Rogers Centre / Skydome, Toronto

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The web site listed below is clutch because when you click on it it will tell you the status of the dome, open or closed.

The Rogers Centre (was called the Sky Dome) is the home of a few different sport teams like the Toronto Blue Jays (AL) and Toronto Argonauts (CFL; 1989-2004)
It Opened in June 5, 1989, and is know for it's Retractable Dome which can be opened or closed. The baseball field was first surfaced with AstroGrass in 1989, but was changed to FieldTurf in 2005. The building can hold 50,516 for baseball and 53,000 for football.

Construction on the Rogers Centre started in April 1986, and the Blue Jays played their first game there three years later. In addition to baseball, the Rogers Centre hosts the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, concerts, and a plethora of other sporting events. Because the movable lower stands are on rollers, and the Astroturf field rolls up, conversion from baseball to football takes only 10-12 hours. Opening or closing the roof takes only 20 minutes. The roof was closed during a game twice in the Blue Jays’ first year in the dome, and four or five times a year since then.

Here are some statistics i found

-Site of the 1991 All-Star game.
-Jumbotron scoreboard is 33-feet by 115-feet and has 420,000 light bulbs, the largest in the world.
-Apex of the retracted dome is 310 feet making it the tallest in Major League baseball.
-The bullpens are located just behind the ten-foot-high outfield wall, so portions of the wall are made of chain link fence, allowing the managers to see who’s warming up on each side.
-A 348 room hotel is located in center field. 70 of those rooms have views of the field. On at least three occasions, spectators have been provided auxiliary entertainment by patrons inside the hotel during a game.
-When the roof is open, the closed end of the stadium serves as a wind scoop which causes a downdraft in the outfield that tends to prevent home runs.
-There are no bleachers.

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Rogers Centre, also known by its original name SkyDome, is a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario.
It is home to Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. While it is primarily a sports venue, Rogers Centre also hosts other large-scale events such as conventions, trade fairs, and concerts.

Rogers Centre is also noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof and the only stadium to have hotel rooms attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball. Since 1989, all the newer major-league stadia in Canada and the United States have been built specifically for one sport or the other (although some of the newer baseball parks have been known to host the occasional college football game.)

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Exploring Toronto took us a day with heaps of modern buildings and architectural marvels to see. An engineer would be very fascinated to see the city I suppose. We were amused by the sport mad Canadians in their fave team colours, as there were about three competitions going on that day we first arrived at the city.

We walked everywhere, visited the Rogers Centre, the metro Convention Centre, of course the CN Tower, a small park with a few flowers and shrubs, etc. As it was April, spring was just beginning to sow its colourful harvest so a lot of the area was still dry particularly the roadsides from the airport going to Toronto.

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While back in the city for another meeting in June, 2004 our group was treated to an evening baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Although this was only the second major league ball game that I have ever attended, the big attraction for me was my first visit to Toronto's famed Skydome. This sports complex, which can seat 50,500 spectators for baseball was built between 1986-1989 and features an 11,000 ton retractable roof. It was closed during our visit because, although the temperature was 30 degrees C, there had been a severe thunderstorm cell pass through the city that evening. Also, in the middle of the photo you can see the Jumbotron video screen, the 2nd largest in the world when the Skydome opened. I really enjoyed the whole atmospere and it was a good ball game too - some nice fielding plays, a home run with fireworks afterward and a great view of the action as Toronto rolled to a 4-0 victory! Mind you, I did not have to pay the $54 ticket price (US$40)!

The second photo was taken in March, 2008 as I took off from Toronto on a flight from Regina, Saskatchewan to Fredericton, New Brunswick. It gives a nice view of the downtown core of the city along the shore of Lake Ontario, including the circular 'white' Skydome and Toronto's landmark world's tallest structure next-door!

Rogers Centre is home of the Blue Jays (Toronto's Baseball Team and winners of back to back World Series of 1993 and 1994) and of Argonauts (Toronto's Football Team of the Canadian Football League). Besides, it hosts music concerts and cultural events.

Rogers Centre is one of the most beautiful stadiums in North America. When its' roof is off, one can have a beautiful view of the CN Tower and its changing colour formations. The Centre is located next to the CN Centre and tourists can actually kill two stones with a single stone.

We love Rogers Centre, perhaps because we are used to visiting it thanks to the Argonauts. The only problem is parking. There are 3 big parking lots in the vicinity, but they can get filled up quickly on 'special events night' at the time Toronto Maple Leafs are playing in the nearby Air Canada Centre. For parking, we tend to go south on Bay Street and find cheaper parking near Queens Quay.

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Actually the Skydome is now called the Rogers centre, but since I dont approve of corporate naming rights I don't have to use the name.

Baseball is a great game to watch, has pretty easy rules to understand, and is relatively cheap too.

So some day when the Blue Jays are in town (and during the season they are there VERY often), get a ticket - from about $15, and enjoy the night out

Get tickets at the stadium, aor buy over the web - use the web addresses for directions

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Home of the Toronto Bluejays baseball team, the Skydome is noteworthy for it retractable roof which allows the team to play their games whether there’s rain or sun. A hotel overlooks the field and in past years, fans have observed couples enjoying their own entertainments. Be sure to bring binoculars to be able to watch the game more closely.

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I don't care how many companies own this facility and how often they'll change its name - for me this will forever be the Skydome. When it opened in the late 80's we were all agog by the retractable roof, since that seemed to spice up the otherwise dull baseball games. The Skydome really found a place in the imaginations of all Torontonians in the early 90s (93 and 94) when the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series pennants. It was the point at which baseball replaced the much beloved game of hockey as Toronto's pride and joy. Unfortunately the subsequent strike dealt a blow to the popularity of the game from which it has yet to recover. For this reason the Skydome is rarely filled for baseball games. Its a bit more fun to simply go down to the Skydome area, see if the roof is retracted or not and enjoy the views of the city from around the Dome.