the stadium’s first-ever concert (on The Red Tour), with Ed Sheeran among the opening acts.
6. Mosaic Stadium, Regina (cap. 33,350)
Our other new entry opened in 2017, replacing venerable Taylor Field as the home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and U. of Regina Rams. Mosaic Stadium was built by the same people who designed AT&T Stadium in Arlington and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; it definitely has that “new stadium” feel, at a cost of roughly $278 million. The city, which owns the stadium, chipped in $73 million, while the province threw in an $80-million grant and $100-million loan.
There’s no question that Saskatchewan is the heart of Canadian football. But fans in Regina finally got their first taste of regular-season NHL hockey when the Heritage Classic was played there in 2019, with the Winnipeg Jets “hosting” the Calgary Flames. Valencia CF and New York Cosmos also played a notable friendly there in 2017, although Mosaic Stadium was sadly left off the list of host venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
5. McMahon Stadium, Calgary (cap. 35,400)
This is the oldest stadium on our list, although not the oldest in the CFL – that would be Ottawa’s TD Place Stadium (1908). McMahon Stadium opened in 1960, at a bargain price of $1.05 million, or roughly $10 million in today’s money. It’s been expanded and renovated six times since; McMahon Stadium in owned by the U. of Calgary and run as a non-profit with input from city officials.
The “McMahon” in this case refers to both Frank and George McMahon, the oil baron brothers who funded the stadium’s construction. This venue was a big step up for the Calgary Stampeders, who had been playing at tiny Mewata Stadium (cap. 10,000) since their official founding in 1945. The U. of Calgary Dinos make very good use of their property, and once upon a time, McMahon Stadium was home to the Calgary Boomers of the NASL.
While the Summer Olympics haven’t been back to Canada in nearly 50 years, the Winter Games were here twice; a record 60,000 people were in Calgary for the opening ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics. And what would a stadium be without an outdoor hockey game – the Heritage Classic was played at McMahon in 2011.
4. Rogers Centre, Toronto (cap. 41,500)
Surprise: This country’s marquee stadium isn’t No. 1 on our list. How can it be? It isn’t the biggest stadium in Canada after all. The former SkyDome used to seat well over 50,000, and you can still pack in that many for a big event like the Grey Cup, but now that the Toronto Argonauts play at BMO Field (cap. 25,000), the Blue Jays are the main tenants at Rogers Centre, and they “only” seat up to 41,500 for baseball after their latest wave of renovations.
Hopefully those renos will quiet the talk that Rogers Centre has turned into a white elephant. This stadium opened with great fanfare in 1989, and was a technological marvel of its time, with the retractable roof and the world’s largest JumboTron in right field. That would be just another TV screen today, if it hadn’t been replaced in 2005.
The Blue Jays winning the World Series here in 1993 was pretty special. The Toronto Raptors also played their home games at the SkyDome from 1995 until the Air Canada Centre (now Scotiabank Arena) was ready in 1999. And fight fans have warm memories of UFC 129, featuring Georges St-Pierre in the main event, as well as WrestleMania VI and WrestleMania X8, with Hulk Hogan drawing record crowds of over 67,000 for each.
3. BC Place, Vancouver (cap. 54,500)
If SkyDome was a white elephant before its facelift, BC Place must have been the entire herd. Again, this was considered a marvel of its age when it opened in 1983, featuring the world’s largest air-supported roof. It was Canada’s version of the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Everybody cheered when the Metrodome was finally torn down in 2014. BC Place avoided the same fate because it’s owned by the province, and because the 2010 Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, although the new retractable roof (which cost over $500 million, or $200 million more than the original stadium itself) wasn’t ready until 2011.
The BC Lions still play here, of course, and the Vancouver Whitecaps were NASL tenants before coming back as an MLS franchise. But the record attendance for BC Place wasn’t for any of these teams, or the Olympics for that matter – it was the 65,061 who came to watch Ed Sheeran perform this past September.
2. Olympic Stadium, Montreal (cap. 56,040)
We haven’t even begun to talk about elephants. No stadium in Canadian history has been as reviled as Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, the host venue for the 1976 Summer Games. The city famously went $1 billion in the hole because of the Olympics; this was just before the Games abandoned any pretense of being an amateur competition. And the retractable roof never did work properly.
“The Big Owe” is still an architectural wonder. It’s a shame the Expos moved to Miami, and the Montreal Alouettes bolted for Molson Stadium at McGill (cap. 20,025) in 1998, having found the venue more to their liking when they were forced to play there in 1997 while U2 was booked at Olympic Stadium. Before every Sunday home game, the Alouettes play “Sunday Bloody Sunday” over the PA in honour of U2 saving the team.
Olympic Stadium has also seen its share of big-ticket events, including the famous Roberto Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard boxing match in 1980. But this being Montreal, the biggest crowds ever were for Pink Floyd (att. 78,322) and Emerson, Lake and Palmer (att. 73,898) in 1977. Prog rock will never die as long as Montreal is standing.
1. Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton (cap. 56,302)
Our tour ends in Edmonton, the home of the 1978 Commonwealth Games – which were still a fairly big deal at the time. They were important enough that Edmonton built an entirely new venue to replace Clarke Stadium (cap. 20,000), which first opened in 1938-39.
That’s the official story, at least. In truth, people in Edmonton may have been more interested in a new home for their CFL team, which is now called the Elks. Either way, Commonwealth Stadium was built, many Grey Cups were won, and everyone was happy.
Aside from the Elks, Commonwealth Stadium is home to a different kind of football: the Canadian men’s national soccer team. The Edmonton Drillers (NASL) also made a brief appearance here, and there’s plenty of rugby on tap, but it was U2 setting the official record of 66,835 back in 2011. Were you one of the ones in attendance? Let us know about it, and don’t forget to visit Bodog Sportsbook for the latest CFL odds.