Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[esquire]

^That's awesome, thanks for posting. It's interesting that they kept the field on that diagonal orientation relative to the street all those years, even though it meant some weird compromises in terms of the seating and the field... it looks like the 1962 and 1971 photos show clipped corners in the end zone (does that say "DO IT" in the 1971 end zones?!?).

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^More of a shoehorn than Ivor Wynne...

[esquire]

^ The funny thing is that unlike with Hamilton there was plenty of space, all they had to do was turn the field a bit and move it south by a few yards. Ohhhh, Regina...what were you guys thinking?

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ The funny thing is that unlike with Hamilton there was plenty of space, all they had to do was turn the field a bit and move it south by a few yards. Ohhhh, Regina...what were you guys thinking?

The baseball diamond mentioned as still being visible in the 1962 picture is your answer . The "East" side bleachers were portable at that time. And could be moved to accommodate baseball. This would have been the optimal configuration of the property that could fit a baseball diamond and football field.

The West seating was made permanent/concrete sometime in the 50s (portions of which are still present at Mosaic today). When baseball was permanently removed from the site sometime between '62 and '71, they would have had to demolish the permanent West side to reorientate the field. This wouldn't have been deemed acceptable (waste of money so soon after building the structure), so the field was maintained on the angle and things got shoe-horned into the setup we have today.

You'll also notice with the 70s Expansion (visible in the '87 photo), the street south of the stadium was eliminated/re-routed and a block of houses to the West were demolished.


Perfectly logical really.

[Oilkountry]

True north square (already under construction) released a few updated pics of the plans. 4 towers now instead of 3. A sutton hotel (clearly the new NHL visiting teams hotel). condos,restaurants, lounges, cafes, bars, public plaza ect. Winnipegs version of the ice district, Really great addition to the MTS centre indirectly of course. Law firm,bank, few others taking up residence already

[Hardhatdan]

How big is that plaza, depending on the rendering it can look very small?

[Black Star]

This looks fantastic.

[craner]

Originally Posted by Westernrider

This is a mosaic of Taylor Field over the years. In the 1962 you can see the baseball field behind and underneath the portable wooden bleachers. Interesting to note that the east stand didn't extend all the way to the goal line in 1971, And the deep endzones with coffin corners.

Just wanted to bump this to the current page to refer to while reading the posts.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Nathan

The baseball diamond mentioned as still being visible in the 1962 picture is your answer . The "East" side bleachers were portable at that time. And could be moved to accommodate baseball. This would have been the optimal configuration of the property that could fit a baseball diamond and football field.

The West seating was made permanent/concrete sometime in the 50s (portions of which are still present at Mosaic today). When baseball was permanently removed from the site sometime between '62 and '71, they would have had to demolish the permanent West side to reorientate the field. This wouldn't have been deemed acceptable (waste of money so soon after building the structure), so the field was maintained on the angle and things got shoe-horned into the setup we have today.

You'll also notice with the 70s Expansion (visible in the '87 photo), the street south of the stadium was eliminated/re-routed and a block of houses to the West were demolished.


Perfectly logical really.

Awesome, thanks for the explanation. I wouldn't have guessed that Taylor Field was set up to handle baseball too, but now that you mention it, it explains a lot about the whole place and the way it looks.

I'm assuming that the construction of the football-oriented west stands in the 50s made high-level baseball impossible there?

I'm surprised that the east stands didn't get built until sometime in the 60s... when I sat there a number of years back it seemed to be in bad shape, at least as bad as CanadInns Stadium, the oldest parts of which would have been about 10 years older. The east stands looked like they dated back to maybe the 40s...

As a sidenote, old Winnipeg/CanadInns Stadium accommodated baseball in two different configurations. First was the original 1953 baseball field south of the football field, although parts of the playing surface overlapped.

The original setup:


source:torontosun.com


After the baseball stands were demolished in the early 80s, they found a way to cram a baseball field into the football stadium but it was pretty half baked and was at best a temporary measure before the indy league Goldeyes went to a new stadium of their own. If you can believe it, the baseball configuration was put in place to try attracting a AAA team, which obviously never happened.

The Goldeyes drew over 15,000 fans on a number of occasions and even cracked 20K a couple of times. I sat in the outfield upper deck for one game and I appreciated the absurdity of sitting high in the nosebleed seats that even a MLB fan would turn their noses up at, never mind for low level independent baseball.

The later iteration:


source:chuckduboff.com

[GernB]

Originally Posted by esquire

That grandstand backs up against a street, so they clipped it in the NE corner... the alternative would have been cantilevering it over the street which I'm sure people in the neighbourhood would not have been crazy about!

Here's a clearer view:


source: ottawacitizen.com

I'm sure but for that factor, they probably would have put an upper deck on the east stands as with the west stands... as you can see though, there just wasn't enough room.

There was a preliminary plan to expropriate the properties behind that grandstand and build an upper deck similar to the opposite side and add seats in both end zones, bringing capacity up to ~45,000 by the mid to late 1980s. But attendance never grew the way they had hoped and the idea was shelved.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by GernB

There was a preliminary plan to expropriate the properties behind that grandstand and build an upper deck similar to the opposite side and add seats in both end zones, bringing capacity up to ~45,000 by the mid to late 1980s. But attendance never grew the way they had hoped and the idea was shelved.

That would have been a crazy-ambitious project considering that Regina's population was under 200,000 back then. But I can understand how it was considered given that for a while, the CFL was going through a boom period in the late 70s/early 80s when some teams were basically playing in what were, at the time, NFL calibre stadiums and drawing NFL-like crowds (Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, and a bit later on, BC... the other teams were playing to sellout or near-sellout crowds in smaller venues).

I'm sure that some thought must have been given to greatly expanding or replacing Winnipeg Stadium around that time, but I've never seen any proposals or concepts from that era.

[craner]

I'm lovin' all this old stadium stuff.

[Coldrsx]

Rogers Place ‏@RogersPlace

Sitting proud! Seat 4, Row 20, Section 101 locked and loaded for future #RogersPlace guests!!



https://twitter.com/RogersPlace


http://i.imgur.com/XnjWqwo.jpg
by vex1987 on c2e

[esquire]

^ Great pic... the gap between downtown and Kingsway/hospital areas is really shrinking.

[Westernrider]

Originally Posted by esquire

^That's awesome, thanks for posting. It's interesting that they kept the field on that diagonal orientation relative to the street all those years, even though it meant some weird compromises in terms of the seating and the field... it looks like the 1962 and 1971 photos show clipped corners in the end zone (does that say "DO IT" in the 1971 end zones?!?).

The CFL had 25 yard end zones in those days. The corners were cut off to allow the back of the end zone to meet that criteria. The problem was solved when the architects of BC Place goofed and installed 20 yard end zones; the rest of the league followed suit a few years later and those coffin shaped corners at Taylor Field became a memory.

[The Fisher Account]

That low-rise condo right across the street from Rogers Place always makes me laugh

[esquire]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

That low-rise condo right across the street from Rogers Place always makes me laugh

That thing irritated me even when it was under construction... little did we know how inappropriate it would turn out to be.

A slice of ugly suburbia in the heart of downtown... perhaps just a reminder of the bad old days when any development was good development.

[Coldrsx]

A reminder of how desperate we were for anything...

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

A reminder of how desperate we were for anything...

I think nearly all Canadian cities have their embarrassments from the dark days of the late 90s/early 00s.

[Stormer]

New Mosaic Stadium east side spectator roof trusses:



Credit: Migs https://twitter.com/YQRstadium?lang=en