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Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
Encyclopedia
The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium
in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
district of Montreal
, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics
. The stadium is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the doughnut
-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof; "The Big Owe" has been used to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.
The stadium is the largest by seating capacity in Canada. After the Olympics, it became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and Canadian football
teams. Since 2004, when the Montreal Expos
relocated to Washington, D.C., the stadium has no main tenant, and with a history of financial and structural problems, is largely seen as a white elephant
. It currently serves as a 56,040-seat multipurpose facility for special events (e.g. concerts, trade shows), and continues to serve as a 66,308-seat venue for playoff and Grey Cup
games hosted by the Montreal Alouettes
. The Montreal Impact
also use the stadium on occasion when a larger capacity venue is needed or when the weather restricts outdoor play in the spring months.
The Tower of Montreal , the tower incorporated into the base of the stadium, is the tallest inclined tower
in the world at 175 metres (574.1 ft).
to be a very elaborate facility featuring a retractable roof
, which was to be opened and closed by a huge 175 metres (574.1 ft) tower – the tallest inclined structure in the world, and the sixth tallest building in Montreal.
The Olympic swimming pool
is located under this tower. An Olympic velodrome
(since converted to the Montreal Biodome
, an indoor nature museum) was situated at the base of the tower in a building similar in design to the swimming pool. The building was built as the main stadium
for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium was host to various events including the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics
, football
finals, and the team jumping equestrian
events.
The building's design is cited as a masterpiece of Organic Modern architecture. Taillibert based the building on plant and animal forms, aiming to include vertebral structures with sinewy or tentacles, while still following the basic plans of Modern architecture
.
Problems plagued the stadium from the time it opened for the Olympic Games, when it was only half built.
Seating 58,500 at the time, the stadium was not fully completed in time for the Games due to problems with the unusual design and strikes by construction workers. During the Games and for several years afterward, the stadium did not have a tower or roof. Both the tower and the roof, made of over 5500 m² (59,201.5 sq ft) of Kevlar
, stood unfinished until 1987, and it was not until 1988 that it was possible to retract the roof. The 66-tonne
roof then proved difficult to retract, and could not be used at all in winds greater than 40 km/h (24.9 mph). During baseball season, whenever rain was accompanied by high winds, this resulted in the unusual phenomenon of a rain delay in a covered stadium. It was also torn during particularly windy conditions.
The observatory's main window faces south-west, offering a view of downtown Montreal and overlooking the Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium's suspended roof.
134 million to construct, strikes and construction delays served to escalate these costs. By the time the stadium opened (in an unfinished form), the total costs had risen to C$264 million.
The Quebec government introduced a special tobacco tax in May 1976 to help recoup its investment. By 2006, the amount contributed to the Olympic Installations Board accounted for 8% of the tax revenue earned from cigarette sales. The 1976 special tobacco tax act stipulated that once the stadium was paid off, ownership of the facility would be returned to the City of Montreal.
In mid-November 2006 the stadium's costs were finally paid in full.
The total expenditure (including repairs, renovations, construction, interest
, and inflation) amounted to C$1.61 billion, making it the second most expensive stadium ever built (after Wembley Stadium
in London
). Despite initial plans to complete payment in October 2006, an indoor smoking ban introduced in May 2006 curtailed the revenue gathered by the tobacco tax. Perceived by many to be a white elephant
, the stadium has also been dubbed The Big Owe, Uh-O or The Big Mistake.
The stadium has generated on average $20 million in revenue each year since 1977. It is estimated that a large-scale event such as the Grey Cup can generate as much as $50 million in revenue.
home game to be postponed. In 1986, a large chunk of the tower fell onto the playing field during another Expos game.
In 1987, an orange-coloured Kevlar
retractable roof was installed, finally completing the stadium a decade late; however, soon after it was put into use it ripped on several occasions due to a design flaw. In the months that followed, it was plagued by further rips and leaks during rain storms, bringing water down into the stadium.
To improve the stadium's suitability as a baseball venue, it was remodelled in 1991, with 12,000 seats being removed, including blocking off a large number of seats far removed from the playing field, and moving home plate closer to the stands.
On September 8 of that year, support beams snapped and caused a 55 LT (61.6 ST; 55.9 t) concrete slab to fall on to an exterior walkway. No one was injured, but the Expos had to move their final 13 home games of that season to the opponents' cities. For the 1992 season, it was decided to keep the roof closed at all times. The Kevlar roof was removed in May 1998, making the stadium open-air for the 1998 season. Later in 1998, a $26 million opaque blue roof was installed which does not open.
In January 1999, a 350 m² (3,767.4 sq ft) portion of the roof collapsed, dumping ice and snow on workers that were setting up for the annual Montreal Auto Show. This led to the auto show leaving Olympic Stadium for good. Repaired once again, the roof has been modified to better react to the winter conditions. The OIB has installed a network of pipes to circulate heated water under the roof to allow for snow melting. Despite these corrective measures, the stadium floor had remained closed from December to March.
Birdair, the fabric provider and designer of the roof, was later sued for the roof failure. The installer of the roof, Danny's Construction, having suffered tremendous cost overruns along with its subcontractor Montacier, due to changes in the plans and specifications and delays, was teminated during the construction, and Birdair completed the project. Danny's Construction sued Birdair in 1999. In February 2010, after a lengthy trial, the Quebec Superior Court awarded a judgement in favour of Danny's Construction and dismissed Birdair's countersuit.
The stadium's condition suffered considerably in the early 21st century. During the Expos' final years in Montreal, it was coated with grime. Much of the concrete was chipped, stained, and soiled.
In 2009, the stadium received approval to remain open in the winter, provided weather conditions are favourable. However, the Olympic Installations Board issued a report stating that the roof was unsafe during heavy rainfall or more than 8 centimetres (3 1/2 inches) of snow, and that it rips 50 to 60 times a year. The city fire department warned in August 2009 that without corrective measures, including a new roof, it may order the stadium closed. A contract for a new permanent steel roof was awarded in 2004, with an estimated $300 million price tag. In June 2010, the Olympic Installations Board sought approval from the provincial government for the contract.
In May 2011 a committee was formed to study the future of the stadium and improve the usage of the stadium, pool, and sports centre.
Though some Montrealers have called for the stadium to be demolished, it would be an extremely long and expensive project. Due to its unique structural design and the metro line directly underneath, it is not possible to implode the stadium. Instead, it would have to be dismantled piece by piece, which would take years and cost an estimated $700 million.
's Montreal Alouettes
became the stadium's first major post-Olympic tenant when it moved its home games there half-way through the 1976 season
, remaining there through 1986
, the franchise's final season of operations. A revived Alouettes franchise returned for the 1996
and 1997
seasons, but then moved to the Percival Molson Stadium in 1998, only using the larger Olympic Stadium for select regular-season and home playoff games. As of 2008, the franchise uses Olympic Stadium for playoff games only. Due to the increased popularity of the Alouettes and the small capacity of Percival Molson Stadium, the team considered returning to Olympic Stadium on a full-time basis, but instead renovated Percival Molson Stadium to increase its capacity.
Olympic Stadium has hosted the Grey Cup
a total of six times, most recently in 2008 when the Calgary Stampeders
defeated the hometown Alouettes. The stadium holds the record for nine of the ten largest crowds in CFL history
, which include five regular-season and four Grey Cup games. A single-game record crowd numbering 69,083 attended a game played on September 6, 1977 between the Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts
.
In 1991 and 1992, the stadium played host to the Montreal Machine
of the World League of American Football
. This included hosting World Bowl II
on June 6, 1992, in which the Sacramento Surge
defeated the Orlando Thunder
21–17 before 43,789 fans.
In 1988 and 1990, NFL pre-season games were played at Olympic Stadium.
as the home ballpark of the National League
's Montreal Expos
, who regularly played 81 home games every season until 2003, when the Expos played 22 home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
. The Expos played 59 home games at Olympic Stadium in 2003 and 2004, and then the franchise was moved to Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season. The stadium's first-ever baseball game was played on April 14, 1977. In front of 57,592 fans, the Expos lost 7–2 to the Philadelphia Phillies
. The Expos played five home playoff games in 1981; two in the National League Division Series
against the Phillies
, and three in the National League Championship Series
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
. On October 19, the Expos lost the decisive fifth game, 2–1, to the Dodgers on Rick Monday
's ninth-inning home run
. In 1982, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game
was played at Olympic Stadium in front of 59,057 fans—a stadium record for baseball. On September 29, 2004, the Expos played their last game in Montreal, losing 9–1 to the Florida Marlins
before 31,395 fans.
Although the Expos were Olympic Stadium's primary tenants, it proved to be somewhat problematic as a baseball venue. It employed construction techniques similar to those used in other multipurpose stadiums of the time. As was the case elsewhere where this approach was tried, sight lines for baseball left much to be desired. The sight-line problems were magnified by the fact that Canadian football fields are 30 yards longer than American football
fields. To accommodate the wider Canadian football field, the lower boxes were set further back than comparable seats in other stadiums built during this time. The upper deck was one of the highest in the majors. Still, the Expos were very successful in the stadium for a time, with above National League median attendance in 1977 and from 1979 to 1983. The Expos outdrew the New York Mets
from 1977 to 1983, and 1994 to 1996, as well as the New York Yankees
from 1982 to 1983.
Before the 1992 season
, a major overhaul was done on the stadium's baseball configuration. Home plate was moved closer to the stands and new seats closer to the field were installed. As part of the renovation, several distant sections of permanent seating beyond the fence were closed, replaced with bleacher seats directly behind the outfield fence. The total seating capacity for baseball was reduced to 46,000.
's Montreal Manic
soccer team from 1981–1983. A 1981 playoff game against the Chicago Sting
attracted a crowd of over 58,000. Several games of the 2007
FIFA
Under 20 World Cup
were played at Olympic Stadium and drew the largest crowds of the tournament, including two sell-outs of 55,800.
Olympic Stadium hosted a CONCACAF Champions League
quarter-final game pitting the Montreal Impact
– who play primarily in the adjacent Stade Saputo – against Club Santos Laguna of the Mexican First Division on February 25, 2009. This was the first time an international soccer game took place in Montreal during the winter months. The Impact won 2–0 in front of a record crowd of 55,571. The stadium was also home to a friendly match between Montreal Impact and A.C. Milan
of the Italian Serie A
on June 2, 2010 before 47,861 fans. The stadium will be used for playoff and other large capacity crowd games for the Impact when they join MLS in 2012.
On September 11, 1984, Pope John Paul II
participated in a youth rally with about 55,000 people in attendance.
Many musical events have taken place at this location, including the famed riots after a 1992 Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour
concert. Metallica
frontman James Hetfield
suffered second and third degree burns to his left arm after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast during the opening of "Fade to Black". Metallica was forced to cancel the second hour of the show, but promised to return to the city for another show. Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose
left the stage early in his band's set claiming that his throat hurt. The fans in attendance rioted after the unexpectedly-short concert.
British rock band Pink Floyd
played an infamous concert at the stadium on July 6, 1977, during which bassist Roger Waters
registered his disapproval of the audience's rowdy behaviour by spitting in the face of a fan in the front row. This incident provided the main inspiration for Pink Floyd's next album The Wall
, which was written largely by Waters. The concert was also noted for its ticket price of $10, the highest ever seen in the city.
The stadium played host to Amnesty International
's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 17, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel
and also featured Bruce Springsteen
& The E Street Band
, Tracy Chapman
, Youssou N'Dour
, k.d. lang
, Michel Rivard
and Daniel Lavoie
.
On October 30, 2010, the stadium played host to a special mass to commemorate the ascension to sainthood of brother Andre. Over 30,000 people attended.
The Stadium also hosts the Monster Spectacular monster truck show twice a year, in April and October.
to the Pie-IX metro station
on the Green Line
of the Montreal Metro
.
Multi-purpose stadium
Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...
in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a district of Montreal, Quebec, situated on the eastern half of the island, generally to the south and south-west of the city's Olympic Stadium. A part of the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, its borders are roughly rue Moreau to the west, rue Sherbrooke to the...
district of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
. The stadium is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof; "The Big Owe" has been used to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.
The stadium is the largest by seating capacity in Canada. After the Olympics, it became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
teams. Since 2004, when the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
relocated to Washington, D.C., the stadium has no main tenant, and with a history of financial and structural problems, is largely seen as a white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
. It currently serves as a 56,040-seat multipurpose facility for special events (e.g. concerts, trade shows), and continues to serve as a 66,308-seat venue for playoff and Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...
games hosted by the Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
. The Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team played in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid until the 2011 season. The owner Joey Saputo now operates the MLS team Montreal ImpactThe...
also use the stadium on occasion when a larger capacity venue is needed or when the weather restricts outdoor play in the spring months.
The Tower of Montreal , the tower incorporated into the base of the stadium, is the tallest inclined tower
Inclined tower
An inclined tower is a tower that was intentionally built at an incline.The world's most popular inclined tower, despite the fact that it was not originally projected, designed, nor was it supposed to be inclined, is the Torre di Pisa, in Pisa, Italy....
in the world at 175 metres (574.1 ft).
Background and architecture
The stadium was designed by French architect Roger TaillibertRoger Taillibert
Roger Taillibert is a French architect, notable for designing the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada....
to be a very elaborate facility featuring a retractable roof
Retractable roof
A retractable roof is a kinetic architectural element used in many sports venues, in which a roof made of a suitable material can readily be mechanically deployed from some retracted or open position into a closed or extended position that completely covers the field of play and spectator areas...
, which was to be opened and closed by a huge 175 metres (574.1 ft) tower – the tallest inclined structure in the world, and the sixth tallest building in Montreal.
The Olympic swimming pool
Olympic Pool (Montreal)
The Montreal Olympic Pool was constructed for the 1976 Summer Olympics as part of the Montreal Olympic Park. The olympic pool is part of the larger swimming centre, located in the base of the inclined tower. The centre has a spectator capacity of 3,012 seats....
is located under this tower. An Olympic velodrome
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
(since converted to the Montreal Biodome
Montreal Biodome
The Montreal Biodome is a facility located in Montreal that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. The building was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as a velodrome. It hosted both track cycling and judo events...
, an indoor nature museum) was situated at the base of the tower in a building similar in design to the swimming pool. The building was built as the main stadium
Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic...
for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium was host to various events including the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics
Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1006 participating athletes from 80 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:**...
, football
Football at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Final results for the Football competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and Sherbrooke. Groups A, C and D had only three teams instead of four, as Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia national teams adhered to African-led boycott of the Games against the participation of New...
finals, and the team jumping equestrian
Equestrian at the 1976 Summer Olympics
The Equestrian Events at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal included Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. All three disciplines had both individual and team competitions.-Medal summary:-Participating nations:...
events.
The building's design is cited as a masterpiece of Organic Modern architecture. Taillibert based the building on plant and animal forms, aiming to include vertebral structures with sinewy or tentacles, while still following the basic plans of Modern architecture
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
.
Construction
As construction was well underway, a labour strike caused a major delay to the building of the stadium and, in particular, the tower. The roof languished in a warehouse in France until 1982. It was not until 1987, 11 years later, that both the tower and roof were completed.Opening
Seating 58,500 at the time, the stadium was not fully completed in time for the Games due to problems with the unusual design and strikes by construction workers. During the Games and for several years afterward, the stadium did not have a tower or roof. Both the tower and the roof, made of over 5500 m² (59,201.5 sq ft) of Kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
, stood unfinished until 1987, and it was not until 1988 that it was possible to retract the roof. The 66-tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
roof then proved difficult to retract, and could not be used at all in winds greater than 40 km/h (24.9 mph). During baseball season, whenever rain was accompanied by high winds, this resulted in the unusual phenomenon of a rain delay in a covered stadium. It was also torn during particularly windy conditions.
Observatory
When construction on the stadium's tower resumed after the 1976 Olympics, a multi-story observatory was added to the plan, accessible via a funicular that travels 266 metres along the curved tower's spine. The funicular cabin ascends from base of the tower to upper deck in less than 2 minutes at a rate of 2.8 metres/s, with space for 76 persons per trip and a capacity of 500 persons per hour. The cabin is designed to remain level throughout its trip, while providing a panaromic view to its passengers.The observatory's main window faces south-west, offering a view of downtown Montreal and overlooking the Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium's suspended roof.
Stadium financing
Despite initial projections in 1970 that the stadium would cost only C$Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
134 million to construct, strikes and construction delays served to escalate these costs. By the time the stadium opened (in an unfinished form), the total costs had risen to C$264 million.
The Quebec government introduced a special tobacco tax in May 1976 to help recoup its investment. By 2006, the amount contributed to the Olympic Installations Board accounted for 8% of the tax revenue earned from cigarette sales. The 1976 special tobacco tax act stipulated that once the stadium was paid off, ownership of the facility would be returned to the City of Montreal.
In mid-November 2006 the stadium's costs were finally paid in full.
The total expenditure (including repairs, renovations, construction, interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
, and inflation) amounted to C$1.61 billion, making it the second most expensive stadium ever built (after Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
). Despite initial plans to complete payment in October 2006, an indoor smoking ban introduced in May 2006 curtailed the revenue gathered by the tobacco tax. Perceived by many to be a white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
, the stadium has also been dubbed The Big Owe, Uh-O or The Big Mistake.
The stadium has generated on average $20 million in revenue each year since 1977. It is estimated that a large-scale event such as the Grey Cup can generate as much as $50 million in revenue.
Continuing problems
Although not completed in time for the 1976 Olympics, construction on finishing the tower recommenced in the 1980s. During this period, however, a large fire set the tower ablaze, causing damage and forcing a scheduled ExposMontreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
home game to be postponed. In 1986, a large chunk of the tower fell onto the playing field during another Expos game.
In 1987, an orange-coloured Kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
retractable roof was installed, finally completing the stadium a decade late; however, soon after it was put into use it ripped on several occasions due to a design flaw. In the months that followed, it was plagued by further rips and leaks during rain storms, bringing water down into the stadium.
To improve the stadium's suitability as a baseball venue, it was remodelled in 1991, with 12,000 seats being removed, including blocking off a large number of seats far removed from the playing field, and moving home plate closer to the stands.
In January 1999, a 350 m² (3,767.4 sq ft) portion of the roof collapsed, dumping ice and snow on workers that were setting up for the annual Montreal Auto Show. This led to the auto show leaving Olympic Stadium for good. Repaired once again, the roof has been modified to better react to the winter conditions. The OIB has installed a network of pipes to circulate heated water under the roof to allow for snow melting. Despite these corrective measures, the stadium floor had remained closed from December to March.
Birdair, the fabric provider and designer of the roof, was later sued for the roof failure. The installer of the roof, Danny's Construction, having suffered tremendous cost overruns along with its subcontractor Montacier, due to changes in the plans and specifications and delays, was teminated during the construction, and Birdair completed the project. Danny's Construction sued Birdair in 1999. In February 2010, after a lengthy trial, the Quebec Superior Court awarded a judgement in favour of Danny's Construction and dismissed Birdair's countersuit.
The stadium's condition suffered considerably in the early 21st century. During the Expos' final years in Montreal, it was coated with grime. Much of the concrete was chipped, stained, and soiled.
In 2009, the stadium received approval to remain open in the winter, provided weather conditions are favourable. However, the Olympic Installations Board issued a report stating that the roof was unsafe during heavy rainfall or more than 8 centimetres (3 1/2 inches) of snow, and that it rips 50 to 60 times a year. The city fire department warned in August 2009 that without corrective measures, including a new roof, it may order the stadium closed. A contract for a new permanent steel roof was awarded in 2004, with an estimated $300 million price tag. In June 2010, the Olympic Installations Board sought approval from the provincial government for the contract.
In May 2011 a committee was formed to study the future of the stadium and improve the usage of the stadium, pool, and sports centre.
Though some Montrealers have called for the stadium to be demolished, it would be an extremely long and expensive project. Due to its unique structural design and the metro line directly underneath, it is not possible to implode the stadium. Instead, it would have to be dismantled piece by piece, which would take years and cost an estimated $700 million.
Football
The Canadian Football LeagueCanadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
's Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
became the stadium's first major post-Olympic tenant when it moved its home games there half-way through the 1976 season
1976 CFL season
The 1976 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 23rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 19th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1976:...
, remaining there through 1986
1986 CFL season
The 1986 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 33rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 29th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1986:...
, the franchise's final season of operations. A revived Alouettes franchise returned for the 1996
1996 CFL season
The 1996 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 43rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 39th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1996:...
and 1997
1997 CFL season
The 1997 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 44th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 40th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1997:...
seasons, but then moved to the Percival Molson Stadium in 1998, only using the larger Olympic Stadium for select regular-season and home playoff games. As of 2008, the franchise uses Olympic Stadium for playoff games only. Due to the increased popularity of the Alouettes and the small capacity of Percival Molson Stadium, the team considered returning to Olympic Stadium on a full-time basis, but instead renovated Percival Molson Stadium to increase its capacity.
Olympic Stadium has hosted the Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...
a total of six times, most recently in 2008 when the Calgary Stampeders
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League team based in Calgary, Alberta and named in reference to the Calgary Stampede. The Stampeders play their home games at McMahon Stadium...
defeated the hometown Alouettes. The stadium holds the record for nine of the ten largest crowds in CFL history
CFL attendance
To date, a CFL game has drawn in excess of 50,000 spectators 107 times. It happened for the first six times in 1976, when Toronto's Exhibition Stadium was renovated to accommodate the Toronto Blue Jays, and its capacity was enlarged to become the first stadium capable of holding such a large crowd...
, which include five regular-season and four Grey Cup games. A single-game record crowd numbering 69,083 attended a game played on September 6, 1977 between the Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...
.
In 1991 and 1992, the stadium played host to the Montreal Machine
Montreal Machine
The Montreal Machine was the sole Canadian team in the World League of American Football, a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League that played in 1991 and 1992. There were also three European teams and six U.S.-based teams...
of the World League of American Football
World League of American Football
The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...
. This included hosting World Bowl II
World Bowl II
World Bowl '92 was the WLAF's second championship game, played on June 6, 1992 at Olympic Stadium in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. 43,789 witnessed the matchup between the Sacramento Surge and the Orlando Thunder....
on June 6, 1992, in which the Sacramento Surge
Sacramento Surge
The Sacramento Surge was a professional American football team that played in the World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992. The team played its first season at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, and the second season in Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State University campus. It was owned...
defeated the Orlando Thunder
Orlando Thunder
The Orlando Thunder was a member of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992 . The team played their games in the 70,000 seat Citrus Bowl, and was coached by Don Matthews in 1991 and Galen Hall in 1992...
21–17 before 43,789 fans.
In 1988 and 1990, NFL pre-season games were played at Olympic Stadium.
Baseball
In 1977, the stadium replaced Jarry Park StadiumJarry Park Stadium
Jarry Park Stadium is a former baseball stadium in Montreal which served as home to the Montreal Expos, Major League Baseball's first Canadian franchise, from 1969–1976. It served as a temporary home until the domed Olympic Stadium was finished and made available to the Expos...
as the home ballpark of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
's Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
, who regularly played 81 home games every season until 2003, when the Expos played 22 home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Hiram Bithorn Stadium is a baseball park in San Juan, Puerto Rico, operated by the municipal government of the city of San Juan. Its name honors the first Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues, Hiram Bithorn, who first played with the Chicago Cubs in 1942...
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. The Expos played 59 home games at Olympic Stadium in 2003 and 2004, and then the franchise was moved to Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season. The stadium's first-ever baseball game was played on April 14, 1977. In front of 57,592 fans, the Expos lost 7–2 to the Philadelphia Phillies
1977 Philadelphia Phillies season
The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 95th season in the history of the franchise. The Phillies won their second consecutive National League East division title with a record of 101-61, five games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Phillies lost the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers, three...
. The Expos played five home playoff games in 1981; two in the National League Division Series
1981 National League Division Series
-Philadelphia Phillies vs. Montreal Expos:-Game 1, October 6:Astrodome in Houston, TexasFernando Valenzuela faced Nolan Ryan, a matchup worthy of a pitcher's duel. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth. Tony Scott singled home Terry Puhl to score the game's first run, but Steve...
against the Phillies
1981 Philadelphia Phillies season
The Philadelphia Phillies' 1981 season was a season in American baseball.- Offseason :* November 25, 1980: Rick Schu was signed as an amateur free agent by the Phillies....
, and three in the National League Championship Series
1981 National League Championship Series
- Game 1 :Tuesday, October 13, 1981 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe Dodgers took the first game of the series behind the strong pitching of starter Burt Hooton. For the first seven innings the game stayed close, with the only scoring coming in the second inning when the Dodgers got...
against the Los Angeles Dodgers
1981 Los Angeles Dodgers season
The Los Angeles Dodgers season got off to a strong start when rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela pitched a shutout on opening day, starting the craze that came to be known as "Fernandomania." Fernando went on to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards.The season was divided into two...
. On October 19, the Expos lost the decisive fifth game, 2–1, to the Dodgers on Rick Monday
Rick Monday
Robert James "Rick" Monday, Jr. is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball and is currently a broadcast announcer. From 1966 through 1984, Monday, a center fielder for most of his career, played for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics , Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers...
's ninth-inning home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
. In 1982, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game
1982 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1982 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 53rd midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was played on July 13, 1982 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, home of the...
was played at Olympic Stadium in front of 59,057 fans—a stadium record for baseball. On September 29, 2004, the Expos played their last game in Montreal, losing 9–1 to the Florida Marlins
2004 Florida Marlins season
The Florida Marlins' 2004 season started off with the team trying to improve on their season from 2003. Their manager was Jack McKeon. They played most of their home games at Pro Player Stadium.They played two against the Montreal Expos at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field due to Hurricane Ivan...
before 31,395 fans.
Although the Expos were Olympic Stadium's primary tenants, it proved to be somewhat problematic as a baseball venue. It employed construction techniques similar to those used in other multipurpose stadiums of the time. As was the case elsewhere where this approach was tried, sight lines for baseball left much to be desired. The sight-line problems were magnified by the fact that Canadian football fields are 30 yards longer than American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
fields. To accommodate the wider Canadian football field, the lower boxes were set further back than comparable seats in other stadiums built during this time. The upper deck was one of the highest in the majors. Still, the Expos were very successful in the stadium for a time, with above National League median attendance in 1977 and from 1979 to 1983. The Expos outdrew the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
from 1977 to 1983, and 1994 to 1996, as well as the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
from 1982 to 1983.
Before the 1992 season
1992 Montreal Expos season
-Offseason:* November 15, 1991: Gary Carter was selected off waivers by the Expos from the Los Angeles Dodgers.* November 18, 1991: Kenny Williams was released by the Expos.* November 25, 1991: Andrés Galarraga was traded by the Expos to the St...
, a major overhaul was done on the stadium's baseball configuration. Home plate was moved closer to the stands and new seats closer to the field were installed. As part of the renovation, several distant sections of permanent seating beyond the fence were closed, replaced with bleacher seats directly behind the outfield fence. The total seating capacity for baseball was reduced to 46,000.
Soccer
The Olympic Stadium was the home of the NASLNorth American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
's Montreal Manic
Montreal Manic
Montreal Manic were a soccer team based out of Montreal that played in the NASL. They played from 1981 to 1983. Their home field was Olympic Stadium...
soccer team from 1981–1983. A 1981 playoff game against the Chicago Sting
Chicago Sting
The Chicago Sting was an American professional soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from in the 1982-83 season and again from 1984 to 1988...
attracted a crowd of over 58,000. Several games of the 2007
2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the sixteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup , hosted by Canada from June 30 to July 22, 2007. Argentina defeated Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth...
FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
Under 20 World Cup
FIFA U-20 World Cup
The FIFA U-20 World Cup, until 2005 known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, is the world championship of football for male players under the age of 20 and is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association...
were played at Olympic Stadium and drew the largest crowds of the tournament, including two sell-outs of 55,800.
Olympic Stadium hosted a CONCACAF Champions League
CONCACAF Champions League
The CONCACAF Champions League is the annual international club football championship for teams from the CONCACAF region ....
quarter-final game pitting the Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team played in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid until the 2011 season. The owner Joey Saputo now operates the MLS team Montreal ImpactThe...
– who play primarily in the adjacent Stade Saputo – against Club Santos Laguna of the Mexican First Division on February 25, 2009. This was the first time an international soccer game took place in Montreal during the winter months. The Impact won 2–0 in front of a record crowd of 55,571. The stadium was also home to a friendly match between Montreal Impact and A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
of the Italian Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
on June 2, 2010 before 47,861 fans. The stadium will be used for playoff and other large capacity crowd games for the Impact when they join MLS in 2012.
Other
Olympic Stadium hosted the Drum Corps International World Championship finals in 1981 and 1982.On September 11, 1984, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
participated in a youth rally with about 55,000 people in attendance.
Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour
The Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour was a famed joint, co-headlining concert tour by the American rock bands Guns N' Roses and Metallica during 1992...
concert. Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
frontman James Hetfield
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
suffered second and third degree burns to his left arm after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast during the opening of "Fade to Black". Metallica was forced to cancel the second hour of the show, but promised to return to the city for another show. Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
left the stage early in his band's set claiming that his throat hurt. The fans in attendance rioted after the unexpectedly-short concert.
British rock band Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
played an infamous concert at the stadium on July 6, 1977, during which bassist Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
registered his disapproval of the audience's rowdy behaviour by spitting in the face of a fan in the front row. This incident provided the main inspiration for Pink Floyd's next album The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
, which was written largely by Waters. The concert was also noted for its ticket price of $10, the highest ever seen in the city.
The stadium played host to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 17, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
and also featured Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
& The E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
, Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
, Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
, k.d. lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...
, Michel Rivard
Michel Rivard
Michel Rivard , is a singer-songwriter and musician from Quebec. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His father was an actor, Robert Rivard...
and Daniel Lavoie
Daniel Lavoie
Daniel Lavoie is a Canadian singer–songwriter.Lavoie was born in Dunrea, Manitoba, Canada. His mother was a musician and he learned to play piano at a young age...
.
On October 30, 2010, the stadium played host to a special mass to commemorate the ascension to sainthood of brother Andre. Over 30,000 people attended.
The Stadium also hosts the Monster Spectacular monster truck show twice a year, in April and October.
Attendance record
Pink Floyd attracted the largest ever paid crowd to the Olympic Stadium. The July 6, 1977 event gathered 78,322 fans.Transit
The stadium is directly connectedUnderground City, Montreal
Montreal's Underground City is the set of interconnected complexes in and around Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
to the Pie-IX metro station
Pie-IX (Montreal Metro)
Pie-IX is a station on the Green Line of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system operated by the Société de transport de Montréal . It is in the district of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
on the Green Line
Line 1 Green (Montreal Metro)
The Green line is one of the four lines of the metro in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The line runs through the commercial section of downtown Montreal underneath Boulevard de Maisonneuve, formerly Rue de Montigny...
of the Montreal Metro
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
.
Facts and figures
- At 175 m (574.1 ft), the Olympic Stadium is both the world's tallest slanted structureInclined towerAn inclined tower is a tower that was intentionally built at an incline.The world's most popular inclined tower, despite the fact that it was not originally projected, designed, nor was it supposed to be inclined, is the Torre di Pisa, in Pisa, Italy....
and stadium. - Well over its original budget, the stadium ended up costing $770 million to construct. By 2006, the final cost had risen to $1.47 billion when calculating in repairs, modifications and interest paid out. It took taxpayers 30 years to finally pay off the cost, leading to its nickname of "The Big Owe" (a play on "The Big O").
- The roof is only 52 m (170.6 ft) above the field of play. As a result, a number of pop-ups and long home runs hit the roof over the years, necessitating the painting of orange lines on the roof to separate foul balls from fair balls.
- The Olympic Stadium's foul poles were painted red, while every other baseball stadium uses yellow poles (except Shea StadiumShea StadiumWilliam A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
(1964–2008) and Citi Field (2009 – present) home of the New York MetsNew York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
which have orange foul poles.) - The Olympic Stadium holds the record for a soccer game attendance in Canada. At the 1976 Summer Olympics soccer finalFootball at the 1976 Summer OlympicsFinal results for the Football competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and Sherbrooke. Groups A, C and D had only three teams instead of four, as Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia national teams adhered to African-led boycott of the Games against the participation of New...
, 72,000 people witnessed East GermanyEast Germany national football teamThe East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany....
's 3–1 win over PolandPoland national football teamThe Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland...
. - A yellow seat on the 300 level commemorates a 534 feet (162.8 m) home run by Willie StargellWillie StargellWilver Dornell "Willie" Stargell , nicknamed "Pops" in the later years of his career, was a Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates...
of the Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh PiratesThe Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. - The Montreal games of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup2007 FIFA U-20 World CupThe 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the sixteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup , hosted by Canada from June 30 to July 22, 2007. Argentina defeated Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth...
were held at Olympic Stadium on a removable Team Pro EF RD surface that was purchased specifically for the tournament. - For the first time since the Olympic Games, a natural grass field was installed in the stadium for the Impact FC match versus AC Milan on June 2, 2010.
- The stadium features a 101,600-watt public address system
- The main room of the stadium is the largest in Quebec, at 43,504 m2(204,400 sq. ft.)
- The stadium, specifically the Montreal Tower, is one of the key settings of the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. That video game was developed by Eidos Montreal, a video game studio based in the city.
See also
- List of Canadian Football League stadiums
- List of Major League Baseball stadiums (Former stadiums / ballparks)
- Olympic StadiumOlympic StadiumThe Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic...
External links
- Olympic Stadium on Alouettes Website
- Ballpark Digest: Olympic Stadium
- Ballparks.com: Olympic Stadium
- National Geographic Channel
- Football Ballparks.com
- Baseball-Reference – annual Expos attendance and park factorsBatting Park FactorBatting Park Factor, also simply called Park Factor or BPF, is a baseball statistic that indicates the difference between runs scored in a team's home and road games. Most commonly used as a metric in the sabermetric community, it has found more general usage in recent years...
- BaseballLibrary – history and notable events
- Régie des installations olympiques (Government of Quebec)
- Google maps
- Olympic Stadium datasheet on Images Montreal
- Expos Historical Society: Olympic Stadium
- Olympic Stadium disaster timeline
- A personal recollection of the spitting accident (Montreal, July 6, 1977, Pink Floyd concert), by Marcel Daoust
Multimedia
- CBC Archives – Clip from 1975 – Stadium architect talks about his design
- CBC Archives – A look back on the history of the stadium (1999)
- CBC Archives – Discussion of building a tower for Montreal