Stadium situated on the campus of McGill University in Montreal
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium
(also known in
French
as
Stade Percival-Molson
; commonly referred to as
Molson Stadium
in English or
Stade Molson
in French) is an outdoor
football
and
multi-purpose stadium
in
Downtown Montreal
, on the slopes of
Mount Royal
, in the borough of
Ville-Marie
. Named in honour of
Percival Molson
, and owned by
McGill University
, it was the home of the
Montreal Alouettes
of the
Canadian Football League
from 1954 to 1967 and again since 1998. The stadium is also home to the
McGill Redbirds and Martlets
of the
RSEQ
, the
Montreal Royal
of the
American Ultimate Disc League
, the
Selwyn House Gryphons
high-school football team
[3]
and the Canadian Corporate Soccer League, the largest amateur corporate league in Canada.
History
[
edit
]
Constructed in 1914 at the corner of University and Pine (avenue Des Pins), the stadium sat dormant through
World War I
with the cessation of football from 1914 to 1918. On July 5, 1917, Captain
Percival Molson
(1880–1917), great-grandson of brewer
John Molson
and a
McGill University
alumnus and sports star who had been instrumental in getting the stadium plan approved, was killed in action in
France
. His will left $75,000 to the university to help pay most of the total costs for the completion of the stadium.
William C. Macdonald
and
John W. McConnell
also donated money to help build and renovate the stadium. Designed by
Percy Erskine Nobbs
,
[4]
the stadium was officially dedicated as "McGill Graduates' Stadium" at an intercollegiate track meet on October 22, 1915. It was renamed "Percival Molson Memorial Stadium" on October 25, 1919 by the university's Board of Governors, in his honour.
The Montreal Alouettes played at the stadium from 1954 to 1967 before moving to the
Autostade
. An attempted return to the Molson Stadium in 1972 was not successful and the team went back to the Autostade the following season. When the revived Alouettes franchise was forced to move a 1997 playoff game out of
Olympic Stadium
due to a
U2
concert scheduled for the day of the game, they played the game at Molson Stadium before a sellout crowd, prompting the Als to make it their primary home again the following season. However, all playoff games were played at Olympic Stadium until 2015.
The only
Grey Cup
game played at Molson Stadium was in
1931
, which was the first time the Grey Cup was contested outside of Ontario. It also served as a venue for
field hockey
, during the
1976 Summer Olympics
.
[5]
It seated 20,202 and had been sold out for Alouettes games from August 12, 1999 until 2009.
[6]
A renovation project begun in 2009 increased capacity from 20,202 to over 25,000 before seats were removed in 2014 to reduce capacity to 23,420.
[7]
The seating capacity was lowered to 20,025 following a reconfiguration prior to the 2019 season.
[8]
The Alouettes' decision to return to the venue was problematic because the team was being sponsored by the
Labatt Brewing Company
and the stadium shared the name of its major competitor,
Molson
, though not named for it. Eventually, the team chose to change sponsors and have been sponsored by Budweiser since 2014. In 2004, The Alouettes installed a
FieldTurf
surface at Molson Stadium replacing the old-style
Astroturf
.
Renovation
[
edit
]
Molson Stadium has been renovated and expanded, adding nearly 5,000 seats in time for the
2010 CFL season
.
[9]
The project to see the smallest CFL stadium increase to a
seating capacity
of 25,012 cost $29.4 million.
[10]
Eleven rows were removed from the south side of the stadium to construct a second tier and add the majority of the new seats, about 3,800. Also, temporary bleachers in the east end-zone were replaced with 1,500 permanent seats, a new section was added to the northeast corner, and 19 new private suites were constructed. The cost of the renovations were shared by the
Quebec
government ($19.3 million), the city of Montreal ($4 million), and
Robert Wetenhall
, the Alouettes' owner ($6,023,935).
[11]
[12]
[13]
Layout
[
edit
]
Because the playing surface is surrounded by a running track, the full 65-yard width and 20-yard length of the end zones is not available at the two end lines. However, the full width is available for more than half of each end zone, with the only missing pieces being the relatively small bits off the corners. Since the
2014 CFL season
, it is the only stadium in the CFL to cut the corners on the end zones after Edmonton's
Commonwealth Stadium
squared off theirs.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
1688 to 1923
: Geloso, Vincent,
A Price Index for Canada, 1688 to 1850
(December 6, 2016). Afterwards, Canadian inflation numbers based on
Statistics Canada
tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021)
"Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted"
. Statistics Canada
. Retrieved
April 17,
2021
.
and table 18-10-0004-13
"Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit"
.
Statistics Canada
. Retrieved
2024-05-08
.
- ^
The Canadian Press
(June 20, 2010).
"
'Als' well in Montreal in pre-season win"
.
Canadian Football League
. Archived from
the original
on December 2, 2010
. Retrieved
January 7,
2011
.
- ^
"Alouettes announce new stadium plans for 2019"
. 2 November 2018.
- ^
Virtual McGill
- ^
1976 Summer Olympics official report.
Archived
2010-05-06 at the
Wayback Machine
Volume 2. pp. 150-5.
- ^
The CFL Publishes The 2008 Schedule | Montreal Alouettes
Archived
2012-03-04 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Zurkowsky, Herb (October 1, 2016).
"Sold-out Molson Stadium crowd to see if Jacques Chapdelaine can turn Alouettes around"
.
Montreal Gazette
. Retrieved
August 11,
2017
.
- ^
"Jack Todd: Shrinking stadium puts Alouettes back where they started"
.
- ^
"The Montrealer - Montreal Newspapers"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-11-26
. Retrieved
2012-01-07
.
- ^
"Visiting the Alouettes' new home | Montreal Alouettes"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-05-28
. Retrieved
2011-12-12
.
- ^
Zurkowsky, Herb (March 8, 2009).
"Expansion of Montreal's Molson Stadium approved"
. Montreal Gazette
. Retrieved
March 9,
2009
.
- ^
"Molson Stadium to begin $29.4M expansion"
. CBC News. March 9, 2009
. Retrieved
March 10,
2009
.
- ^
Expansion Project Approved | Montreal Alouettes
Archived
2011-08-10 at the
Wayback Machine
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
20th century
|
- 1908
:
White City Stadium
- 1920
:
Olympisch Stadion
- 1928
:
Old Stadion
- 1932
:
Olympic Stadium
- 1936
:
Hockey Stadion
(final),
Hockey Stadion #2
- 1948
:
Empire Stadium
(medal matches),
Guinness Sports Club
,
Lyons' Sports Club
,
Polytechnic Sports Ground
- 1952
:
Velodrome
- 1956
:
Eastern Sportsground
,
Melbourne Cricket Ground
(final)
- 1960
:
Campo Tre Fontane
,
Olympic Velodrome
(final),
Stadio dei Marmi
- 1964
:
Komazawa Hockey Field
- 1968
:
Municipal Stadium
- 1972
:
Hockeyanlage
- 1976
:
Molson Stadium, McGill University
- 1980
:
Dynamo Central Stadium, Minor Arena
;
Young Pioneers Stadium
(final)
- 1984
:
Weingart Stadium
- 1988
:
Seongnam Stadium
- 1992
:
Estadi Olimpic de Terrassa
- 1996
:
Clark Atlanta University Stadium
,
Morris Brown College Stadium
(final)
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21st century
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Grey Cup
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Eastern Division
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Current league
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