 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
| SkyDome World's Greatest Entertainment Centre | |
Overhead view of SkyDome with roof closed, seen from the CN Tower. | |
| Facility Statistics | |
| Location | 1 Blue Jays Way Toronto, Ontario M5V 1J3 |
| Broke Ground | October 3, 1986 |
| Opened | June 5, 1989 |
| Surface | AstroTurf |
| Owner | Sportsco International, LP |
| Construction Cost | $570 million CAD |
| Architects | Rod Robbie, Michael Allen |
| Tenants | |
| Toronto Argonauts | 1989-present |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 1989-present |
| Toronto Raptors | 1995-1999 |
| Seating Capacity | |
| 2004 Baseball | 50,516 |
| 2004 CFL Football | 53,506 |
| Baseball Field Dimensions | |
| Left Field | 328 ft |
| Left-Center | 375 ft |
| Center Field | 400 ft |
| Right-Center | 375 ft |
| Right Field | 328 ft |
| Backstop | 60 ft |
SkyDome, which opened on June 1, 1989, is a huge multi-purpose entertainment facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario. It is the stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball and the Toronto Argonauts play Canadian football. The stadium can seat up to 50,516 for baseball and 53,506 for football. The stadium also served as a temporary home for the Toronto Raptors from 1995-1999. A basketball court was set up along the first base side, with temporary stands erected around the court for games. The stadium sat up to 28,708 for basketball games, though the huge size meant that most of the permanent seats were extremely far from the court. SkyDome has also been the site of many special events, including what is believed to be the world's largest book reading, by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, on October 24, 2000.
In the early 1990s the consortium of companies that had built the stadium had amassed a huge debt and a massive, and controversial government bail-out was given them.
The Stadium was built on lands that had formerly been railway yards. The decision to build the expensive stadium was a controversial one, and the central issue of the 1985 Toronto election with mayor Art Eggleton strongly supporting the plan, while it was opposed by his main opponent Alderman Anne Johnston.
SkyDome was designed by Rod Robbie and Michael Allen and was constructed by Ellis-Don Construction of Toronto. The stadium's construction lasted just over three years, from April 1986 to May 1989. The project saw skyrocketing prices, the first estimate was that the project would cost $150 million (Cdn) revised estimates prior to the election put the cost at $225 million. Eventually projecy cost some $600 million which was paid for by the Canadian federal government, Ontario provincial government, and a large consortium of corporations. Though nominally a multi-purpose stadium the primary impetus for its construction was the need for a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays, who until 1989 played in Exhibition Stadium. An agreement with the city required an addition to Exhibition Stadium if attendance was high enough; after the intervention of Ontario premier William Davis an initiative to build a new stadium with a retractable roof was undertaken.
SkyDome was the first major sports arena in North America to sport a fully retractable roof. Opening the roof requires that two panels slide over each other and into a section behind center field. A third panel, which starts behind the plate, rotates on a circular rail. The whole roof is 339,343 square feet and weighs 11,000 tons. When closed, SkyDome could hold a 31-story building, making it almost twice as high above the field as the Metrodome.
SkyDome is also well known for its enormous Jumbotron scoreboard, at 10 by 35 metres the largest scoreboard in the world. It is the tallest and most massive stadium used by any Major League Baseball team. The stadium also includes a hotel with many of the rooms overlooking the outfield. It was also one of the first to use a hydraulic pitching mound, which could be raised or lowered as needed. Two restaurants, including a Hard Rock Cafe, also overlook the outfield.
The need to build a stadium that could host both the Blue Jays and the Argonauts necessitated using moveable stands for most of the lower deck. The playing field is fairly non-descript, marked by symmetrical distances and a uniform fence.
Because the bullpens were located behind the outfield fence and in front of the bleachers, they were visible to few in the stands or the playing field, when initially constructed. The result was that cameras were set up in the bullpens so that the manager and coaches in the dugout could monitor any happenings. This problem was partially remedied eventually by replacing the solid padded wall with a chicken-wire fence in front of the bullpens.
The operators of SkyDome prefer the name to be used without an article – "at SkyDome," for example, is preferred to "at the SkyDome," in conformity with usages like "at Exhibition Park" or "at Varsity Stadium." This usage has been more or less accepted by broadcasters, especially Canadian broadcasters and ESPN, but is far from universal.
SkyDome is visible at left in these photos.
Inside SkyDome
List of Major League Baseball stadiums
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
