CNE Grandstand

Exhibition Stadium was the fourth stadium to be built on its site since 1879.^[1] When the original grandstand was lost due to a fire in 1906, it was quickly rebuilt.^[1] A second fire destroyed the stadium in 1947, which led to the city constructing a covered north-side grandstand (known as CNE Grandstand) for CA$3 million in 1948.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} This part of the stadium's structure stayed even as the stadium underwent various changes to its configuration over the years until its 1999 closure.

Many rock concerts were also held at the stadium, both the grandstand and the whole stadium were used for popular rock and pop acts such as Pink Floyd, The Who, U2, David Bowie, Chicago, New Order, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden, Rush, Van Halen, Guns N' Roses, Kim Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, INXS, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Elton John, Whitney Houston and Janis Joplin, New Kids On The Block.^{[citation needed]}

Expansion for CFL football

When the Toronto Argonauts moved from Varsity Stadium for the 1959 season, a smaller CA$650,000 bleacher section was added along the south sideline.^[1][12][13] In this form the stadium seated 33,150.^[14]

The inaugural game at the renovated Exhibition Stadium was an exhibition interleague game between the hometown Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) on August 5, 1959. The game was the first time an NFL team played in Toronto.^[15][16] It was also the first NFL–CFL exhibition match held since the establishment of the CFL in 1958, and marked the beginning of a three-year, four game exhibition series between the leagues.

When the 58th Grey Cup was played at the stadium in 1970, Calgary Stampeders coach Jim Duncan described the condition of the natural-grass surface as "a disgrace."^[17] In January 1972, Metropolitan Toronto Council voted 15–9 to spend $625,000 to install artificial turf. The vote passed despite five councillors changing their vote to oppose the motion, because the cost had increased from a previous estimate of $400,000.^[18] Two months later, contracts totalling CA$475,000 were approved to install the AstroTurf, with work to be completed by June, in time for the start of the Toronto Argonauts' 1972 season.^[19]

Reconfiguration for baseball

In 1974, in a bid to acquire a Major League Baseball team, the city voted to reconfigure the stadium to make it compatible for baseball,^[20] leading to the arrival of Major League Baseball in Toronto in 1977 in the form of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays after a failed attempt to lure the San Francisco Giants to the city.

Originally planned to cost CA$15 million^[20] before growing to CA$17.5 million ($79.7 million in 2021 dollars)^[21], the renovations, which were funded by the city and province, added seating opposite to the covered grandstand on the first base side and curving around to the third base side.^{[1][2][22][23][24]} Football capacity was increased from 33,150 before the renovations to 41,890 initially, then finally to 54,741 after work was completed.^[20] Although the stadium was expanded to accommodate baseball, the new seats were first used for football and allowed the 64th Grey Cup in November 1976 to be watched by a then-Grey Cup record crowd of 53,467. For baseball, the stadium originally seated 38,522; however, by the Blue Jays' second season this increased to 43,739,^[25] although only about 33,000 seats were usually made available (see below).

Even in its new, expanded form, Exhibition Stadium was problematic for hosting both baseball and football. Blue Jays' President Paul Beeston noted Exhibition Stadium "wasn't just the worst stadium in baseball, it was the worst stadium in sports."^[26]

Problems with the wind and cold

Being situated relatively close to Lake Ontario, the stadium was often quite cold at the beginning and end of the baseball season (and the end of the football season). The first Blue Jays game played there on April 7, 1977, was the only major league game ever played with the field covered entirely by snow. The Blue Jays had to borrow Maple Leaf Gardens' Zamboni to clear off the field. Conditions at the stadium led to another odd incident that first year. On September 15, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver pulled his team off the field because -- in Weaver's opinion -- he felt the bricks holding down the bullpen tarps were a hazard to his players. This garnered a win by forfeit for the Jays – the only time in major league baseball history since 1914 that a team deliberately forfeited a game (as opposed to having an umpire call a forfeiture).^[29]

An April 30, 1984, game against the Texas Rangers was postponed due to 60 mph (97 km/h) winds. Before the game, Rangers manager Doug Rader named Jim Bibby as his starting pitcher, stating "he's the heaviest man in the world, and thus will be unaffected by the wind." However, Bibby would never make it to the mound. Two Rangers batters complained about dirt swirling in their eyes, and Blue Jays starting pitcher Jim Clancy was blown off balance several times. The umpires stopped the game after only six pitches. After a 30-minute delay, the game was called off.^[30]

The stadium also occasionally had problems with fog, once causing a bizarre inside-the-park home run for Kelly Gruber in 1986, when an otherwise routine pop up was lost by the outfielders in the thick fog.^[31]

As a popular feeding ground for seagulls

Due to its position next to the lake, and the food disposed by baseball and football fans, the stadium was a popular feeding ground for seagulls. New York Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield was arrested on August 4, 1983, for killing a seagull with a baseball. Winfield had just finished his warm-up exercises in the 5th inning and threw a ball to the ball boy, striking a seagull in the head. The seagull died, and some claimed that Winfield hit the bird on purpose, which prompted Yankees manager Billy Martin to state "They wouldn't say that if they'd seen the throws he'd been making all year. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man". The charges were later dropped. Winfield would later play for the Blue Jays, winning a World Series with the club in 1992.

70th Grey Cup and replacement

Exhibition Stadium's fate was sealed during the 70th Grey Cup in 1982, popularly known as "the Rain Bowl" because it was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched. Many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, forcing thousands of fans to watch the game in the concession section. To make matters worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was then-Ontario Premier Bill Davis, and the poor conditions were seen by over 7.862 million television viewers in Canada (at the time the largest TV audience ever in Canada).^[32] The following day, at a rally at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who were there to see the Toronto Argonauts began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!" So too did others who began to discuss the possibility of an all-purpose, all-weather stadium.^[33]

Seven months later, in June 1983, Premier Davis formally announced that a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay.^[34] That same year, the city also studied a number of potential sites for the new domed stadium, and in April 1984, CN agreed to donate 7 acres (2.8 ha) of land near the CN Tower for the stadium; groundbreaking began in October 1986, and the stadium, which would take on the name SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), opened in June 1989.^[35]