Exhibition Stadium

Former home of the Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto, ON

Still to visit

Teams

Toronto Blue Jays
MLB · baseball
1977–1989

Also known as Canadian National Exhibition Stadium

Stadium facts

Capacity: 43,737; Baseball for 1978–1989. Football is listed at 54,741 for 1976–1988. Earlier baseball capacity is 38,522 in 1977.Source for capacity
Opened: August 5, 1959; The 1959 date is the inaugural game after a south-side expansion. A north grandstand dated to 1948. Demolished January 31, 1999; the site was parking until 2006.Source for opened
Surface: AstroTurf; Grass from 1959 to 1971. AstroTurf from 1972 to 1989, after a January 1972 vote to spend $625,000 on the turf.Source for surface
Cost: $17.5 million; The 1976 renovations. The page also lists $3 million for the 1948 north grandstand and $650,000 for the 1959 south bleachers.Source for cost

Names and sponsors

Canadian National Exhibition Stadium
1959–1999
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Exhibition Stadium
Nickname
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CNE Stadium
Nickname
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The Ex
Nickname
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Timeline

1959
1970
1972
1977
1988
1999

August 5, 1959

Argonauts play the Chicago Cardinals

The inaugural game after the 1959 expansion was an exhibition between the Toronto Argonauts and the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL on August 5, 1959. The page says it was the first time an NFL team played in Toronto, and the first NFL–CFL exhibition since the CFL was formed in 1958. The Argonauts stayed through 1988.

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