The new stadiums, the Argos move to BMO Field. and the upgrades to BC Place and Commonwealth have given the CFL some really nice stadiums. Quite a change from even just 10 years ago. Thanks for covering our little football league!
BC Place needed one SO BAD. I used to go to the Boat show there, and remember the concourse being very cramped, with attendees browsing merchandise from all of the vendors.
"I hear Canadians say that Winnipeg is cold, so it must be a whole different level of cold." I live in Winnipeg, I can confirm. Also IG Field is a really nice stadium. Every year when Winnipeg plays Saskatchewan, it's called the Banjo Bowl and it's probably more important than the Grey Cup to people in WPG and SSK.
I moved to Fargo after growing up in Virginia. I used to love driving up for Jets and Bombers games. But yes, "Winterpeg" (as other Canadians call it) could get a mite nippy but it never stopped me from visits.
The Banjo Bowl is more important to Wpg fans, and the Labour Day Classic held in Regina the prior week is more important to Sask fans. Makes sense, since the home team in both games tend to bring their “A game” and win (usually).
@@darrelgoulet29 the Banjo Bowl has become it's own thing that is bigger than just another game, but I wouldn't say the Banjo Bowl means more to most Bomber fans than Labour Day does. I'm friends with a lot of Bomber fans, and have participated in online CFL communities for 20 years, and have been to 11 Grey Cups and met a lot of CFL fans. The Labour Day game is still tops because it's on a long weekend which allows for more Bomber fans to make the trip. You don't get the same buy-in from Rider fans going to Banjo Bowl because it is on a two day weekend. Traditionally it was also a Sunday game which made it especially tough to take a trip for the game and be back in Sask for work Monday. Thankfully they have finally switched it to a Saturday game and that has helped, but still the amount of Bomber fans at Labour Day takes Labour Day's importance to a higher level for both teams IMO.
One other great thing about McMahon Stadium in Calgary is the tailgating. We're one of the few CFL teams to allow REAL tailgating. Hours before the games, fans pack the parking lots with barbecues, coolers, trailers, tents and buses.
I played for the Bombers. Infact Chris Walby was my roommate upon occasion. Go Bombers. And what is really cool is that although I'm American, my mother was from Winnipeg. She was over the moon when I signed with them. Love the Peg.
For those who are watching later into this release window, the Edmonton Football Team has rebranded in time for the season, now going by the name "Edmonton Elks"
glad they kept the E but I wish there was something, anything better.... Enforcers, Endgamers, exterminators, enemies, entities, envelopes, engineers, egos, enterprise, entertainers, elements, electrics, elevation (actually i kind of like that), oh well. at least they did not make yet another Rough Rider team but spelled with an E.
I see my team got dumb as a box of rocks just like the nfl not even a name given by a first Nations chief can stop stupidity looks like I'm going to use my second team as my first now, go back to being called the Eskimos and I'll be back .
The Canadian Football League once had two teams nicknamed the Roughriders. Even the players got confused when the Roughriders used to play the Rough Riders.
Do you know why. Because the Eastern Rugby football league had the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Western Rugby football Association had the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Two completely different leagues. Kind of like the AFL and NFL in America. Neither Ottawa nor Saskatchewan wanted to change their name when the 2 leagues combined. And I also am a former player myself.
I live in Ottawa and it is pretty wild. The lopsided nature of it feels closer to watching hockey in a theatre than an arena! I am a big fan of the rebuilt stadium. Before the renovations the place was in rough shape
I've been to Molson Stadium, and it was super cozy. Atmosphere was fun, and I sat close enough to the field where it almost felt like I was on the Alouettes' sideline.
About Montreal Molson stadium, at night, you can see downtown with all tall buidings. Awsome place. Also, MTL is one of the oldest city in north america with alot of very old buildings from 1600-1700-1800
I played for the Alouettes. I was a game day scratch for the 1977 Grey Cup game, ( I'm American and I'm sure that you know about the player ratio) but not only was there a blizzard that day, there was also a taxi strike. If good old Tony Proudfoot hadn't found that staple gun, who knows what would have happened. RIP Tony.
Re: TD Place in Ottawa. The side that is completely straight and parallels the sideline is left over from the old Frank Clair Stadium that the Rough Riders/Renegades played in. The grand stand got a makeover, as originally it was a two deck grand stand whereas now it has a very small "lower deck" at the very front closest to the field and then above that the top 95% of the grandstand is the "second deck." That used to be a two deck grandstand with a much more even split between upper and lower deck. But the main structure is from the old stadium, and you can tell because it doesn't have that curve. The grandstand on the other side could not be salvaged and updated like the other one; it was condemned and torn down. Because it was built from scratch, it has the new style where it curves around the field so that the seats on the far ends of the grandstand are on an inward angle so that you can see more of the field head-on before you have to start turning your head to see what's going on at the other end.
That first shot of Tim Horton's Field at 25 seconds, I can see the house I used to live in in 1977. The high school at the top used to be a baseball field, the corner to the upper right is the corner of King Street East and Melrose Ave. South, my house was 3rd on the left, 11 Melrose. We would make money on football nights by renting out our driveway, it held 5 cars.
@@WTMNNJR Vancouverites have limited entertainment dollars ( expensive city ) or delusional thinking they are above CFL football. I live just a 15 minute walk from the the stadium and Rogers Arena. But I will give credit to us fans who know a product to be awful is not worth spending money on...Lions and Canucks have empty seats post corona!
McMahon Stadium was built in 100 days back in 1960. It was a little smaller then, but I'm sure they didn't expect it to last over 60 years when it was built.
@@bufnyfan1 so what you're saying is that you want the CFL to go away? Oh, I get it, you want to watch overpaid prima donnas playing a kids game. Is it true that the NFL is issuing extra knee pads to the players so they won't injure themselves when kneeling for the national anthem. Gotcha Skip.
@@thomasrocker7408 No I don't want to watch football with parking lot endzones/football where you get points for missing field goals (points for incompetence)/football where receivers run before the ball is snapped/football where the field is plastered with tacky ads/football with 3 downs ("gee its 2nd and 10 I wonder what kind of play 2nd down will be")---I don't care what the CFL does in the rest of Canada--I just want an NFL team in Toronto---and MLSE/Tannenbaum are working on that right now--the Argos are a complete waste of time--they said that when they left Rogers Centre and moved nto a smaller venue (BMO field) they would "sell out" every game---well that didn't quite work out that way-did it??
@@bufnyfan1 Well, you don't have to watch it if you dont want to. I watch and enjoy both leagues. Just like I can watch other hockey leagues beside the NHL.
@@bufnyfan1 do you not know that the rules in the CFL are the original to football? What is the length of a rugby pitch? The exact same length and width of a CFL field. You are aware I'm sure that football as we know it, originated in Canada, right? The very first actual college football game was in 1874 when McGill University challenged Harvard to a " footbal"l game. Before that game American College Football was soccer. Another fun fact is that in the United States, it wasn't until 1974 that the goal posts were moved to the back of the endzone in the United States. Also up until 1982,( when the U.S. broadcast network's bought the broadcast rights to the NFL) the pay was virtually the same. Infact after my rookie season in the NFL, I signed a multi year contract with the CFL because they not only offered multiple years, but 11k a year more. And you complain about a " rouge" but not fair catches? The NFL has " pussified football. The CFL retains the original version of down and distance football. You do know that 3 downs is original to the game. But of course, to some people " if it ain't Murican" it ain't right. And bye the way I'm American. I just believe that the 3 down league is much more exciting than the NoFunLeague. And i would never pay 1,200 per ticket for a decent seat, when I could pay 100. And as a former offensive lineman, i can honestly say that as far as line play is concerned, most NFL linemen can't make it in the CFL. They are way too bulky and slow. And on the defensive side, the CFL db's must be quicker and more athletic than their American counterparts, for the exact same reason that you stated. They have receivers hitting the scrimmage line at full speed. Oh and bye the way, motion in the backfield is called a " waggle." You are welcome, lol.
I think a few of the stadiums in the CFL try to be open ended to avoid anyone thinking they have a bad seat, with such a long distance from the other end zone. That said, the old stadium in Hamilton (Ivor Wynne Stadium) did have seating behind one end zone.
Could be, it also allows room for easy expansion for Grey Cup games, without the cost of upkeep for unused seats during the regular season. Hamilton uses the end zone seating for standing room and bars during the regular season
@@dickensonfarms true. I never thought about that, plus it makes sense. Kind of like Montreal using Molson Stadium in the regular season, and Olympic Stadium for the playoffs and Grey Cup games, when they have.
TD Place in Ottawa (or I think I will always call it Lansdowne..lol) can have almost any kind of sports and entertainment event. No end zone stands works. One side has condos (yeah, Like those are cheap.. NOT) and the other is where the Great Lawns are. TD Place has had music concerts, music festivals, it is also the home to the Fury's. Parking is a nightmare most of the time, but usually find something when I have to work there.. It is really a all in one.
Piffles Taylor didn't spend years in the Kaiser's POW camp, lose an eye, and continue playing with a glass eye that he once had to spend fifteen minutes searching for on the field for you to call his house "Old Mosaic Stadium"
Fact. My dad big John Toews, was the grounds keeper for Sir John Franklin community club, which happened to be the Blue bombers practice field in River heights Winnipeg. Dad noticed the players getting injured by the wire mounted triangular corner flags. At home in East Kildonan around 1967 I watched dad stuff a rectangular piece of foam rubber into a carefully sewn red rectangular bag. This was stapled to a 4"square piece of plywood which sat flush on the grass with a12"nail through the ply and into the ground. See them red rectangular corner end flag markers on every field today Thank you big John Toews raised Mennonite farmer in southern Manitoba then moved to Winnipeg Son Vern here
Hey, I mean little to no offence by this, but, I think the Blue Bombers gonna take the grey cup. But wait, before you say "That's just because you like them." No, I don't like them, I'm a Stampeders fan
Cool video. Would like to visit some of these one day. I have been to 37 college football stadiums in my life. Most in the SEC. But it would be cool to go see some of these.
hated the dome from day 1. It was only good when completely full otherwise it was/is a concrete cavern. Good for events but not really for sports. There were some much better designs they could have gone with. there was a firm on Queen West that used to keep the model of their pitch in their front window as a sort of FU or an I told you so for a number of years after the Dome was built. Hey, did you know that the underside of the roof was supposed to be painted to look like a sky but they ran out of cash?
A lot of character in this mix of stadiums-especially Montreals. I have season tickets in Sask, that stadium is unreal for a CFL pad. Only negative is the roof fabric absorbs noise, so it's not near as loud as it could be. Love how Winnipeg designed the metal roof to reflect noise back on the playing field. Calgary is due for an upgrade, and Edmonton/BC need to consider building a smaller more intimate stadium. No need for 55k seats in the CFL. All in my opinion of course.
Good opinions. Clark Stadium in Edmonton was smaller but more fun. Strange that Calgary with all that petro money never built a new stadium. Wow; season tickets in Regina. Went to a game once in Taylor Field when I visited the city. Had a great time!
And, as everyone knows, the Baltimore Stallions are the only team outside Canada to win a CFL championship. But when the Ravens came to Baltimore, the Stallions moved to Montreal, which, for some inexplicable reason, at the time no longer had a CFL team. So it was a win-win-win, I guess.
For awhile they had the Montreal Concords after the first Alouettes team went bankrupt. But the Concords had no fan support. Often only getting 5,000 or so in the Olympic Stadium. They too folded. When Baltimore moved to Montreal, they instantly had one of the top teams in the CFL, so the fans returned, but this time to Molson Stadium, instead of the Big O.
I think you forgot something important about the TD Place Stadium on the 2:56 mark. Underneath the north grandstand is a 9,500 seat arena that is currently used by the OHL's Ottawa 67's, the CEBL's Ottawa Blackjacks, and used to be home to the NHL's Ottawa Senators.
Lions and Bombers have the best stadiums and there are end zone seats. Yay! Last Bombers game I went to it was 20 degrees when the game started and dropped to 0 when the sun went down, all I had on was a t-shirt and cut-off shorts. Holy crap was it cold!!
@@buddydooley8650 It does that all the time in Winnipeg, that was in September, today May 4 it got to around 15 degrees and it's currently 1 degree at 1:20 am. It's pretty cold here all the time, except August, people literally die from the heat, then we get cold again.
Fun Fact: Winnipeg's IG Field was built without the initially inflatable roof because it would then be legally classified as an indoor entertainment venue, which would have conflicted with long term contract commitments that the city and province have with the NHL Arena
The largest stadium is the Montreal Olympic stadium at 60,000+, where the Als play big playoff games and where Montreal-hosted Grey Cups are held, but since that is only an occasional venue I guess it doesn't really count? Winnipeg is the coldest major city (100k people or more) in Canada mostly due to it also being the windy-est city in Canada in winter. The Hamilton stadium is nicknamed the "Donut Box". I have no idea where "coffee grounds" came from, but it isn't from there. Might be what other teams' fans call it since the Cats are known as a hard to play team; not always the most skilled or winningest, but hardest-hitting meat grinder of a football team in the league. Kinda like the city they call home.
I believe the Montreal Alouettes still play their home playoff games at "the Big O" (yes, that's what they call it...the insane 1970s boondoggle that is Olympic Stadium). So technically there could've been another stadium added to this list. Oh, and I live in Winnipeg, and yes...it's cold. But that's kind of a cliche at this point. Winnipeg isn't actually THAT cold. Compared to most other Canadian cities (with the exception of Regina, Saskatoon and Edmonton, which are pretty much the same as Winnipeg, winter-wise), our winter starts a bit earlier, ends a bit later, and gets a bit colder...it's no big deal (I've lived in other places in Canada, winter sucks almost everywhere). In my entire life (going on 40 years), the winter nighttime air temperature in Winnipeg has dropped below -40 °C just 3 times. There's places in Russia (including some cities) that see lows under -40 °C multiple times a year. This year, there were only ~10 days (a couple in late January, the rest early/mid February) that I consider intolerably cold (nighttime lows below -30 °C, wind chills sometimes dipping into the -40s and maybe a couple times into the -50s) which is maybe _a bit better than normal_ (we generally get a maximum of 3 weeks of brutally-cold winter weather each year). March was pretty good, April was a bit cool (not ridiculous though...only 1 snowstorm which was not too bad, melted quickly)...and May is starting off pretty cool as well, but I remember May of 2002, which was maybe the most brutal May I've ever seen (we got snow more than once; on 17 nights, the temperature dropped below freezing; and the mean temperature for the first 20 days of May was just 5 °C, which is more than 5 degrees below normal). Usually we're out of the minuses (with respect to nighttime lows...daytime highs generally cycle in and out of minuses in March and early April, before departing for good in mid-April at the latest) after the first week of May, and we don't see them again until September. But from mid-May to mid-September you can count on tremendous weather. Not a lot of rain, plenty of blue skies, maybe a couple weeks of excessive humidity making it uncomfortable, but far less than a place like Toronto or Montreal experiences. Our summers are great, our winters suck; we're the sunniest city in Canada (basically year-round), but also one of the windiest. You take the good with the bad here.
Montreal has played their home games at Percival Molson, since they came back in 98. They have played playoff and Grey Cup games at the Big O, but since 2014, all games regular and playoff games are played at Percival Molson.
The big CFL field length and deep end zones do make end zone seats kind of bad. I actually went to a game in Winnipeg's new place, and had end zone seats. Not great. Play sometimes was hard to follow at the other end of the field.
I think the NFL feels Canada is already a good football market after all as a spectator sport it only trails Hockey in Canada and nothing is ever catching Hockey in Canada.
I've been to five of those stadiums: Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. I had Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa lined up this summer, but Trudeau can't get his act together, keeping me, an American ( NYC ), out of Canada!! Anyway, had a great time at all the games, and the people are fantastic fans and just good people. The best stadium so far has been Saskatchewan. The worst crowd was Toronto, though that was the best game for me, as Ricky Ray threw a game tying TD with little time left. Toronto won on a field goal as time expired. CFL--" FAN-TASTIC " !! :)
Old mosaics stadium looks a lot like mid division English soccer stadiums. With additions added on over time as they drew more people. Rather then completely new stadiums every other decade like you might see in most American or Canadian cities. More attention placed on fan viewing with each addition rather than built all at once.
2:04 Quebec looks a lot more European than the rest of the continent, much less the rest of Canada, because of its French background. The rest of Canada is a lot more American-looking than they care to admit. BTW: BMO is pronounced Bee-Mo. For Bank of Montreal. Probably also important to note that BMO Field is shared with Toronto FC of MLS. BC Place is also shared with an MLS club, in their case the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Quebec looks different because it's considerably older than the other provinces that have teams in the CFL. Most of Western Canada wasn't built up till the late 19th and early twentieth centuries, when architects were well acquainted with international architectural styles. The same can be said of much of the US. And in Quebec there are things like the Festival Western de St-Tite to show considerable American influence.
@@tristanpotts3300 They previously played at SkyDome (or, if you really insist on getting technical, Rogers Centre) before relocating to BMO Field relatively recently.
@@tristanpotts3300 I wasn't aware that TFC wasn't too thrilled about the Argos playing at BMO Field. It just looks odd for them to be the only CFL team which plays on a grass field.
It should be noted Tim Hortons Field is only 1.5km from the first the Tim Hortons. It should also be noted it sits on the site of Ivor Wynne Stadium which was built their originally in 1930.
Have you noticed that most of the CFL clubs share a stadium with the local university team? With the exception of Ottawa (hosts the annual Rivalry Game, the Panda Game), Toronto and BC?
I never really noticed how almost all CFL stadiums have at least one open end. I know for BMO Field it's because it was made for soccer which has a shorter field of play than Canadian football, and Toronto FC tends to have temporary stands put in for some matches that get removed for the Argos. I don't really know why this is the case for other stadiums, especially ones that were purposefully built for the CFL (like the Coffee Grounds)
actually, BMO was originally built smaller to prevent Canadian football from being played there but where there is a will there is a way. it was quite contentious when the plans were happening for TFC to happen. I am glad that it did as it only makes sense in the Toronto Market which is very fickle and does not consistently support Canadian sport..
@@notthesamecc1927 I dunno. I think it has much to do with the CFL product being low-tier compared to the NFL. Toronto sees itself as an American "ambassador" city and not many are gonna waste their time when the Leafs & Blue Jays are playing during the CFL season
@@Jefff72 The Raiders apparently had no problem with that. It was the Packers who complained. Maybe they were just setting up an excuse in case they needed one.
The Atlantic Schooners are reportedly set to begin play as early as 2022/2023, depending on (1) if the CFL returns to play in 2021 and (2) if the Halifax regional government can finalize a stadium plan. Should the Schooners start play in 2023 and a stadium in Halifax is not ready, the team would temporarily call Moncton, New Brunswick home until the Halifax stadium is ready. It would be great to finally have an even number of teams in the CFL for the first time in a long time, that's for sure.
this is a perpetual dream. at Grey Cup week, all the teams have their own pavilions. Atlantic Schooners have had a pavilion at every Grey Cup week for decades. Would love to see it, but I'm not holding my breath
Back in the day, I always bet on the RoughRiders, because they had twice the chance of winning as any other team. Sometimes they had a 100% chance of winning, unless the game ended in a tie.
