TORONTO BLUE JAYS STADIUM

TORONTO

Originally known as the SkyDome, the stadium was renamed the Rogers Centre in February 2005. Located in Toronto , Ontario , Canada , adjacent to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario , the Rogers Center is the world's most advanced and luxurious ballpark. It is a huge ballpark with a power-driven retractable roof that houses the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball team and the Toronto Argonauts, a Canadian football team. The stadium features all leading edge technologies in terms of design and function. Rogers Stadium was the world's first multi-purpose retractable domed stadium that was the first of its kind in any sport. The stadium also hosts scores of other special events that require very large venues. In the 1992-93 season, Joltin' Joe Carter smacked the "Shot Heard Round the World II" to give the Blue Jays their second-straight World Series victory. In 1991, the stadium hosted Major League Baseball All-Star game. Construction on the Rogers Centre started in April 1986. Designed by Rod Robbie and Michael Allan and constructed by Ellis-Don Construction of Toronto, the construction of the stadium completed in May 1989. Built at the cost of $600 million, the funds for the construction were provided by the Canadian federal government, Ontario provincial government, and a large association of corporations.

The Blue Jays played their home opening game on June 5, 1989 . The stadium has the seating capacity of 53,506 for football and 50,516 for baseball. The Rogers Centre has the distinction for being the first major team sports arena in North America to sport a fully retractable roof, allowing any sport to be played indoors or outdoors. The roof moves at a rate of 71 feet per minute and takes approximately 20 minutes to open or close. When the roof is open, 100% of the field and 91% of the seats are uncovered. Blue Jays management has all the discretionary power to decide whether the roof will be open or closed for regular-season games. The retractable roof is made up of four independent panels and weighs over 21 million pounds. The idea of having a new stadium in the Toronto area began in 1923, but it took almost 63 years for the idea to materialize. Meanwhile, Toronto tried to allure a major league baseball team. They first tried to lure the San Francisco Giants to Toronto , and then tried to get MLB to expand to Toronto . Eventually, in 1976, the city was awarded a franchise, when MLB expanded. The new team called the Toronto Blue Jays started playing professional baseball 1977 in Exhibition Stadium, which was primarily a football stadium, but was remodeled to accommodate baseball. In 1983, the site was chosen for the construction of the new stadium.

Ground breaking ceremonies for the domed stadium were held on October 3, 1986 . For the naming of the stadium, over 12,879 fans submitted their suggestions. The name chosen for the stadium was announced on May 11, 1987 . The stadium was originally named SkyDome. However, in 2004, Rogers Communications, the parent company of the Blue Jays held the rights for possessing the team from Sportco International, LP for about $25 million CAD. On February 2, 2005 Ted Rogers, President and CEO of Rogers Communications declared an increase in the payroll of the team to 210 million over the next three seasons w.e.f. 2005 and contracted to change the name of the stadium from SkyDome to the Rogers Centre. After the purchase, Rogers backed the renovation of the stadium by erecting a new state of the art, incorporated scoring and display system.

In May 2005, the Toronto Argonauts also agreed pay three 5 years leases at Rogers Centre. The Rogers Centre features a new artificial playing surface called FieldTurf which was installed after the 2004 season. The Rogers Centre has five levels of seats that stretch from right centerfield to homeplate and to left centerfield. The Rogers Centre also has a hotel. It has 350 rooms, 70 of which overlook the playing field. The stadium also has 161 private Skyboxes. The bullpens are located just behind the ten-foot-high outfield wall. Rogers Centre consists of enough concrete to build a sidewalk from Toronto to St. Louis . A new main video/scoreboard was put up along with the addition of video/scoreboards before the start of 2005 season. Jumbotron scoreboard is 33-feet by 115-feet and has 420,000 light bulbs, the largest in the world. On April 12, 2001 , a game in Rogers Centre history was postponed due to fault in the roof during a routine test that caused two of the three panels to collide. The wreckage directly fell onto the outfield.