Swangard Stadium is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. Primarily used for soccer, rugby, football, and athletics, the stadium also used to be home to the

Simon Fraser Clan The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams (formerly the Simon Fraser Clan) represent Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Canadian university affiliated ...

football team and the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

while they were in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) and various US-based Division 2 leagues. It opened on April 26, 1969, and has a capacity of 5,288.

History

In 1969, ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'' sports journalist Erwin Swangard raised nearly $1 million for the construction of an athletic stadium in

. British Columbia Premier W. A. C. Bennett officially named the stadium after Swangard at its opening on April 26, 1969. Swangard was not present on the day of the opening, having been sent to start a newspaper in Nigeria.

Vancouver Whitecaps

The city of Vancouver launched a professional soccer team in 1986, named the Vancouver 86ers (now known as the Whitecaps). The Canadian Soccer League (CSL) club began playing in 1987 and made Swangard Stadium their home pitch. The stadium served its last season as the Whitecaps' home in 2010, as the club joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

(MLS) in 2011. As Swangard does not meet MLS standards for capacity, the City of Burnaby initially proposed to keep the team in Burnaby by renovating the stadium and expanding its capacity to 20,000 seats. This plan, however, fell through, and the Whitecaps eventually decided they wanted to move to a new, larger soccer-specific home at the Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium. Currently the Whitecaps are playing at

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 ...

Stadium and president of the organization, Bob Lenarduzzi has stated the club intends to stay at BC Place for the time being and plans for a new stadium are all on hold.

International events

The stadium's capacity was temporarily increased to 10,000 for the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

. In the past, it has hosted home games for the Canadian men's and women's soccer teams in Olympic and World Cup qualifying. In some cases, crowds in excess of 10,000 have witnessed games, with many of the fans standing. Swangard has also been the host stadium of the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

Other events

In 2013, the

Vancouver Riptide The Vancouver Riptide was a semi-professional ultimate team that competed in American Ultimate Disc League which started play in the 2013 season. They played their home games at Swangard Stadium, in Burnaby, British Columbia. The team ended play ...

, a professional ultimate team competing in the

American Ultimate Disc League American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, became a tenant of Swangard Stadium but they ended play at end of 2017 season and are being moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

for the 2020 season. In June 2014,

announced that Swangard Stadium would be their football team's home field for the 2014 season. The Clan returned to their campus again starting with the 2016 season. It is also used very frequently for track and field meets in the Lower Mainland. In March 2015, the first

Quidditch Canada Quidditch Canada is the governing body that oversees quidditch within Canada under its mother organization, the International Quidditch Association. In August 2022, QC announced plans to rebrand with the new name Quadball in 2023. History Quidd ...

National Championship took place at the stadium. The

TSS FC Rovers TSS FC Rovers are a Canadian soccer team based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada that play in League1 British Columbia. Established for the 2017 PDL season by general manager Will Cromack and head coach Colin Elmes, the Rovers are the under-2 ...

played their home soccer games there starting in the 2017 season when they played in the

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league sy ...

Northwest Division. The TSS FC Rovers Women's team of the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

also use the stadium as their home. They started play in the 2018 season. Starting in the 2022 season, both men's and women's teams will play in the new

League1 British Columbia League1 British Columbia (L1BC) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in British Columbia, Canada, which began play in May 2022. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the BC Soccer Association as a pr ...

(L1BC) soccer league. The

Whitecaps FC 2 Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer. History Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteration the team played its ...

of the

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS club ...

, the reserve team of the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

, will play all their home games at the stadium starting in March 2022.

References

External links

City of Burnaby's information on the stadiumInformation from Vancouver Whitecaps Official Site
{{Premier Development League stadiums Athletics (track and field) venues in Canada Buildings and structures in Burnaby Canadian football venues in British Columbia Multi-purpose stadiums in British Columbia Soccer venues in British Columbia Sport in Burnaby Sports venues in British Columbia Tourist attractions in Burnaby Simon Fraser Clan football Ultimate (sport) venues College football venues Sports venues completed in 1969 1969 establishments in British Columbia