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Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a
retractable roof A retractable roof is a roof system designed to roll back the roof of a structure so that the interior of the facility is open to the outdoors. Retractable roofs are sometimes referred to as operable roofs or retractable skylights. The term o ...
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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
in
downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...
, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the
CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...
near the northern shore of
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. Opened in 1989 on the former
Railway Lands Railway Lands is an area in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is h ...
, it is home to the
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB). As well as being improved over the decades, during the MLB offseasons of 2022–24, the stadium was renovated by upgrading the sports facilities and hospitality whilst reducing the capacity for baseball games. While it is primarily a sports venue, the stadium also hosts other large events such as
conventions Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law ** Convention (political norm), uncodified legal or political tradition * Convention (meeting) ...
,
trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...
s,
concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
s, travelling carnivals,
circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...
es and
monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock p ...
shows. Previously, the stadium was also home to the
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
of the
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
(CFL) and the
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
of the
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(NBA). The
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) played an annual game at the stadium as part of the
Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series were a series of National Football League (NFL) games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original series began in the 2008 season and ran through 2012. The Bills were o ...
from 2008 to 2013. The stadium served as the site of both the
opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
and closing ceremonies of the
2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...
(renamed the Pan-Am Dome or Pan-Am Ceremonies Venue due to sponsorship regulations). The stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the 2005 purchase of the stadium by
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
, the corporation that also owns the Toronto Blue Jays. The venue is noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
.


History


Background and design

The idea of building a domed stadium can be traced back to the bid that Toronto lost to
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
as the Canadian candidate city for the
1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...
. In the proposal, an 80,000–100,000 seat complex would be part of the planned Harbour City development on the site of
Maple Leaf Stadium Maple Leaf Stadium was a jewel box-style baseball stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the foot of Bathurst Street on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard (formerly Fleet Street). It was built in 1926 by Lol Solman for his Toront ...
. The contemporary impetus for building an enclosed sports venue in Toronto came following the
Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...
game in November 1982, held at the outdoor
Exhibition Stadium Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly known as Exhibition Stadium or CNE Stadium and nicknamed The Ex) was a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the grounds of Exhibition Place. Originally built for Canadian National ...
. The game, in which the hometown
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
(also known as the Argos) were making their first Grey Cup appearance since
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
, was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched, leading the media to call it "the Rain Bowl". As many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, thousands watched the game from the concession section. To make a bad experience even worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was
Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...
, the
Premier of Ontario The premier of Ontario () is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincia ...
, and the poor conditions were seen by the largest television audience in Canada (over 7.862 million viewers) to that point. The following day, at a rally for the Argos at
Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in ...
, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, "We want a
dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
! We want a dome!" Seven months later, in June 1983, Davis formally announced a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at
Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...
. The committee consisted of
Paul Godfrey Paul Victor Godfrey, CM, OOnt (born January 12, 1939) is a businessman and former Canadian politician. During his career, Godfrey was a North York alderman, Chairman of Metro Toronto, President of the ''Toronto Sun'' and head of the Toronto B ...
, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay. The committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to
BC Place BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a Crown corporation of the province. The venue is currently ...
in Vancouver. In 1985, an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site. Some of the proposed sites included Exhibition Place,
Downsview Airport Downsview Airport, formerly , is a now-closed airport located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An air field, then air force base, it has been a testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace from 1994. In 2018, Bombardier sold the facility to Northcres ...
, and
York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
. The final site was at the base of the
CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...
not far from
Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
, a major railway and transit hub. The
Railway Lands Railway Lands is an area in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is h ...
were a major
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
rail switching yard encompassing the
CNR Spadina Roundhouse The CNR Spadina Roundhouse was owned by the Canadian National Railway, built in 1928 (by Anglin-Norcross of Montreal). The purpose of Spadina Roundhouse was the pretrip inspection, service and repairing of the motive power of passenger trains, inc ...
(the desolate downtown lands were part of a master plan for revitalizing the area, which includes CityPlace). Ultimately, the Robbie/Allen concept won because it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound. The stadium was designed by architect
Rod Robbie Roderick George Robbie (September 15, 1928 – January 4, 2012) was a British-born Canadian architect and planner. He was known for his design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and Toronto's Rogers Centre (SkyDome). Biography and person ...
and structural engineer Michael Allen and was constructed by the
EllisDon EllisDon is an employee-owned construction services company that was founded and incorporated in 1951 in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canad ...
Construction company of
London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...
and the
Dominion Bridge Company The Dominion Bridge Company, Limited was a Canadian steel bridge constructor originally based in Lachine, Quebec. From the core business of steel bridge component fabrication, the company diversified into related areas such as the fabrication of ...
of Lachine, Quebec. The stadium's construction lasted about years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million ($ in dollars) which was paid for by the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...
, the City of Toronto, and a large
consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...
of corporations.


Financing

The stadium was funded by a
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...
, with the government paying the largest percentage of the cost. The initial cost of $150 million was greatly underestimated, as the final cost was C$570 million ($ in dollars). Two levels of government (
Metro Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an Regional municipality, upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and vill ...
and provincial) each initially contributed $30 million ($ in dollars). This does not include the value of the land that the stadium sits on, which was owned by the
Canada Lands Company Canada Lands Company Limited () is a self-financing federal Crown corporation reporting to the Parliament of Canada through Public Services and Procurement Canada. The company is responsible for managing property on behalf of the federal gover ...
(a Crown corporation of Canada) and the City of Toronto and was leased for $900,000 a year through 2088. Canada's three main breweries (
Labatt's Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...
,
Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...
, and
Carling O'Keefe Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased ...
) and the Toronto Blue Jays each paid $5 million ($ in dollars) to help fund the stadium. An additional 26 other Canadian corporations (selected by invitation only) also contributed $5 million, for which they received one of the 161 Skyboxes with four parking spaces (for ten years, with an opportunity for renewal) and a 99-year exclusive option on stadium advertising. The initial cost of leasing a Skybox ranged from $150,000 to $225,000 ($ to $ in dollars) a year in 1989 – plus the cost of tickets for all events. The then unusual financing structure created controversy. First of all, there was no public tender for supplies and equipment. Secondly, companies that paid the $5 million fee, such as
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
, TSN and
CIBC The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...
, received 100 percent stadium exclusivity, including advertising rights, for the life of their contract that could be extended up to 99 years. Third, the contracts were not put up for bid, meaning there was some doubt the contracts were made at a market rate:
Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
stated at the time that had it known the terms of the contract it would have paid far more than $5 million for the rights. Local media like ''NOW Magazine'' called the amount charged to the companies "scandalously low".


Construction

Construction of the ''Ontario Stadium Project'' was spearheaded by lead contractor EllisDon. Several factors complicated the construction: The lands housed a functioning water
pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, Land reclamation, ...
that needed to be relocated, the soil was contaminated from a century of industrial use, railway buildings needed to be torn down or moved, and the site was rich with archaeological finds. One of the most complex issues was moving the John Street pumping station across the street to the south of the stadium. Foundations to the stadium were being poured even as the facility (in the infield area) continued to function, as construction on its new location had yet to be completed. Because the stadium was the first of its kind in the world, the architects and engineers kept the design simple (by using a sturdy dome shape) and used proven technologies to move the roof. It was important the design would work and be reliable as to avoid the various problems that plagued Montreal's
Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...
. The 31-storey-high roof consists of four panels: one (on the north end) is fixed in place and the other three are moved by electrically driven 'train' engines, that run on high-strength railway rails. The roof, which takes 20 minutes to open, was made out of steel trusses covered by
corrugated steel Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...
cladding, which in turn is covered by a single-ply PVC membrane. Because of its location south of the major railway corridor, new pedestrian connections had to be built; the infrastructure was part of the reason for the high cost of the stadium. The
SkyWalk The SkyWalk is an approximately 160 metre enclosed walkway connecting Union Station to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre (SkyDome) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of Toronto's PATH network, the SkyWalk passes above the York Street ' s ...
is an approximately enclosed walkway that leads from the base of the CN Tower and via a bridge connects to Union Station (and is part of the
Path A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...
network). The John Street
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
was built to provide north–south passage over the rail tracks, linking Front Street with the stadium. Construction at the site, which at one time was south of the shoreline, unearthed over 1,500 artifacts. These included a 200-year-old French cannon used as ballast for a ship, cannonballs, pottery and a telescope. The stadium was completed two months late, having been planned to open for the first regular season game of the
1989 Toronto Blue Jays season The 1989 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 13th season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing first in the American League East with a record of 89 wins and 73 losses. The Blue Jays' ace pitcher Dave Stieb led ...
; the team played the first two months of its home schedule at Exhibition Stadium that year.


Naming

The official name prior to and during construction was the 'Ontario Stadium Project' but was widely referred to in local media as simply 'the Dome' or 'Toronto Domed stadium'. As completion neared the name "SkyDome" was chosen as part of a province-wide "name the stadium" contest in 1987. Sponsored by the ''
Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...
'', ballots were offered for people to submit their suggested name, with lifetime seats behind home plate to all events at the stadium (including concerts) as the prize. Over 150,000 entries were received with 12,897 different names. The selection committee narrowed it down to four choices: "Towerdome", "Harbourdome", "SkyDome", and simply "the Dome". The judges' final selection was SkyDome. Premier
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...
drew the prize-winning entry of Kellie Watson from a lottery barrel containing the over-2,000 entries that proposed "SkyDome". At the press conference announcing the name, Chuck Magwood, president of the Stadium Corporation of Ontario (Stadco), the crown corporation created to run SkyDome, commented: "The sky is a huge part of the whole roof process. The name has a sense of the infinite and that's what this is all about." Kellie Watson received lifetime seating of choice at SkyDome, which is still honoured after the stadium was renamed to Rogers Centre, under new ownership.


Opening

The stadium officially opened on June 3, 1989, and hosted an official grand opening show: "The Opening of SkyDome: A Celebration", broadcast on
CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
the following evening hosted by
Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a correspondent for ''NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchorman, anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in ...
. With a crowd of over 50,000 in attendance, the event included appearances by
Alan Thicke Alan Willis Thicke (né Jeffrey; 1 March 1947 13 December 2016) was a Canadian-American actor, songwriter, and game/talk show host. He was the father of singer Robin Thicke. Thicke was best known for playing Dr. Jason Seaver on the 1980s sitco ...
,
Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...
,
Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and '' Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), '' Wag the Dog'' (1 ...
of ''SCTV'', impressionist
André-Philippe Gagnon André-Philippe Gagnon (born December 17, 1962) is a Canadian comedian and impressionist. His impressionist act is unique for his specialized talent in impersonating the singing voices of celebrities, as opposed to his contemporaries, who typic ...
and rock band
Glass Tiger Glass Tiger is a Canadian rock band from Newmarket, Ontario that formed in 1983. The band has released five studio albums. Its 1986 debut album, '' The Thin Red Line'', went quadruple platinum in Canada and gold in the United States. Two single ...
. The roof was ceremonially "opened" by Ontario Premier
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...
(no relation to Oscar) with a laser pen. The roof's opening exposed the crowd to a downpour of rain. Despite audible chants of "close the roof", Magwood insisted the roof remain fully open.


Financial problems and fallout

The stadium became a thorn in the side of David Peterson's Ontario Liberal government for repeated cost overruns. After the Liberals were defeated by the
NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...
in the 1990 Ontario election, a review by the new
Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
government in October 1990 revealed Stadco's debt meant the Dome would have to be booked 600 days a year to turn a profit, almost twice as many days as there are days in a calendar year. The stadium income was only $17 million in its first year of operations, while debt service was $40 million. It was determined the abrupt late inclusion by Stadco of a hotel and health club added an additional $112 million to the cost of the building. As the province slipped into a recession, Rae appointed
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
professor
Bruce Kidd Bruce Kidd, (born July 26, 1943) is a Canadian academic, author, and athlete. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute before becoming a member of the University of Toronto track and field team. He won 18 national senior ...
and
Canadian Auto Workers The National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada, commonly known as the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), was one of Canada's largest labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperwork ...
President Bob White to the Stadco board to help deal with the stadium's growing debt, but the original $165 million debt had increased to $400 million by 1993. Stadco became a political liability, and in March 1994, the Ontario government paid off all outstanding Stadco debts from the government treasury and sold the stadium for $151 million to a private consortium that included Labatt Breweries, the Blue Jays' owner. In November 1998, the stadium, which Labatt then owned as 49 percent of total, filed for bankruptcy protection, triggered after disastrous Skybox renewal numbers. Most of the 161 Skybox tenants had signed on for 10-year leases; a marked decrease in interest in the stadium's teams and the construction of the
Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena (SBA), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and t ...
, which hosted the
Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...
and
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
, resulted in few renewals for Skybox leases. That same month, the Blue Jays re-signed for an additional ten years in the facility. In April 1999, Sportsco International LP bought the stadium out of bankruptcy protection for $80 million.


Purchase and renaming

In November 2004,
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
, parent company of the Blue Jays, acquired SkyDome, excluding the attached SkyDome hotel, which had been sold to Renaissance for a reported $31 million in 1999, from Sportsco for about $25 million – roughly four percent of the cost of construction. On February 2, 2005, Ted Rogers, President and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of Rogers Communications, announced a three-year corporate contract to change the name of SkyDome to Rogers Centre. The name change remains controversial and is unpopular with many fans, most of whom continue to refer to it as SkyDome in opposition to increased commercialism from the purchase of
naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...
. One example is a 25,000-name petition started by TTC bus driver Randy Rajmoolie. A baseball diamond in Toronto's
Trinity Bellwoods Park Trinity Bellwoods Park is a public park located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north. The western boundary of the park is Crawford Street, several hundred feet before Crawford i ...
is officially named SkyDome after the stadium's former and popular name. After the purchase, Rogers refurbished the stadium by, among other things, replacing the
Jumbotron A jumbotron, sometimes referred to as jumbovision, is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall). The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, which coined JumboTron as a ...
with a
Daktronics Daktronics, Inc. is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota, that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. It was found ...
video display, and erecting other new monitors, including several built into the outfield wall. They also installed a new
FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...
artificial playing surface. In May 2005, the
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
agreed to three five-year leases at Rogers Centre, which could have seen the Argonauts play out of Rogers Centre up to and including 2019. The team had the option to leave at the end of each of the three lease agreements. Proposed plans to lock Rogers Centre into its baseball configuration permanently in order to install a natural grass surface forced the Argonauts to relocate to
BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...
before the 2016 season. In November 2005, Rogers Centre received a complete makeover to "open" the 100 Level concourse to the playing field and convert 43 luxury boxes to "party suites". This required some seats to be removed, which decreased overall capacity. In April 2006, Rogers Centre became one of the first buildings of its size to adopt a completely smoke-free policy in Canada, anticipating an act of provincial legislature that required all Ontario public places to go smoke-free by June 1, 2006. Alcohol was not available to patrons of Rogers Centre on April 7, 2009, as the
Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is a Crown agency that reports to the Ministry of the Attorney General in the Government of Ontario The Government of Ontario () is the body responsible for the administration of the Pr ...
(AGCO) imposed the first of a three-day alcohol suspension at the stadium for "infractions (that) took place at certain past events", according to the press release.


Major renovation in the 2020s

By 2020, with the Rogers Centre over 30 years old and one of the oldest stadiums in MLB, Rogers had begun to explore options for the long-term home of the team. Rogers Communications and
Brookfield Asset Management Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a Canadian-American alternative asset manager. The company was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off of the asset management operations of Brookfield Corporation. At its inception, the company was headquarter ...
reportedly discussed replacing Rogers Centre with a smaller, baseball-specific stadium plus residential towers, office buildings, retail stores and public space. The new venue would be constructed on the southern end of the current stadium and adjacent parking lots, while the mixed-use development would be built on the northern portion of the site. An alternate site was also been considered for a new baseball park at
Quayside The Quayside is an area along the banks (quay) of the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne (the north bank) and Gateshead (south bank) in Tyne and Wear, North East England, United Kingdom. History The area was once an industrial area and busy c ...
in Toronto's east end next to
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. However, the Blue Jays instead decided to undertake a major $400 million renovation of the stadium's interior in two phases, during the 20222023 and 20232024 offseasons. The objective of the renovations was to extend the ballpark's
shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a s ...
by another 10–15 years, while continuing to plan for a new stadium or more significant rebuild of the Rogers Centre within the next 10 to 12 years.


2022–2023

The first phase of the renovations was designed by Populous and involved re-orienting
outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...
seats to face home plate, raising
bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...
s, adjusting the outfield dimensions to be asymmetrical, adding social spaces with bars in the outfield sections of the 500 Level (the highest level), and removing some seats to widen all remaining seats, thereby reducing capacity to 41,500 attendees. The 2023 Blue Jays home opener was moved a few days later to accommodate the first phase of the renovation.


2023–2024

The second phase involved re-orienting the infield seats to face home plate, the addition of cupholders to the seats in the 100 Level, as well as reducing the size of foul territory, improving the dugouts for the Blue Jays and their opponents, and the addition of LED backstop advertising to cover the entire backstop, which is much more visible during television broadcasts. Following the second phase, capacity of the stadium was reduced further to 39,150. The 2024 Blue Jays home opener was also moved a few days later to accommodate the second phase of the renovation.


List of improvements

Significant improvements to the facility since opening in 1989 include: * Exterior roof lighting that can be programmed for themes and events. * The Blue Jays clubhouse was substantially renovated, including a larger training room, an open concept lounge and personal lockers. In total, the clubhouse expanded from . * Main level concourse expansion, making the space brighter, more fan-friendly with expanded wheelchair seating. * The FieldTurf was upgraded to AstroTurf Gameday Grass for 2010. * The main video board was upgraded in 2005, from a JumboTron to a modern Daktronics video board, measuring . * Jays Shop – Stadium Edition, was expanded to an retail space along the main concourse (2007). * Two video boards were built into the outfield fence that each measure . These boards provide player stats, out-of-town scores and other information related to the game and league. * A continuous, ribbon-style video board was installed on the facing of the 300 Level, providing statistics and scores. * Installation of 150 new flat-screen video monitors in the main- and second-level concourses, bringing the number of stadium monitors to around 300. * Upgrade of the entire field lighting system in a two-month conversion process with all 840 of the 2,000-watt bowl lights replaced. * A centre-field porch (later named the
WestJet WestJet Airlines, is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in 1994, it is the second-largest airline in Canada and the eighth-largest airline in North America by frequency. It began operations in 1996 with 220 employee ...
Flight Deck) in the 200 Level was added following the removal of the windows of the former Windows Restaurant (2013, $2 million). * The AstroTurf Gameday Grass was upgraded to AstroTurf Gameday Grass 3D Extreme for the 2015 season. * A full dirt infield was installed for for the previous six seasons, Rogers Centre was the only MLB ballpark with * A two-year, $10 million roof upgrade, completed for the 2017 season, updated the aging OT network and control system to speed up the opening and closing process, reduce monitoring staff requirements, and added a rooftop weather station to better predict incoming weather systems. * A new AstroTurf field was installed prior to the
2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
. The new turf is attached to the floor, so the stands will no longer be able to be rolled and will be permanently locked into baseball configuration. * Further lighting and video board upgrades were made for the 2022 season. * For the 2024
The Eras Tour The Eras Tour was the sixth concert tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It began in Glendale, Arizona, United States, on March 17, 2023, and concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on December 8, 2024. Spanning 149 sh ...
by
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
, new antennas were installed in the Rogers Centre for 5G
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
, at a cost of $8 million. The stadium street address was also renamed "1 Taylor Swift Way" specifically for the concerts.


Stadium features

The venue was the first major team sports stadium in North America with a functional, fully
retractable roof A retractable roof is a roof system designed to roll back the roof of a structure so that the interior of the facility is open to the outdoors. Retractable roofs are sometimes referred to as operable roofs or retractable skylights. The term o ...
(Montreal's
Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...
also had a retractable roof, but due to operational issues, it was replaced with a permanent fixed roof). The roof is composed of four panels and covers an area of . The two middle panels slide laterally to stack over the north semi-circular panel, and then the south semi-circular panel rotates around the stadium and nests inside the stack. It takes 20 minutes for the roof to open or close. It is not possible to move the roof in cold weather because the mechanism that closes the roof could fail in cooler weather. The original
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
installation was replaced with
FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...
from 2005 to 2010. The FieldTurf took about 40 hours to remove for events such as concerts or trade shows, as it used 1,400 trays that needed to be stacked and transported off the field. Prior to the 2010 baseball season, to reduce the amount of time required to convert the playing field, a new, roll-based version of AstroTurf was installed. Similar to FieldTurf, the installation uses a sand- and rubber-based infill within the synthetic fibres. Rogers Centre is one of five venues in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
that use artificial turf (the others are
Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (nicknamed "The Trop") is a domed multipurpose stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. "The Trop" was the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season, 1998 to ...
in
St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...
,
LoanDepot Park LoanDepot Park (officially stylized as loanDepot park, and named Marlins Park until 2021) is a retractable roof stadium located in Miami, Florida, United States. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins. It is located on on ...
in Miami,
Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. It is located just south of the Rangers' former home ballpark, Globe ...
in
Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...
, and
Chase Field Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the ...
in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
) and was the last venue to use "sliding pits" before switching to a full dirt infield for the 2016 baseball season. Before the Argonauts moved out, the pitcher's mound could be lowered or raised hydraulically when converting from baseball to football (or vice versa). The use of natural grass was long thought to be unfeasible since the stadium was designed as a closed structure with a roof that opens, and as such, the interior was not intended or built to deal with weather, including low temperatures and drainage. As of the 2020 season, they are one of two teams to have never played a home game on grass at their main stadium (the Tampa Bay Rays played some home games in 2007 and 2008 at
Champion Stadium The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports is a baseball stadium located at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the Walt Disney World Resort. The stadium was built in 1997. It was most recently the home of the Rookie-league GCL Braves, u ...
in
Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...
in
Bay Lake, Florida Bay Lake is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29 at the 2020 census. It is named after a lake that lies east of Magic Kingdom. All four of the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, and one of Walt Disney Worl ...
, as well as during the 2025 season at George Steinbrenner Stadium; during the
2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
and much of the 2021 seasons, due to travel restrictions amid the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the Toronto Blue Jays played most of their home games at their AAA affiliate's home stadium of
Sahlen Field Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of t ...
in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
with the Blue Jays also playing home games in
TD Ballpark TD Ballpark, originally Dunedin Stadium at Grant Field, is a baseball Playing field, field located in Dunedin, Florida. The stadium was built in 1990 and holds 8,500 people. It is the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as hom ...
in
Dunedin, Florida Dunedin ( ) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa Bay Area, Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater ...
, during the first two months of the 2021 season). Along with Tropicana Field, the Rogers Centre
warning track The warning track is the part of the baseball field that is closest to the wall or fence and is made of a different material than the field. Common materials for the warning track include dirt or rubber; it should always be of a different materi ...
consists of brown turf, which does not provide any tactile differences from the rest of the field. However, the Blue Jays have long explored the possibility of converting the Rogers Centre to a natural grass surface, and plans were examined in order to install a grass field by 2018 to allow enough time for research and growing of the sod. Installing grass would require digging up the floor, adding a drainage system, and installing of dirt. The stadium would need to be permanently locked into its baseball configuration; the lower stands, which roll into position for football, would be permanently fixed in position for baseball. The plan became more definite when Rogers renewed the Argonauts' lease through 2017, but ruled out any further extensions; in May 2015, it was announced the Argonauts would move to
BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...
for the 2016 season. The Blue Jays subsequently confirmed the Argonauts' early departure would not accelerate their own plans to install grass in 2018, though it did allow for a dirt infield to be installed for the 2016 season. However, it does not appear likely the field will be converted to natural grass, as no further announcements for replacing the surface have been made since, and the field continues to retain its artificial surface. There are a total of 5,700 club seats and 161 luxury suites at the Rogers Centre. The complex had a
Hard Rock Café Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a ...
restaurant until December 2009 when the restaurant closed after its lease expired. The Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel is also within Rogers Centre with 70 rooms, and a restaurant and bar called the
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
Grill overlooks the field. The Blue Jays in partnership with theScore Bet announced plans in April 2022 to create a new premium branded flagship sports bar and restaurant that would be open 365 days a year at the Rogers Centre and provide
sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Sports bettors place their wagers either legally, through a sportsbook or bookmaker (colloquially known as "bookies"), or illegally through priva ...
lines, including for
daily fantasy sports Daily fantasy sports (DFS) are a subset of fantasy sport games. As with traditional fantasy sports games, players compete against others by building a team of professional athletes from a particular league or competition while remaining under ...
. Over $5 million of artwork was commissioned in 1989 ($ million in dollars): * ''The Audience'' – by
Michael Snow Michael James Aleck Snow (December 10, 1928 – January 5, 2023) was a Canadian artist who worked in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Rég ...
is a collection of larger-than-life depictions of fans above the northeast and northwest entrances. Painted gold, the sculptures show fans in various acts of celebration. * ''A Tribute to Baseball'' – by Lutz Haufschild, above the Southeast and Southwest entrances of Gate 5. * ''The Art of the Possible'' – by Mimi Gellman, inside along the north side of the concourse on the 100 Level. The glass and steel sculpture incorporates the signatures of 2,000 builders of SkyDome, and is a tribute to their work. Some of the artifacts found during excavation, such as musket balls and pottery, have also been included. The brightly illuminated sculpture became an issue to baseball players when the stadium first opened. The bright lights were considered a distraction to batters. * ''Salmon Run'' – by Susan Schelle, outside by the Southeast entrance in
Bobbie Rosenfeld Park Bobbie Rosenfeld Park, is a public park near the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1991, two years following the completion of the SkyDome (later renamed Rogers Centre in 2005), an open space between Rogers Centre and CN Tower was renamed ...
; it is a large fountain with various stainless steel salmon cutouts. * ''Spiral Fountain'' – by Judith Schwarz. The stadium's parking lot is located under the stadium itself. The underground parking lot is divided into four sections (Sun, Moon, Star, and Cloud) and the ramps within the stadium correspond to these sections, while the fifth section, the Hotel Zone, being the northernmost section, is reserved for hotel uses by the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel directly above this section.


Seating capacity


Rogers Centre video board

The Rogers Centre video board is high and across. The panel is made up of modular
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
units that can be replaced unit by unit, and can be repaired immediately should it be damaged during an event. Originally, this screen was a Sony
Jumbotron A jumbotron, sometimes referred to as jumbovision, is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall). The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, which coined JumboTron as a ...
, which was the largest in North America at the time of the stadium's opening, but it has since been replaced a few times. There are also two ribbon boards made up of LED that run along the East and West sides of the stadium interior. Each board is long by high. In addition, two video boards make up parts of the left and right outfield walls while the stadium is in baseball configuration. These are wide by nearly high. The main video board was upgraded again for the 2022 Blue Jays season, this time by using more modern technology and adding four "wings", two on each side of the central part of the main video board with the lower wings on each side being wider, making the main video board no longer rectangular. This was to accommodate the windows of the hotel behind the main video board. The video board and the stadium played host to several
serial television In television and radio programming, a serial is a show that has a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode-by-episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the complete run of t ...
events, including the series finales for ''
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
'' and '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', along with live coverage of the funeral of
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...
in 1997.


Stadium usage


Baseball

The Blue Jays have won two World Series championships at Rogers Centre, hosting Games 3, 4, and 5 of the
1992 World Series The 1992 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1992 season. The 89th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven, or first to four playoff, played between the American League (AL) champion Toronto ...
and Games 1, 2, and 6 of the
1993 World Series The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) cham ...
at the stadium, then known as SkyDome, with Game 3 of the 1992 series the first World Series game ever played in Canada. The stadium also hosted the
1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 62nd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9 ...
. The
1991 American League Championship Series The 1991 American League Championship Series was a semifinal series in Major League Baseball's 1991 Major League Baseball postseason, 1991 postseason played between the 1991 Minnesota Twins season, Minnesota Twins and the 1991 Toronto Blue Jays s ...
was the first Major League Baseball playoff series played entirely indoors with the first two games at the
Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League's (NFL) ...
in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
and the final three at SkyDome. Games in the first round of the
2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...
were played at the Rogers Centre.


Basketball

Besides baseball, Rogers Centre was the original home of the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
's
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
, who played at the venue from November 1995 to February 1999, while the Air Canada Centre (later renamed
Scotiabank Arena Scotiabank Arena (SBA), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and t ...
) was being planned and built. It proved to be somewhat problematic as a basketball venue, even considering it was only a temporary facility. For instance, many seats theoretically in line with the court were so far away that fans needed binoculars to see the action. Other seats were so badly obstructed that fans sitting there could only watch the game on the replay boards. For most games, Rogers Centre seated 22,900 people. However, the Raptors sometimes opened the 500 Level, which is the stadium's uppermost level, when popular opponents came to town, such as the
Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...
when
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
was a member of the team, expanding capacity to 29,000 and held over 36,000 attendees at one point.


Football

Rogers Centre hosted Canadian football from opening in 1989 to 2015, as the Argonauts moved to
BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...
in 2016. In November 2007, it hosted the
95th Grey Cup The 95th Grey Cup was held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on November 25, 2007. The Grey Cup, first awarded in 1909, is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. It was played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipe ...
, its first since 1992 and third all-time. It was the 56th Grey Cup hosted by the city of Toronto since the championship's inception in 1909. From 1989 to 2003, SkyDome hosted the
Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup () is the trophy awarded annually to the champion Canadian football team in U Sports, the governing body for university sports in Canada. The U Sports football champion is determined in a one-game playoff (the Vanier Cup game), pl ...
championship of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (later renamed
U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...
in 2016) football. In 1994, then-part owner of SkyDome Labatt considered purchasing a
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
and a
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
team to play at the stadium. The
International Bowl The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010. During its run, it was the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States ...
, an
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
game between two American schools – one from the
Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...
and one from the
Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...
– has been played at Rogers Centre four times. The Big East school has won all four bowl games. On January 6, 2007, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the Western Michigan University Broncos, 27–24. The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University won the second bowl game in the series on January 5, 2008, by beating the Cardinals of Ball State University, 52–30. The Bulls of the University at Buffalo, a school within a ninety-minute drive of Rogers Centre, lost the third International Bowl to the University of Connecticut Huskies, 38–20. On January 2, 2010, the University of South Florida Bulls beat the Huskies of Northern Illinois University, 27–3. Rogers Centre was also the venue for the
43rd Vanier Cup The 43rd Vanier Cup was played on November 23, 2007, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and decided the CIS Football champion for the 2007 season. The Manitoba Bisons completed a perfect season by defeating the Saint Mary's Huskies by a score o ...
on Friday, November 23, 2007, just two days before Grey Cup Sunday. It was the 16th Vanier Cup hosted at the venue, returning after a three-year absence in which it was hosted by
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
(2004 and 2005) and
Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
, Saskatchewan (2006). It was the 40th Vanier Cup hosted by Toronto since that championship's inception in 1965.


NFL

The
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
's
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
announced its intentions to play five "home" games (and three pre-season games) in Rogers Centre in October 2007, so beginning the
Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series were a series of National Football League (NFL) games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original series began in the 2008 season and ran through 2012. The Bills were o ...
; the first of these regular-season games took place on December 7 of the 2008 season versus the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
. It marked the first time an NFL team has established a "home" stadium outside the United States for regular-season games. The Bills played a preseason game against the
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
at Rogers Centre on August 14, 2008; the Toronto Series was played every year through the 2013 season.


Soccer

From the mid-2000s, soccer matches have been regularly held in SkyDome / Rogers Centre; they had been rarely played at the venue when its
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
surface had been in place. Examples of soccer (
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
) matches: *On June 8, 2005, an international soccer friendly between
Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...
and
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
took place, ending in a 1–1 draw. *On May 25, 2010, the stadium hosted a friendly soccer match between Italy's
ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...
and
Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
with Fiorentina winning 1–0. *On July 16, 2010, the stadium hosted a friendly soccer match between England's
Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...
and Scotland's
Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...
Manchester United F.C. defeated Celtic F.C. with a score of 3–1. The match was played on a temporary grass surface harvested from
Burford, Ontario Burford is a rural community and is part of the County of Brant, in central southwestern Ontario. It has 1,058 residents (2021 Census). It is located eight kilometres west of the City of Brantford along Highway 53, and seventy kilometres east of ...
and transported via 18 tractor-trailers. *On July 21, 2012, the stadium hosted the friendly between
Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...
and
Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
, a match that finished in a 1–1 draw. *On November 19, 2013, Rogers Centre hosted a friendly soccer match between
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, a match that finished in a 2–1 victory for the Brazilian side.


Motorsports

Having originated in 1980 at
Exhibition Stadium Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (commonly known as Exhibition Stadium or CNE Stadium and nicknamed The Ex) was a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the grounds of Exhibition Place. Originally built for Canadian National ...
, the Toronto Supercross moved to the Rogers Centre upon its opening in 1989. The event was held annually through 1996 before going on hiatus. It was revived as a part of the
FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...
World Supercross GP series in 2004 and joined the
AMA Supercross Championship The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from ...
after the two series fully merged in 2008. The event ran until 2014 and returned for 2016 and 2017. Then, on January 16, 1993, the stadium hosted the Skydome Grand Prix featuring the USAC National Midget Car Series. The night of racing featured
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
stars
John Andretti John Andrew Andretti (March 12, 1963January 30, 2020) was an American professional race car driver. He won individual races in CART, IMSA GTP, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR during his career. A member of the Andretti racing family, he was ...
, Kenny Irwin Jr.,
Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...
and
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...
winner
Tom Sneva Thomas Edsol Sneva (born June 1, 1948) is an American former race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983. He primarily raced in Indy cars, and was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. A former math teacher and juni ...
racing on an 1/6 mile oval track and was broadcast across Canada on TSN.


Other sports

Rogers Centre has also hosted exhibition
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
,
gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
,
hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...
,
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
and
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
. It hosted the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships. On May 31, 1997, the venue hosted a post-Olympic track and field event that pitted Olympic track champions
Donovan Bailey Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to become Olympic champion in 1996. He was the first Canadian to legally br ...
and Michael Johnson, in a 150 m race billed as a competition for the title of the "World's Fastest Man", given media disputes over that title during the
1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in Atlanta. Bailey won the race, completing it in a time of 15 seconds and winning the $1.5 million prize. Johnson pulled up lame at the 110 m mark claiming a quadriceps injury. Rogers Centre is the site of several major
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
and
collegiate Collegiate may refer to: * College * Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate" * ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews * ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...
sporting competitions, such as the Prentice Cup for high school baseball. Since 2008, the Rogers Centre is the host of the Greater Toronto high schools'
Metro Bowl The Metro Bowl has traditionally been the championship game for Secondary School football teams in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, from 1982 until 2012. The game was revived by the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations beginning in 2 ...
. On April 30, 2011,
UFC 129 ''UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in ...
was hosted at Rogers Centre, in the first major
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
event to ever be held in Ontario after the province lifted a ban on prizefighting. Due to overwhelming demand for tickets (with the initial slate of 42,000 selling in around half an hour), the UFC and Rogers Centre reconfigured the event for 55,000 tickets. The event broke a UFC attendance record set at
UFC 124 ''UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck 2'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 11, 2010 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The event was the fourth that the Ultimate Fighting Cham ...
in Montreal, and also set records for the largest single-day gate revenue in both UFC (surpassing
UFC 66 ''UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 30, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. Background ''UFC 66s main ...
by at least double) and Rogers Centre history. For the
2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...
, the Rogers Centre was used for the
opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
and
closing Closing may refer to: Business and law * Closing (law), a closing argument, a summation * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction * Closing (sales), the process of making a sale * Closing a business, the proc ...
ceremonies.


Professional wrestling

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
has hosted WrestleMania at Rogers Centre twice.
WrestleMania VI WrestleMania VI was a 1990 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the sixth annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Can ...
was held on April 1, 1990, with the main event being a title vs title match which saw the
WWF Intercontinental Champion The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster, along ...
The Ultimate Warrior Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Bodybuilding, bodybuilder and Motivational speaker, motivational speaker. Best known by his ring name The Ultima ...
defeat the WWF World Heavyweight Champion
Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...
, set the SkyDome attendance record of 67,678. The attendance record was broken when 68,237 attended
WrestleMania X8 WrestleMania X8, also known as WrestleMania 18, was a 2002 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 18th annual WrestleMania and took place on St Patrick’s Day on Ma ...
on March 17, 2002, the main event seeing
Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...
win the Undisputed WWF Championship from Canadian
Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...
. In February 1999, the stadium hosted a taping for the February 13, 1999, episode of ''
WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It currently airs Live television, live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show fe ...
'' (a
special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces ...
Saturday-night airing of ''Raw'' due to
USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...
's coverage of the
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, held annually in the New York metropolitan area. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs are required to be on ...
), featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin being defeated by Mr. McMahon in a gauntlet match against The Corporation (professional wrestling), The Corporation. It had the largest crowd in ''Raw'' history, with a reported attendance of 41,432. On March 1, 2025, WWE returned to the Rogers Centre for the first time since WrestleMania X8 to host their Elimination Chamber: Toronto premium live event.


Music concerts

The stadium has several concert configurations, including smaller ''Theatre'' (capacity 5,000 to 7,000) and ''Concert Hall'' (formerly ''SkyTent''; capacity 10,000 to 25,000). Due to the stadium's design and building materials, the acoustics are poor, and the loudness/quality can vary greatly around the stadium. Its popularity with artists and fans has diminished over the years, and the
Scotiabank Arena Scotiabank Arena (SBA), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and t ...
now hosts most major concerts. The SkyTent, a group of acoustical curtain sails hoisted on rigging above the floor, helps reduce sound distortion and improve sound quality by dampening reverberations around the stadium. Soon after its opening, the stadium became a popular venue for large-scale rock concerts and is the largest indoor concert venue in Toronto. Artists have included: *Bruce Springsteen, U2 with two concerts in 2009, as well as their concert in 2011, all part of their U2 360° Tour, 360° Tour. *Bon Jovi performed two sellout shows on July 20 and 21, 2010, at Rogers Centre as part of The Circle Tour. *Bruce Springsteen performed on August 24, 2012, during his Wrecking Ball World Tour in front of 39,000 attendees. *The Rolling Stones played two sold-out concerts at the stadium: on December 4, 1989, during the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, Steel Wheels Tour and on September 26, 2005, during their highest-grossing tour A Bigger Bang Tour. *Madonna performed three shows from 27 May, 1990 at the Skydome, the shows were part of the Blond Ambition World Tour, and were Canada's only dates. Later, she performed two concerts at the stadium again during The Girlie Show (Madonna), The Girlie Show World Tour for October 11 & 12, 1993. *Rogers Centre has been a venue for large electronic dance music events. During 2013, the stadium hosted two electronic dance music events, including two sold-out shows on Swedish House Mafia's One Last Tour, and Sensation (event), Sensation. *Guns N' Roses performed at Rogers Centre on July 16, 2016, during their Not in This Lifetime... Tour in front of 48,016 attendees with Billy Talent. *Metallica also played a sold-out show at the stadium as part of their WorldWired Tour on July 16, 2017, with special guests Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat. *Shawn Mendes headlined his first stadium show to a sold-out crowd on September 6, 2019, at Rogers Centre during his Shawn Mendes: The Tour. *Beyoncé opened her North American leg of the Renaissance World Tour at the Rogers Center on July 8 and 9 2023, for 56,577 people. *
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
, the American singer-songwriter performed at the Rogers Centre as part of
The Eras Tour The Eras Tour was the sixth concert tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It began in Glendale, Arizona, United States, on March 17, 2023, and concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on December 8, 2024. Spanning 149 sh ...
from November 14 to 16, 2024 and subsequently November 21 to 23rd, which made her the first artist to schedule six shows on a single tour at Rogers Centre. *Kendrick Lamar and SZA, the American rapper and singer-songwriter to perform two sold-out shows back to back during their Grand National Tour, Grand National World Tour.


Other uses

*Rogers Centre contains of exhibition space, allowing it to host a variety of events year-round. *Disney on Ice and
circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...
es have used the venue. *It is home to several annual auto shows, with the Canadian International AutoShow in February and Importfest in October. *The Opening Ceremonies of the XVI International AIDS Conference, 2006, XVI International AIDS Conference were held at Rogers Centre on August 13, 2006. *It has also hosted many Public speaking, public speakers, including appearances by the 14th Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama, Evangelism, Christian evangelist Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, and for a book reading with J. K. Rowling and Margaret Atwood. *In addition to being a venue that hosts sports, concerts and other events, the Rogers Centre also houses the head offices of a number of businesses. The
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
have its office headquarters in the building and until 2008, the
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
did as well. It is also the home of the head offices of Ticketmaster Canada and Zuffa Canada, the former also having the main Ticketmaster outlet (ticket centre) for eastern Canada, at the south end of the building beside Gate 9. *In addition, the building contains the Toronto Renaissance Hotels, Renaissance Hotel, a Premier Fitness/Health Club, (formerly) a Hard Rock Cafe (now John Street Terrace), and (formerly) Windows Restaurant (now WestJet Flight Deck). From 2006 until its closure in 2009, the Hard Rock Cafe only opened when there was a performance in the building. On non-event days, there are daily tours of the Rogers Centre.


Attendance records

* WWE, World Wrestling Federation's
WrestleMania X8 WrestleMania X8, also known as WrestleMania 18, was a 2002 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 18th annual WrestleMania and took place on St Patrick’s Day on Ma ...
attracted the largest paid crowd to SkyDome. The March 17, 2002, event gathered 68,237 fans.
WrestleMania VI WrestleMania VI was a 1990 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the sixth annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Can ...
held the previous record of 67,678 on April 1, 1990. *
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
: The 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, 1991 All-Star Game on July 9 attracted 52,383 spectators. * Billy Graham Mission Ontario Youth Rally: This meeting, on June 10, 1995, is conceivably the most attended event in the stadium's history. The attendance of 72,500 was boosted by performances by several Christian music groups, and by extensive seating on the field. There were as many as 30,000 people outside, watching the event on screens around the stadium. *
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
: A crowd of 52,268 attended game five of the
1992 World Series The 1992 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1992 season. The 89th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven, or first to four playoff, played between the American League (AL) champion Toronto ...
, which Toronto lost 7–2 to the Atlanta Braves. The smallest crowd for a Jays game occurred in April 2010, when 10,314 watched Toronto win 8–1 against the Kansas City Royals. *
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
: 54,088 packed the SkyDome to watch the 77th Grey Cup, 1989 Grey Cup Game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. *
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
: The 1991 Eastern Division Final played against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers drew a crowd of 50,386. The smallest crowd for an Argonauts game occurred on July 13, 2001, when 11,041 people watched Toronto lose 30–16 against Winnipeg *
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
: 55,799 fans filled the Rogers Centre to see the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
defeat the Dallas Cowboys 9–7 in an American Bowl exhibition game on August 12, 1995. *
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
: A March 24, 1996, game against the
Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...
drew a crowd of 36,131. For this game, the basketball venue was reconfigured to accommodate more fans due to the popularity of the visiting team, which basketball superstar
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
played for during this time. The expansion Raptors handed the record-setting Bulls one of their ten defeats that season, winning 109–108. * Association football, Soccer: A July 31, 2004, soccer game between
Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...
and AS Roma drew 50,158. * Mixed martial arts:
UFC 129 ''UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in ...
sold 55,000 tickets for the highest single-day event gate in the stadium's history and set new world records for the sport.


Timeline

* 1986 – October 3 – SkyDome's ground is broken. * 1987 – June 3 – The stadium is officially named "SkyDome". * 1989 – June 2 – Dress rehearsal for opening ceremony, family/friends of volunteer performers invited to attend. First unofficial "Wave (audience), wave" performed at SkyDome. * 1989 – June 3 – SkyDome officially opens, hosting a live opening night gala. * 1989 – June 5 – SkyDome plays host to its first Toronto Blue Jays, Blue Jays game. The Blue Jays lose 5–3 to the Milwaukee Brewers. * 1989 – June 5 – Fred McGriff hits the first home run at SkyDome. * 1989 – June 7 – John Cerutti records the first Blue Jays win at SkyDome, beating the Brewers 4–2. * 1989 – June 8 – Rod Stewart performs the first concert at SkyDome. * 1989 – July 12 – The stadium plays host to its first Toronto Argonauts, Argonauts game, a 24–15 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. * 1989 – July 17 – First Doubleheader at Skydome and the Jays win both games beating the Angels. * 1989 – October 7 - Athletics' Jose Canseco hits a home run into the fifth deck of SkyDome, off Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Mike Flanagan (baseball), Mike Flanagan. It is an estimated shot, although one journalist estimated it to be at least 500 feet. * 1989 – November 5 – Rest of the World defeats West Indies by 11 runs in longest game (cricket) hosted by SkyDome * 1989 – November 26 – The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43–40 in the 77th Grey Cup. * 1990 – April 1 –
WrestleMania VI WrestleMania VI was a 1990 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the sixth annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Can ...
saw the then SkyDome attendance record of 67,678. * 1990 – The Major League Baseball, MLB single-season attendance record is broken with 58 sellouts and a season total crowd of 3,885,284. * 1991 – July 9 – The stadium is the host of the 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB All-Star Game. * 1992 – The Calgary Stampeders defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24–10 in the 80th Grey Cup. * 1992 – The first World Series game outside the United States is played at SkyDome, as the Blue Jays host the Atlanta Braves in game three of the
1992 World Series The 1992 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1992 season. The 89th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven, or first to four playoff, played between the American League (AL) champion Toronto ...
. * 1993 – October 23 – The Blue Jays win their second straight World Series championship when Toronto outfielder Joe Carter hits a walk-off home run against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams. * 1995 – June 22 – During a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, two acoustic panels fall off the inner ceiling in the seventh inning, injuring seven fans. The game is not stopped. * 1995 – July 9 – A worker dies when installing lights for a computer show (falling ) * 1998 – November – Several dignitaries, including Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, honour the visiting South African President of South Africa, president Nelson Mandela. * 1998 – November – SkyDome files for bankruptcy protection. * 1998 – SkyDome is purchased out of bankruptcy by Sportsco. * 2001 – April 12 – A scheduled Blue Jays' game against the Kansas City Royals is cancelled due to the retractable roof jamming during a test run, damaging the roof and sending debris crashing to the field below. * 2001 – August 3 – The retractable roof is ordered closed in the third inning of a Toronto Blue Jays' game against the Baltimore Orioles at the request of home plate Umpire (baseball), umpire Tim Welke, as a swarm of thousands of aphids descends on SkyDome. * 2001 – Oct 5 – The second doubleheader at SkyDome and the Jays win both games again beating the Cleveland Indians. * 2002 – March 17 –
WrestleMania X8 WrestleMania X8, also known as WrestleMania 18, was a 2002 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 18th annual WrestleMania and took place on St Patrick’s Day on Ma ...
sets the SkyDome attendance record of 68,237. * 2005 – February 2 –
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
buys the stadium and renames it Rogers Centre. * 2007 – November 25 – Rogers Centre plays host to the
95th Grey Cup The 95th Grey Cup was held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on November 25, 2007. The Grey Cup, first awarded in 1909, is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. It was played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipe ...
, the first in Toronto in 15 years. The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23–19 in the game. * 2008 – August 14 – Rogers Centre plays host to a pre-season
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
game between the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
and
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
, the first of a five-year lease deal that sees Bills Toronto Series, the Bills playing occasional home games in Toronto. * 2011 – April 30 – Rogers Centre holds its first Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC event,
UFC 129 ''UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in ...
. It is the first to be held in a stadium and was the biggest Mixed martial arts, MMA event in North America at that time. * 2011 – June 25 – Rogers Centre successfully holds the first International Indian Film Academy Awards event in North America. * 2012 – November 25 – The
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the 100th Grey Cup 35–22. Johnny Reid headlined a special Kick-Off Show, and half time performers include internationally renowned Canadian singers Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Marianas Trench (band), Marianas Trench, and Gordon Lightfoot. * 2015 – July 10 – Rogers Centre holds 2015 Pan American Games opening ceremony, the opening ceremony of the
2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...
. * 2015 – July 26 – Rogers Centre holds 2015 Pan American Games closing ceremony, the closing ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games. * 2015 - November 6 - The last Argonauts game hosted at Rogers Centre before the team's move to
BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...
in the next season. The Argonauts won against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a score of 21–11. * 2016 – October 4 – Rogers Centre opens its roof for the first time in Blue Jays postseason history during the 2016 American League Wild Card Game, American League Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles. * 2018 – April 16 – A scheduled Blue Jays' game against the Kansas City Royals is cancelled due to the retractable roof having a hole as a result of the mid-April 2018 ice storm. * 2018 – April 17 – The third doubleheader in Blue Jays history at Rogers Centre and the Blue Jays would remain unbeaten in doubleheaders at Rogers Centre as they beat Royals 11–3 in Game 1 and 5–4 in Game 2. * 2020–21 – The Blue Jays are forced to relocate their home games to
Sahlen Field Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. Home to the Buffalo Bisons of t ...
in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
and
TD Ballpark TD Ballpark, originally Dunedin Stadium at Grant Field, is a baseball Playing field, field located in Dunedin, Florida. The stadium was built in 1990 and holds 8,500 people. It is the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as hom ...
in
Dunedin, Florida Dunedin ( ) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa Bay Area, Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater ...
on a temporary basis for the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays season, 2020 season and the start of the following season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the Canada–United States border. * 2021 – July 30 – The first Blue Jays game back at Rogers Centre since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was against the Kansas City Royals. * 2022 – July - The Blue Jays unveil plans for a major renovation of the Rogers Centre, with phase 1 focusing on outfield improvements. *2023 – July - Phase 2 of the Rogers Centre renovation plans are unveiled. *2024 – April - The two offseason renovations are completed, and the stadium was officially re-opened. *2025 – March 1 -
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
hosted Elimination Chamber: Toronto, which had an attendance of 38,493. The event was also notable for the John Cena turning heel for the first time in 22 years, and was the highest-grossing WWE event ever held in Canada.


Facts and figures


Baseball firsts


Opening day (June 5, 1989)

Reference: Retrosheet: Skydome firsts


Batting


Pitching


Stadium-related

* The stadium roof had a patent, which prevented its design from being easily copied: U.S. Patent #4676033. The patent was filed on May 1, 1986, and published June 30, 1987, to dome designers, architect
Rod Robbie Roderick George Robbie (September 15, 1928 – January 4, 2012) was a British-born Canadian architect and planner. He was known for his design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and Toronto's Rogers Centre (SkyDome). Biography and person ...
and structural engineer Michael Allen. The patent expired in 2006. * The original mascot of the stadium was a turtle by the name of Domer. Domer has not been widely used since the mid-1990s, although he did make a return on June 6, 2014, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rogers Centre. * When the retractable roof is open, people standing on the observation deck of the nearby
CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...
can look down on the field. * Over 50 million people have visited SkyDome/Rogers Centre. * When the roof is open, 91 percent of the seats and 100 percent of the field is open to the sky, covering an area of . * The roof weighs and is held together by 250,000 bolts. * The stadium's inward-looking hotel rooms have regular two-way windows, yielding instances of what some could consider indecent exposure and leading to nicknames such as "SexDome" and "Exhibitionist Stadium". When SkyDome first opened, a couple engaging in sexual intercourse was televised on the scoreboard Jumbotron during a baseball game, thanks to illumination from stadium lighting despite the room's lights being off. Days later, a man was caught masturbating during a game in full view of the packed stands. The man, later tracked down by a ''Sports Illustrated'' reporter, calmly said, "I thought they were one-way windows." Patrons now have to sign contracts stipulating they will not perform any lewd acts within view of the stadium. The last reported such instance occurred in 1996. Occasionally, broadcasts will Kiss cam, zoom into humorous instances from these hotel rooms, such as a pillow fight during the 1992 World Series. * When the stadium first opened, the Toronto Transit Commission was worried about the challenge of moving the large crowds. As a way to streamline the entry to the subway and to encourage public transit use to the stadium, all tickets for the first 30 days also worked as a Toronto Transit Commission fares, Metropass, which was the commission's monthly pass. * The stadium corporation has been requested to help in the planning of other venues from the U.S., the Netherlands, England, Australia, New Zealand, to Singapore, China and Germany ''(Source: Rogers Centre Press release)''. * It was the most expensive stadium in both the
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
and
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
, constructed at a price of C$570 million (C$ in dollars). This record was passed by the Yankee Stadium, New Yankee Stadium at a cost of US$1.5 billion. If Montreal's
Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...
(which was formerly the home field of the Montreal Expos, Expos, only used for CFL playoff games since the late 2000s and MLS Cup Playoffs, MLS playoff games since the mid-2010s) were counted, it would take the title, with a 1976 cost of C$1.6 billion (C$ in dollars). * Rogers Centre has hosted regular-season games of five of the six major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada throughout the stadium's history; all but a National Hockey League (NHL) game, despite the
Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...
being in the NHL.


In popular culture

*The stadium is the setting of the climax in the 2022 Pixar animated film ''Turning Red'', in which the fictional boy band 4*Town performs a large-scale concert during which the stadium is partially destroyed. As the Toronto-set film's time period is set in 2002, the stadium is referred to by its original SkyDome name. *The exterior part of the venue has been used in M. Night Shyamalan's 2024 film, ''Trap (2024 film), Trap'', which was renamed "Tanaka Arena" for the story's outline, hosting a Lady Raven concert, who is the movie's popstar.


Gallery

Rogers Centre July 2005 02.jpg, Interior of the stadium in 2005. Rogers refurbished several parts of the stadium after its acquisition, including replacing the Jumbotron with a Daktronics video display. Toronto - ON - Rogers Centre (Nacht).jpg, The roof of the Rogers Centre illuminated during the night in 2008. Toronto Blue Jays Shop, Rogers Centre -throughglass (35678680363).jpg, Exterior entrance to one of the two Toronto Blue Jays, Jays Shop locations at Rogers Centre. Rogers Centre video screen.jpg, The stadium's video board in 2018, depicting the two Commissioner's Trophy (MLB), Commissioner's Trophies won by the Blue Jays in 1992 World Series, 1992 and 1993 World Series, 1993 Rogers Centre - TFC vs Galaxy (6965625113).jpg, A soccer match between
Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...
and the LA Galaxy, Los Angeles Galaxy in 2012 IIFA Toronto 2011 (8).jpg, The 12th IIFA Awards, 12th International Indian Film Academy Awards held at the Rogers Centre in June 2011 100th Grey Cup Toronto November 2012 (1).jpg, Members of the
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
run onto the field of the Rogers Centre, after winning the 100th Grey Cup in 2012 Blue Jays Win the 1993 World Series.jpg, Fireworks at the stadium after the Toronto Blue Jays win the
1993 World Series The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) cham ...
95th Grey Cup Toronto 2007 Rogers Centre End Zone.jpg, Scene from the
95th Grey Cup The 95th Grey Cup was held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on November 25, 2007. The Grey Cup, first awarded in 1909, is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. It was played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipe ...
in 2007, the first Grey Cup to be held in the city since 1992 Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel - Toronto, ON.jpg, Marriott hotel connected to the stadium


See also

* List of Canadian Football League stadiums * List of current Major League Baseball stadiums * List of stadiums in Canada


References


Notes


External links

* {{Authority control 1989 establishments in Ontario American Bowl venues American football venues in Canada Amphitheatres in Canada Australian rules football grounds Baseball venues in Ontario Bills Toronto Series Buffalo Bills stadiums Canadian Football League venues Canadian football venues in Ontario Convention centres in Canada Defunct Canadian football venues Event venues established in 1989 Former NBA venues Indoor track and field venues Major League Baseball venues Multi-purpose stadiums in Canada Music venues in Toronto Retractable-roof stadiums Rogers Communications Pan American Games opening ceremony stadiums Railway Lands Soccer venues in Ontario Sports venues completed in 1989 Sports venues in Toronto Toronto Argonauts Toronto Blue Jays stadiums Toronto Raptors Venues of defunct NCAA bowl games Venues of the 2015 Pan American Games