Exhibition Stadium
Toronto, Canada

Home of the Toronto Blue Jays for twelve years, the team was ready to move out of Exhibition Stadium in 1989 when SkyDome opened. In hopes of landing a MLB team, talks of expanding Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Stadium began in the late 1950’s. Two

proposals were defeated, and a new plan arose to build a dome stadium in 1965. But this plan dragged on for years. But hopes of getting a MLB team intensified again in 1974 when a \$15 million bond was approved to enlarge CNE Stadium. The stadium was enlarged to a capacity of 40,000 for baseball and 55,000 for football. Initially in 1976, the Toronto area thought that the San Francisco Giants were going to move to the area. However, the deal was not approved. But in 1977, MLB awarded Toronto a franchise. Toronto finally got a MLB team.

The Toronto Blue Jays made their debut at the stadium on April 7, 1977. Over 44,000 fans filled the stadium. Exhibition Stadium had been originally been used primarily for football. When the stadium opened for baseball it still looked mainly like a football stadium. The original grandstand was constructed on the north side of the stadium in 1948, and had a capacity of 20,000. This section of seating formed the nucleus of the facility. The original north grandstand was revamped, the south stands were replaced, and a new section of seats were added between the north and south stands to create a baseball field prior to the start of the 1977 season. A stadium club and VIP boxes were also constructed. The main grandstand which was covered became part of the left field. A 12 foot fence formed the outfield wall, which began at the left field foul pole, and then curved across the AstroTurf field at the 40 yard line. A large area of open space was behind the right field fence. The scoreboard was located on the far end past the right field fence. Even thought the Blue Jays were not a very good team, they drew over 1.7 million fans during the 1977 season. After over thirty years of talk of building a dome stadium in Toronto, a site was chosen and construction began on a retractable roof dome stadium in 1986. The Blue Jays played their last game at Exhibition Stadium on May 28, 1989. They moved into their new home, SkyDome on June 5, 1989. Exhibition Stadium remained standing until 1999, when it was demolished.