Exhibition Stadium (Toronto)

Few multi-purpose stadiums in North American history can rival Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium for the number, variety and stature of events held there. Set in a vast fairgrounds complex on the shore of Lake Ontario, the municipal facility originally known as Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Stadium served as the largest sports and entertainment venue in Canada’s biggest city for four decades.

The last of four grandstand/racetrack combinations built on the site, CNE Stadium opened in 1949 as a place for regional sporting events, auto racing, and diversions associated with Toronto’s annual exposition and fair, the CNE. Expanded in the late 1950s to accommodate the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, the stadium underwent a major reconfiguration in the mid-1970s that attracted the American League expansion Blue Jays and a new name: Exhibition Stadium.1 From 1979 to 1983, those two franchises shared “the Ex” with a third, the Toronto Blizzard of the North American Soccer League. (To locals, both the CNE and the stadium were called “the Ex,” a source of confusion to the uninitiated.2)

Many of the world’s most iconic entertainers performed for capacity crowds at Exhibition Stadium—comedians and crooners, rock stars and wrestlers.3 British royalty visited, as did a pope, John Paul II.4 The stadium also hosted a myriad of religious gatherings,5 cultural festivals,6 soccer matches (friendlies and otherwise),7 military tattoos,8 conventions, drum and bugle corps competitions, veterans’ parades, police athletic games,9 beauty pageants,10 motocross competitions,11 a simulated Olympics opening ceremony,12 and the world’s largest bingo game.13

Plagued by seagulls, fog, and cold weather, the Ex was an acquired taste for many. Throw in poor sightlines, uncomfortable seats, limited cover from the elements, and food so bad “[e]ven the seagulls watch what they eat,” it’s not hard to see how a 1988 review of the fan experience across all major league ballparks ranked Exhibition Stadium dead last.14 Yet never in the 968 regular-season games they played there did the Blue Jays fail to draw at least 10,000—a level of hometown support no other major league team enjoyed between 1977 and 1989. Called by some “The-Mistake-By-The-Lake” or “Excruciation Stadium,” the Ex became obsolete with the opening of SkyDome, a state-of-the-art retractable domed stadium, in June 1989.15 Devoid of tenants and used infrequently over the next decade, Exhibition Stadium, “the worst stadium in sports” according to Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, was demolished in 1999.16

The First Three Grandstands – CNE Stadium Is Born (1879-1947)

In the late-1870s, the city of Toronto signed a long-term lease for over 50 acres of a military reserve on the Lake Ontario shoreline and developed the land into a site for agricultural and industrial exhibitions. The first exhibition held on what became the city’s second Exhibition Park opened in September 1879.17 One of the site’s 23 new buildings was a fully enclosed grandstand with seating for 5,000. Located at the east end of a roughly quarter-mile paperclip oval racecourse, the grandstand housed spectators for receptions, band concerts, horse races, bicycle races, athletics competitions, and drill team exercises.18

In 1892, the city purchased 11 acres between New Fort York and Exhibition Park on which a new 10,000-seat grandstand and racetrack were built.19 Fire swept through the grandstand on October 18, 1906, destroying it along with the Crystal Palace, once a park centerpiece.20

The third grandstand at Exhibition Park was a 725-foot-long concrete, steel, and wood structure with covered seating for 16,400.21 Livestock shows and track and field meets were staples there, as were band concerts featuring patriotic music. By the early 1900s, auto racing often filled the grandstand.22 Thousands saw Barney Oldfield set a world speed record there in 1904,23 and in 1917, race car driver Gaston Chevrolet outpaced a low-flying “aeroplane” piloted around the track by pioneering female aviator Ruth Law, whose daring exploits figure into baseball history as well.24

As Toronto’s annual exhibition became Canada’s national fair in the early twentieth century, the event took on the CNE name.25 By the early 1930s, the grandstand and track came to collectively be known as CNE Stadium.26 On April 14, 1946, the CNE grandstand met the same fate as its predecessor and was destroyed by a fire that began in the middle of the night.27

Auto Racing and Football Reign at CNE Stadium (1949-1974)

A new CNE Stadium grandstand was erected by the spring of 1949 at a cost of $4 million. Set on the north side of a new one-third-mile cinder track surrounded by wooden guardrails, it seated 20,600 under cover.28 The gently-curving steel structure, designed by local architects Marani and Morris and built by Pigott Construction, was 800 feet in length, 150 feet wide, and 75 feet high, with two large restaurants, five team dressing rooms, and a large exhibition hall.29 Designed with future expansion in mind, the grandstand was considered one segment of a bowl that could later accommodate 60,000 spectators. Fitted with new lighting equipment, the field was touted as “‘second to none’ for night sports.”30

Yet it was daytime auto racing that filled the CNE grandstand in the 1950s. In 1952 alone, 44 meets attracted 365,000 spectators.31 The second of the only two NASCAR Grand National races ever run in Canada took place at CNE’s by-then paved track in July 1958. Finishing near the back of the pack was 21-year-old Richard Petty in the first Grand National race of his career.32 Narrowed into a quarter-mile oval in 1959 to make room for football, the track was replaced with a rubberized, all-weather running track in 1967.33

CNE’s 400-meter, eight-lane track drew some of North America’s finest track athletes. World-record miler Jim Ryun smoked a field of 10 Canadian hopefuls during a 1972 meet, and American Olympic silver medalist Cheryl Toussaint “slipped back into the winning groove” by taking the “800-metre feature” a year later.34

In 1957, Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, and John Bassett, a director for the Toronto Argonauts of the Big Four Football Union (predecessor to the CFL), separately approached the Toronto committee on parks and exhibitions about reconfiguring CNE grounds for their teams.35 After months of lobbying from both sides, city council approved funding to install 13,000 portable bleacher seats in a new, uncovered grandstand opposite the existing structure, with an unfunded “second stage of [a] giant master plan” to construct a 12,000-seat lower deck for baseball.36 Cooke, who for years tried to bring major league baseball to Toronto, was encouraged by a May 1958 report that the National League would move the Los Angeles Dodgers out of that city should a referendum fail to approve funding for construction of a new stadium in Chavez Ravine. Once that measure passed, NL president Warren Giles told Cooke that expansion into Toronto was not on the horizon, putting the second stage of the CNE Stadium expansion on ice.37 Days later, the Argonauts committed to a 10-year lease and $670,000 to cover construction costs for a second grandstand on the lake side of the racetrack.38 The new pre-fabricated steel structure, with 65 rows of bleacher-style wood plank seating, was in place for the start of the 1959 CFL season. 39

The Argos christened their new home with an exhibition against the NFL Chicago Cardinals, then a month later played the first-ever Sunday professional football game in Toronto.40 Canada’s second-largest stadium at that time, with room for over 32,000 in its two grandstands plus about 13,000 more in temporary end-zone bleachers,41 CNE Stadium was selected by the CFL to host the 1959 Grey Cup. Future NFL Hall of Famer Bud Grant coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to victory in that game, as well as the 1961 Grey Cup, which was also held at CNE. Quarterback Joe Kapp led the British Columbia (BC) Lions to the 1964 Grey Cup title at CNE, five years before quarterbacking Grant’s Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.42 In all, 12 Grey Cups were played at CNE/Exhibition Stadium as well as three Canadian College Football championships.43

Weather wreaked havoc on many a football game at the Ex. The 1962 Grey Cup was beset by fog so dense it was suspended until the next day, making it the sport’s first “Fog Bowl.”44 Rain and snow, combined with wear from use during summertime CNE grandstand shows, often turned the stadium’s natural turf into a mud pit.45 Only after CFL officials threatened to hold future Grey Cups elsewhere did city officials install artificial grass, in 1972.46 In the first game played on the new surface, Argonauts quarterback Joe Theismann suffered a cracked fibula when his foot got stuck in the turf as he was getting tackled.47

In February 1974, Toronto’s city council agreed to lease Exhibition Stadium to a franchise in the new World Football League, but before their first practice, the Toronto Northmen relocated to Memphis.48 Saved from sharing CNE with an upstart, the Argonauts soon saw their home reconfigured to attract a more venerable co-tenant—major league baseball.

CNE Stadium Becomes Exhibition Stadium – the Blue Jays Era (1975-1989)

Paul Godfrey, appointed chairman of Metropolitan Toronto in 1973,49 considered a new stadium one of his top priorities. Attracting a major league baseball team was central to his plan. Prohibitive costs prevented building a new “Rolls Royce type of stadium,” but in February 1974, Toronto’s city council approved what Godfrey called a “Chevrolet”: enlarging CNE Stadium for $15 million. Groundbreaking followed nine months later.50

The stadium’s south grandstand was removed, and a single-tier, L-shaped addition was built at the west end of the stadium to provide seating for 28,000 around a diamond to be located there.51 With the far end of the addition, down the first base line, left uncurved to accommodate football, baseball fans sitting there would have to turn sharply to see home plate; in some cases almost 90 degrees. The all-weather track was removed, and a new artificial surface field was installed.52 Flat it was not. According to Toronto catcher Bob Brenly, “If you stood at home plate you could only see the center fielder from the knees up.”53 The new turf lasted until the winter of 1984.54

Arcing across the 3.7 acres of artificial turf was a 12-foot-high padded chain link fence that served as the outfield wall.55 Separable fence panels allowed a quick conversion from baseball to football, with more than half of the football field extending into the outfield. Officially, the fence sat 330 feet from home plate down each foul line, 375 feet to the power alleys, and 400 feet to straightaway center field. Blue Jays sportscaster Tony Kubek claimed that actual distances were 16 to 30 feet shorter when measured at the request of Toronto’s manager from 1982 to 1985, Bobby Cox.56 Bookending the fence was a pair of foul poles that had bolts protruding into foul territory. A ball hit by Toronto’s Ernie Whitt struck one on June 7, 1987. Ruled a home run, it plated two in a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.57

Completed by the spring of 1976, the renovations increased the stadium’s reported capacity to 40,000 for baseball and 54,000 for football, at a cost of $17.8 million.58 By that time, Toronto had lined up a major-league franchise, but not the one many expected.

In September 1975, a group led by The Globe and Mail executive R. Howard Webster bid $15 million to buy the San Francisco Giants and move them to Toronto.59 When the Giants accepted an offer in January 1976 to sell the club to Toronto-based Labatt Breweries for $13.25 million, the City of San Francisco requested an injunction to stop the sale.60 Before the presiding judge made his determination, San Francisco mayor George Moscone brokered a deal between the Giants and a group led by local real estate magnate Bob Lurie, who committed to keep the Giants in San Francisco.61

Having already granted Seattle an expansion franchise for the 1977 season, American League owners wanted another expansion team to maintain an even number of teams. By 11-1 vote, Toronto was selected as the preferred location, and Labatt’s was granted the franchise for $7 million.62

With many grandstand seats considered suitable only for football, CNE Stadium’s capacity for baseball was adjusted downward in the summer of 1976 to only 33,700.63 To allay AL fears that the stadium was undersized, the city agreed to add 10,000 seats to the stadium “if the Blue Jays attracted at least 1.2 million fans for three consecutive seasons.”64 The team reached that mark in 1979, but the city chose to re-categorize many seats as suitable for baseball rather than add capacity.

The Argos benefited from the stadium expansion even before it was complete. They broke the CFL regular-season single-game attendance record on Opening Day of the 1975 season with nearly 37,000 fans, and a November 1975 contest drew more than any CFL game ever had.65 A Grey Cup-record 53,389 fans attended the 1976 CFL championship.66 Tickets to that event bore the venue’s new name—Exhibition Stadium.67

The Blue Jays opened their inaugural season at their new home on April 7, 1977, at the tail-end of a snowstorm. Bill Singer delivered the first pitch with snow still flying and the outfield largely blanketed in white. Toronto topped the Chicago White Sox, 9-5, in front of 44,649 “near-frozen fans.”68 The Blue Jays lost 107 games in 1977 but drew 1.7 million fans, then a record for an expansion team.69 On September 15, they were gifted a rare win by forfeit when Orioles manager Earl Weaver pulled his team off the field after umpires refused to have the grounds crew remove a tarpaulin covering the Toronto bullpen area down the left-field line.70

A state-of-the-art $2.5 million, 132-foot-by-60-foot computerized scoreboard replaced an old football scoreboard beyond the right-field fence for the 1978 season. Described as “the most sophisticated of its kind in the world,” the screen required a crew of six to operate.71 They were kept busy on June 26, 1978, when the Jays scored 24 runs against the Orioles, the most by one team in a major-league game since 1955.72 A smaller and more hastily thrown-together crew worked the bases during a Blue Jays afternoon game at the Ex on August 25, 1978, as Toronto coach Don Leppert, Minnesota Twins coach Jerry Zimmerman, and two local umpires served as fill-in arbiters during a one-day umpires’ strike.73

The Ex celebrated Canadian baseball in various ways. Beginning in 1978, Exhibition Stadium alternated with Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in hosting the Pearson Cup, a midseason exhibition game between the Blue Jays and Expos.74 The Ex briefly hosted a local college league, held induction ceremonies for the inaugural class of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and provided space for Canada’s national team to prepare before international tournaments.75

In February 1979, Toronto’s NASL Blizzard moved from Varsity Stadium into Exhibition Stadium, anticipating big crowds that never came. Fittingly, the Blizzard’s first home game was played in a snowstorm.76 Competing before stands that were rarely more than one-third full,77 the Blizzard qualified for the NASL playoffs every year they called the Ex home but 1981. That year, NASL’s championship, the Soccer Bowl, was held at Exhibition Stadium, but only those in attendance saw it live. Expecting few would tune in to a live soccer match, ABC didn’t broadcast the Chicago Sting’s win over the New York Cosmos until the next day.78 The Blizzard broke their 15-year lease and moved back to Varsity Stadium in 1984, happy to be leaving the Ex’s artificial surface behind.79

Rock concerts were considerably more successful filling Exhibition Stadium than was the beautiful game. The largest crowd ever at the Ex (71,000) came to see The Who in July 1980, with almost 20,000 watching from the playing field. Bruce Springsteen attracted 69,000 in 1985.80 Pink Floyd’s three-performance gig in September 1987 was the highest grossing engagement in the world that year ($2.85 million).81 Other legendary acts who packed the Ex include Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys, The Police, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, and Paul McCartney.82

As the Blue Jays struggled to become a winning franchise in the early 1980s, the Argonauts achieved some significant milestones at the Ex. Former Green Bay Packer Willie Wood became the first Black head coach in CFL history in the opening game of the 1980 season.83 Two years later, another former Packer, Forest Gregg, led the Argos to the 1982 Grey Cup, played before the largest football crowd in Ex history (54,741). Toronto lost to Warren Moon and the Edmonton Eskimos.84 During the 1983 NFL players’ strike, NBC selected a battle at Exhibition Stadium between Toronto and BC as the first CFL game broadcast in network history. The Argos won, on the way to their first Grey Cup crown in 31 years.85

The year 1983 was also a turning point in the Blue Jays’ fortunes. They won 89 games and saw attendance grow after dropping by almost 18 percent over the previous three years. The ability to finally sell beer at the ballpark helped. Ontario regulations barred the sale of alcohol at sporting events until suds sales were finally “allowed on an experimental basis” in July 1982, eliminating the stigma of Exhibition Stadium being the major leagues’ only dry ballpark.86

Someone who maybe could’ve used a cold one on August 4, 1983, was New York Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield, after his errant fifth-inning warmup toss struck and killed a seagull standing in the outfield. Fans booed Winfield as a ballboy covered the dead bird and then carried it off the field. After the game, Winfield was arrested for “causing unnecessary suffering of an animal.”87 Charges were dropped the next day.

Another future Hall of Famer had a run-in with police at the Ex three seasons earlier. On his way into the stadium on August 25, 1980, Texas Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, a celebrated Ontario native, was arrested after his luggage at Toronto International Airport was found to contain cocaine, hashish and marijuana.88 Found guilty of possession in an Ontario court, Jenkins avoided jail time.89

The Blue Jays’ 1984 season at the Ex got off to a cheeky start as a naked streaker bounded across the diamond during the home opener.90 That sparked a trend of sorts, with dozens of clothed fans storming the field during each of the next two home openers. Their antics during the 1986 lid-lifter prompted the Orioles’ Weaver to file a formal protest, claiming that repeated play-stoppages to clear the field were distracting his pitcher.91

The Earl of Baltimore’s many frustrations with the Ex extended to other AL managers. Red Sox skipper Ralph Houk so despised the artificial surface he said, “You don’t play baseball on it, you play (bleeping) streetball on it.”92 After a loss at the Ex, Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson called the ballpark a joke for how routine fly balls sometimes cleared the fences, but a later win had him marveling how every groundball was a hit and every fly ball a home run. “This might be the all-time ballpark,” Anderson raved. “Don’t ever make me leave here.”93

Exhibition Stadium justifiably carried the reputation of being a hitter’s ballpark. Single-year park factors were above 100 for runs scored from 1977–1984 and never fell below that threshold for triples.94 Many otherwise successful opposing pitchers found the ballpark uncomfortable. A year before winning  the 1978 AL Cy Young Award, Ron Guidry said it “looks like a telephone booth.”95 On the cusp of Toronto departing Exhibition Stadium, reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola, 2–9 lifetime at the Ex, joked, “I’ve got a bomb set in the bullpen for about 10 o’clock Sunday night. I’m going to help get rid of this place.”96 No major leaguer ever threw a no-hitter at the Ex, but five carried one into the ninth inning—Toronto hurlers Dave Stieb, Jim Clancy, and Jimmy Key, and visiting future Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan.97

In 1985, Toronto earned its first playoff berth, clinching the AL East Division title on the next-to-last day of the season with a win at home over the Yankees. The next day, knuckleballer Phil Niekro earned his 300th career win in an otherwise irrelevant contest.98 Toronto dropped the ensuing AL Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals, the only postseason series ever played at the Ex. The decisive blow in Game 7 was a bases-loaded, two-out fly ball hit to right by Royals catcher Jim Sundberg that an unfavorable wind carried to the top of the fence for a bases-clearing triple.99

The elements worked in Toronto’s favor on June 12, 1986, when a routine fly hit into an impenetrable fog by the Blue Jays’ Kelly Gruber landed 30 feet from Detroit center fielder Pat Sheridan, who never saw it. Minutes after Gruber circled the bases, umpires called the game.100 Three months later, Tom Seaver made the final appearance of his major-league career at the Ex, leaving a start for the Boston Red Sox after four innings with a pulled calf muscle. In April 1983, New York Mets icon-to-be Darryl Strawberry first tasted major-league ballpark success when he connected on a home run at the Ex in a Triple-A game shifted from snowy Syracuse.101

The 1987 season opened with the Blue Jays at home, facing the Cleveland Indians in the first major-league opener ever held outside of the United States.102 Three months later, Canada Day (July 1) brought out the largest crowd ever to attend a baseball game at Exhibition Stadium, 47,828 for a game with the Yankees. On September 14, 1987, the Blue Jays clubbed a major-league record 10 home runs off the Orioles in a home game. In the eighth inning, Baltimore manager Cal Ripken Sr. pulled his son Cal Jr. out of the game, ending Junior’s major-league record streak of 8,264 consecutive innings played.103

Long before Exhibition Stadium’s mid-1970s transformation, critics urged the city to abandon it for a domed stadium. In 1966, mayoral candidate William Archer called then-CNE Stadium a “hodge-podge” and suggested the city build a venue “similar to Houston’s Astrodome.”104 After the discomfiting spectacle of rain-soaked fans urinating in uncovered stands during the 1982 Grey Cup, city officials seriously pursued building a dome.105 Plans for a retractable dome were unveiled the following August, with a site selected in early 1985.106 Approved as part of a $2 billion development plan, SkyDome was completed in June 1989.107

The Argos were the first to abandon Exhibition Stadium for SkyDome. They played their last game at Ex Stadium on a rainy Sunday in November 1988, losing in the CFL Eastern Conference finals.108 The curtain came down on the Blue Jays’ stay at Exhibition Stadium on May 28, 1989. Fittingly facing the same team they debuted against, Toronto outlasted the White Sox on a 10th-inning walk-off home run by George Bell.109

The Ex Goes Quiet(ly) (1989-1999)

With baseball and football gone, Exhibition Stadium played host to sports old and new. In May 1990, the national cricket teams of Pakistan and India squared off and motor racing returned after a one-third-mile oval was re-installed.110 Over the next year, stock car, short-track midget, and motorcycle races brought crowds to the Ex, but noise complaints from the surrounding community prompted the Toronto city council to shutter the competitions.111 Race fans continued to pack Exhibition Stadium once a year for the Molson Indy (later Grand Prix of Toronto), held since 1986 on a 1.8-mile course that snaked around Exhibition Place (formerly Exhibition Park), with the start/finish line visible from inside the stadium.112

Toronto officials entertained proposals to build a new venue on the Exhibition Stadium site over the next few years, but nothing materialized. An arena “big enough to host the Toronto Maple Leafs [hockey team] or [an NBA] franchise” was proposed in 1991 but never built.113 The city committed to building an 80,000-seat facility in a bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Even though Atlanta was selected instead, Exhibition Stadium’s fate was sealed. 114

Shortly after demolition got underway in the fall of 1998, Labatt’s paid Toronto $50,000 to stop. Having suffered losses of about $100 million over the previous three years, the Blue Jays owner threatened to move the club back to the Ex if their SkyDome lease wasn’t restructured with more favorable terms.115 Ultimately a deal was struck and the wrecking ball unleashed. Before it was, thousands of Ex seats were sold to the public at $35 apiece, with the rest used to replace worn-out seating at other city arenas.116

Epilogue

Today, BMO Field, a purpose-built soccer facility, stands where Exhibition Stadium once did. In parking Lot 2, to the south of the stadium, four engraved plaques mark the locations where Exhibition Stadium’s bases once stood.117

 

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Kurt Blumenau and Abigail Miskowiec and fact-checked by Ray Danner.

Photo credits: Exhibition Stadium, City of Toronto Archives.

 

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted editor John Withrow’s Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex” (Toronto: J.H. Robinson Publishing, 1978), David Bain’s “Toronto’s Nineteenth-Century Exhibition Parks,” Ontario History, Spring 2022, and issues of the Toronto Star.

 

Notes

1 “Exhibition Stadium: New Name for Old Place,” Toronto Star, October 29, 1976: C1.

2 See, for example, Caroline Byrne, “Ex loves to shake up its visitors,” Toronto Star, August 29, 1989: A6 and Tom Slater, “Ex-Blue Jays miss Ex’s faithful fans but not weather,” Toronto Star, May 29, 1989: D4.

3 In August 1986, Wrestlemania attracted a crowd estimated at 65,000, described at the time as the largest “in the history of the sport (er, entertainment, er exhibition).” David Miller, Robert Brehl, and Peter Cheney, “Record 65,000 Holler for Hulk,” Toronto Star, August 29, 1986: A1.

4 Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, oversaw a patriotic pageant shortly after World War I from the third CNE grandstand. Princess Elizabeth and her husband Phillip attended ceremonies at CNE Stadium in October 1951 honoring Victoria Cross recipients. As monarch, Queen Elizabeth returned to celebrate Ontario’s Bicentenary in September 1984, two weeks after Pope John Paul II’s visit. Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex”, 60; Norman Kenyon, “Windsor Prepares Royal Welcome,” Detroit Free Press, October 14, 1951: 1; Kathy English, “Metro turns on for the Queen,” Toronto Star, September 30, 1984: 1. Jim Foster, “Pope calls for new moral order,” Toronto Star, September 15, 1984: 1. 

5 See, for example, “25,000 form living rosary at chilly CNE,” Toronto Star, October 4, 1965: 18.

6 See, for example, “Canadian Sports Parade,” Niagara Falls (Ontario) Review, June 26, 1951: 12; “Etobicoke girl to sing at Ex,” Toronto Star, August 18, 1981: WEST-17; and Lisa Wright, “Caribana island party ‘great’,” Toronto Star, August 5, 1991: A6.

7 CNE Stadium hosted a match between Manchester United and a team of English internationals in June 1950 that drew nearly 25,000, at the time the largest crowd to see a sporting event in Canada other than horse racing. A 1971 contest between teams from Greece and Yugoslavia descended into chaos when 250 fans stormed the field to join a fight on the pitch. In 1980, Canada’s national soccer team played Mexico to a tie in a World Cup qualifier held at the Ex. Bill Entwistle, “Toronto Clinches Claim to Title ats Continent’s Top Soccer Town,” Toronto Star, June 15, 1950: 18; Jim Kernaghan, “Soccer fans and players riot at CNE,” Toronto Star, July 10, 1971: 35; Garth Woolsey, “Mexicans avoid soccer upset tie Canada in dying seconds,” Toronto Star, October 19, 1980: C2.

8 See, for example, “Tattoo Sunday night,” Toronto Star, September 2, 1967: 78.

9 The Police Games, an annual festival first held in the 1880s to build relationships through sports between Toronto’s law enforcement personnel and the community they served, took place at CNE/Exhibition Stadium from the early 1950s through the 1980s. See, for example, Jim Foster, “To serve, protect, and pull like heck,” Toronto Star, July 25, 1986: A7.

10 The Miss Toronto beauty contest, a fixture of the Police Games (see previous endnote) from the 1930s until well into the 1980s, was held in front of the Exhibition Stadium grandstand for over three decades.

11 For one weekend each June between 1980 and 1988, off-road motorcycling took over the stadium with the help of 4,000 cubic yards of dirt. Supercross/motocross racing drew crowds of up to 45,000 to see races that were held rain or shine. “Exciting history of Toronto’s Supercross,” Toronto Star, April 29, 1993: S5.

12 In September 1980, Canadian athletes denied the opportunity to compete at the 1980 Moscow Olympics (after Canada pulled out in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan) paraded into the stadium behind the Canadian Olympic standard and while wearing official Canadian team uniforms. Stewart Brown, “CN Tower pierces last of the Olympic dreams,” Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, September 2, 1980: 57.

13 A short-lived world record for the most participants in a bingo game was set at the Ex in August 1983 when an estimated 18,000 competed for a shot at a $100,000 jackpot. Jim Foster and Matt Maychak, “Shy couple hits jackpot,” Toronto Star, August 20, 1983: 1.

14 “Exhibition Stadium Dead Last in Survey of Big League Ballparks,” Toronto Star, July 23, 1988: B1.

15 Paul Moloney, “Exhibition Stadium Facing Wrecking Crew,” Toronto Star, February 27, 1998: A1.

16 “Demand for a Dome,” This Is Where You Find Baseball, posted November 10, 2023, YouTube video, 32:27, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE3QmXZEGOc. This documentary originally aired on The History Channel in 1989.

17 The first Exhibition Park, located to the immediate north of its successor, hosted provincial agricultural/industrial exhibitions beginning in 1858. It became an unsuitable home for the ever-growing exhibitions after the city extended a local thoroughfare through it in 1876. David Bain, “Toronto’s Nineteenth-Century Exhibition Parks,” Ontario History, Spring 2022, 66-71.

18 John Withrow, ed., Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex” (Toronto: J.H. Robinson Publishing, 1978), 18; Bain, “Toronto’s Nineteenth-Century Exhibition Parks,” 74 and 76. Two days after the Exhibition opened, a grandstand reception was held for the governor general of Canada, the Marquis of Lorne, and his bride, Princess Louis Caroline Alberta. Both Withrow and Bain identify 1880 as when the grandstand was first used, so it may have still been under construction when the reception was held. “At the Exhibition,” Ottawa (Ontario) Citizen, September 6, 1879: 1.

19 “Incendiary Started Fire at Exhibition Grounds. This is the Opinion of Civic Officials,” Toronto Star, October 19, 1906: 1; John Doug Taylor, “Toronto’s CNE Grandstand and Baseball Stadium,” November 6, 2015, https://tayloronhistory.com/2015/11/06/torontos-cne-grandstand-and-baseball-stadium/.

20 “Incendiary Started Fire at Exhibition Grounds. This is the Opinion of Civic Officials.”

21 “Grandstand Itself Ablaze in ‘Fireworks’ at C.N.E,” Toronto Star, April 15, 1946: 23; “Toronto’s CNE Grandstand and Baseball Stadium.”

22 Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex”, 116.

23 Oldfield, the first driver to complete a mile on a circular track in a minute, completed six laps in 3:57.8, described by the Toronto Star as a world record for three miles on a half-mile track. Barney Oldfield Auto Race Star, Toronto Star, August 8, 1904: 5.

24 Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex”, 110. Six years earlier, Gaston’s brothers Louis and Arthur co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. A March 1915 stunt in which Law dropped a grapefruit into the glove of Brooklyn Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson from a plane flying over Daytona Beach, Florida, is credited by some with giving the Grapefruit League its name. Michael Clair, “Grapefruit League earned its name from a prank,” MLB.com, March 13, 2020, https://www.mlb.com/news/wilbert-robinson-caught-grapefruit-from-a-plane; Alex Semchuck, “Wilbert Robinson,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Wilbert-Robinson/

25 Racine (Wisconsin) Journal, September 12, 1903: 4.

26 “British Rugby Union of Ontario,” Toronto Star, April 10, 1931: 11.

27 “Grandstand Itself Ablaze in ‘Fireworks’ at C.N.E.” The author found no explanation for the fire’s origin ever published in Toronto newspapers.

28 “Toronto’s CNE Grandstand and Baseball Stadium.”; Jack Sullivan, “C.N.E. Stadium Has Many Followers Guessing,” Niagara Falls Review, May 26, 1949: 25.

29 “Save C.N.E. Grandstand,” Windsor (Ontario) Star, January 20, 1948: 13; “New C.N.E. Memorial Stand to Hold Audience of 50,000,” Kitchener (Ontario) Record, April 17, 1946: 15.

30 “C.N.E. Field Ready for Sport May 15,” Toronto Star, February 4, 1949: 14.

31 “C.N.E. Stadium,” Yesterday’s Speedways, https://www.yesterdaysspeedways.com/paved-ovals/inactive-paved-ovals/inactive-paved-ovals-a-b-c/c-n-e-stadium-toronto/, accessed September 28, 2024; John Macdonald, “CNE Gets $98,044 Rental from Stock Car Promoters,” Toronto Star, November 12, 1952: 18.

32 “Young Petty Drives,” Salisbury (Noth Carolina) Post, July 23, 1958: 10; Mike Hembree, “Why 21-Year-Old Richard Petty Started his NASCAR Cup Career in Canada,” Autoweek, December 10, 2022, https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a42177959/why-richard-petty-started-nascar-cup-career-canada/. Petty crashed out of the race after getting bumped by the eventual winner, his father, Lee Petty.

33 “A big win for trackmen,” Toronto Star, December 17, 1966: 32.

34 Rick Prashaw, “Ryun comes full circle with fine 3:52.8 mile,” Toronto Star, July 31, 1972: 10; Allan Ryan, “New York runner ends drought,” Toronto Star, July 30, 1973: 14.

35 “Cooke Offers $75,000 for Use of CNE Stadium,” St. Catharine’s (Ontario) Standard, November 29, 1957: 24.

36 Jack Laing, “First in Sports,” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 22, 1958: 15.

37 “Toronto Set to Accommodate Dodgers if Los Angeles Fails,” (Portland) Oregon Journal, May 27, 1958: 40; “Toronto Not for Dodgers,” Calgary Herald, June 10, 1958: 33.

38 “Argos to Open Grid Season in CNE Stadium,” Sault Sainte Marie (Ontario) Star, May 16, 1958: 10.

39 Wilf Gruson, “Move to CNE Stadium Big Break for Argos,” Hamilton Spectator, July 29, 1959: 24.

40 Jim Hunt, “Cards Tell Sad Grid Story,” Toronto Star, August 6, 1959: 16; Jack Koffman, “Dull Sunday in Toronto as Argos Whip Riders,” Ottawa Citizen, September 14, 1959: 13. Before that first Sunday game, against the Ottawa Rough Riders, the Argos had to convince local lawmakers to revise an ordinance that limited Sunday sporting events in metropolitan Toronto to soccer alone. Jim Hunt, “Argos Plan to Play Sundays,” Toronto Star, January 7, 1959: 18.

41 “Finishing Touches on CNE Stadium Make it Second Largest in Canada,” Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard, July 29, 1959: 11. Only Vancouver’s Empire Stadium had more permanent seating, about 34,000 seats.

42 Eric Whitehead, “Fervent fans hail conquering Lions,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Province, November 30, 1964: 17.

43 “Vanier Cup History,” U-Sports, https://en.usports.ca/sports/fball/history/vanier_cup_history, accessed October 19, 2024.

44 Gorde Hunter, “Fog Hides Cup Game from Capacity Crowd,” Calgary Herald, December 1, 1962: 1.

45 See Once Upon a Century: 100 Year History of the “Ex” for details on CNE grandstand shows, entertainment spectacles held on temporary stages place in front of the grandstand as part of the annual CNE.

46 Michael Best, “Metro approves $400,000 for turf at CNE stadium,” Toronto Star, November 17, 1971: 1; Al Sokol, “Artificial turf for the CNE helped bring 1973 Grey Cup,” Toronto Star, February 11, 1972: 13.

47 Pat Hickey, “Als stun Argos, Theismann breaks leg,” Montreal Star, August 4, 1972: C-1.

48 “Bassett on the move,” Alberni Valley (British Columbia) Times, May 7, 1974: 8.

49 Between 1953 and 1998, Metropolitan Toronto was a county-level governing entity with authority over Toronto and thirteen surrounding cities/communities. The chairman led the Metro Toronto Council, which was responsible for providing services and infrastructure in the region.

50 Daniel Stoffman, “Godfrey’s goal $10-$20 million to build stadium,” Toronto Star, December 3, 1973: 13; “CNE stadium to be upgraded,” Ottawa Citizen, February 27, 1974: 62; “Toronto stadium going up,” Windsor Star, November 20, 1974: 36.

51 At the rear of the addition, a three-story structure was included that housed the press box, 14 luxury boxes, the stadium club, and broadcast facilities. “Exhibition Stadium,” Ballparks.com, http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/Toronto/oldindex.htm, accessed September 30, 2024.

52 “CNE stadium to get new artificial turf,” Toronto Star, December 18, 1974: B1.

53 Bob Padecky, “Brenly brings a smile back to the ‘Stick,” Santa Rosa (California) Press Democrat, September 3, 1989: C1.

54 Bob Snyder, “Winter’s finally over – the Jays are back,” Syracuse Herald-Journal, April 17, 1985: D1.

55 At 160,000 square feet, the combined baseball/football playing surface was the second largest in North America when it was installed. Only the Louisiana Superdome, opened in 1975, eclipsed that figure. “Synthetic pastures,” Wasau (Wisconsin) Herald, September 22, 1985: 4B.

56 Sheldon Ocker, “Toronto’s big move just fine with Tribe,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, May 17, 1989: B6.

57 Ken Rosenthal, “Orioles fly home in a foul mood,” Baltimore Evening Sun, June 8, 1987: C1.

58 Neil MacCarl, “CNE Stadium: $17.8 million home for baseball,” Toronto Star, June 5, 1976: D1.

59 “Baseball Giants consider Toronto and Seattle offers,” Toronto Star, September 23, 1975: 29.

60 “If Toronto gets club … CNE Stadium should be ready for Giants,” Ottawa Citizen, January 30, 1976: 15.

61 Roger Williams, “Mini-Miracle Brings Offer, Court Help,” San Francisco Examiner, February 12, 1976: 45.

62 “Both major baseball leagues suddenly show an interest in Toronto,” Red Deer (Alberta) Advocate, March 22, 1976: 5; Milt Dunnell, “Play ball! Metro finally gets a big-league team,” Toronto Star, March 27, 1976: 1. Left unidentified in the vote announcement, the lone dissenter “was against expansion on principle, not against Toronto.” Days after the AL owners’ vote, National League owners bizarrely voted to also expand into Toronto. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn quickly quashed that conflict. “NL Still Hoping for Expansion to Toronto,” Suffolk (Virginia) News-Herald, March 30, 1976: 8.

63 Neil MacCarl, “Only 33,700 seats for CNE baseball,” Toronto Star, September 3, 1976: C4.

64 “Stadium expansion a costly, unwanted alternative,” Sault Sainte Marie Star, October 31, 1985: 10.

65 Al Sokol, “Argos will age fast at this rate,” Toronto Star, July 25, 1975: C1; “Riders, Eskimos, Argos help set records,” Montreal Star, November 5, 1975: C-3. A regular-season record 36,912 attended Toronto’s July 24, 1975, win over the Ottawa Rough Riders. The crowd of 40,474 that saw Toronto tame the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on November 4, topped the league attendance record set at the 1955 Grey Cup.

66 Al Sokol, “Tom Clements overrules coach,” Toronto Star, November 29, 1976: B1. That record fell the following year, when Montreal’s Olympic Stadium hosted its first Grey Cup.

67 “Exhibition Stadium: New Name for Old Place,” Toronto Star, October 29, 1976: C1.

68 “A Record Opener for Blue Jays,” Toronto Star, April 9, 1977: D2. Decades later, Dave McKay, Toronto’s third baseman that day and the team’s first Canadian ballplayer, swore it was the coldest day he ever played baseball in his life. Adrian Fung, “April 7, 1977: A snowy beginning for Toronto’s major-league debut,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-7-1977-a-snowy-beginning-for-torontos-major-league-debut/

69 “Toronto Fans snapping up Jays tickets,” Vancouver Province, January 13, 1977: 12. In 1993, the expansion Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins of the National League both eclipsed that mark, drawing 4.5 and 3.1 million fans, respectively in their inaugural seasons.

70 “Umpires forfeit game to Jays when Birds protest use of tarp,” Baltimore Sun, September 16, 1977: C1. In explaining his actions afterwards, Weaver said he was concerned for the safety of his left fielder, Andrés Mora, who had stumbled over a mound in that area the day before.

71 Jack McIver, ed., “A Sure Sign of Spring,” The City, inside the Toronto Star, March 26, 1978: 8.

72 “Blue Jays Rough Up Birds, 24-10!” Petoskey (Michigan) News-Review, June 27, 1978: 9. With his team down, 19–6, after four innings, Orioles manager Weaver inserted center fielder Larry Harlow to pitch the fifth. Blue Jays manager Roy Hartsfield officially protested the game, an objection that Toronto general manager Peter Bavasi withdrew when he learned the tactic was legal.

73 “Umps call pitch – now it’s a strike,” Reading (California) Record Searchlight, August 25, 1978: 17.

74 “Trophies – Pearson Cup,” Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, November 19, 2009, https://baseballhalloffame.ca/trophies-pearson-cup/. Each team went 3–3–1 in those years, with the Blue Jays twice taking the trophy at home, in 1984 and 1986.

75 Al Sokol, “Three colleges in baseball league,” Toronto Star, April 15, 1982: E11; “George recalls the good ol’ days,” Hamilton Spectator, August 4, 1983: 37; Mark Zwolinski, “Olympic ball team eyes medal,” Toronto Star, August 6, 1988: C4.

76 Marty Klinkenberg, “George was at his best,” Miami (Florida) News, April 9, 1979: 6C.

77 NASL Attendance tabulation, NASL Jerseys, https://www.nasljerseys.com/Stats/Attendance.htm, accessed September 28, 2024.

78 Garth Woolsey, “Sting wins the hard way,” Toronto Star, September 27, 1981: D1; Peter Kovacs, “Streamlined NASL opens season,” Orangeburg (South Carolina) Times and Democrat, April 8, 1982: 12

79 Jim Kernaghan, “Blizzard hits Metro do-or-die soccer bid,” Toronto Star, February 14, 1979: D1. Distaste for playing soccer on AstroTurf at the Ex lingered long after the Blizzard were gone. When international powerhouse AC Milan played an exhibition with Portugal’s Beneficia in 1991, both teams stopped playing before the end of regulation, labelling the turf “too dangerous for the millionaire players.”  “Soccer superteams shun ‘dangerous’ Exhibition Stadium,” North Bay (Ontario) Nugget, June 12, 1991: 15.

80 Both The Who and Springsteen concerts far exceeded the stadium’s official capacity. Determined to avoid a repeat of what happened before The Who’s scheduled concert in Cincinnati seven months earlier, in which 11 concert-goers were crushed to death during a scramble to enter the venue, Toronto officials sought a court injunction to keep ticket sales for The Who’s Toronto concert below the stadium’s official capacity. An investigation after the Springsteen concert uncovered that CNE staff had brazenly allowed the stadium’s capacity to be exceeded to impress The Boss. “Rules said violated at Who concert,” Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) Star-Phoenix, July 18, 1980: 2; Bill Schiller and Paula Todd, “CNE rejected safety rules to avoid losing Boss concerts,” Toronto Star, November 7, 1985: 1.

81 Steve Morse, “Pink Floyd: A top money-maker,” Boston Globe, December 25, 1987: 64.

82 See, for example, Peter Goddard, “60,000 fans jam stadium to see Bowie rock show,” Toronto Star, September 4, 1983: A2; Peter Goddard, “Jacksons beat cold for 55,000,” Toronto Star, October 6, 1984: 1; Peter Goddard, “Madonna prances for 50,000,” Toronto Star, July 5, 1987: A17; “Rolling Stones to tour 29 cities,” Brantford (Ontario) Expositor, July 12, 1989: C11; Peter Howell, “Hey Paul, get help; let it be,” Toronto Star, June 7, 1993: C1.

83 Rick Matsumoto, “Now that’s more like it, Argos,” Toronto Star, July 10, 1980: C1.

84 Rick Matsumoto, “Esks: Five and counting,” Toronto Star, November 29, 1982: B1. Two years earlier, Moon quarterbacked the Eskimos to a Grey Cup win at the Ex, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Garth Woolsey, “What a working day it was for Eskimos’ Tom Scott!” Toronto Star, November 24, 1980: C2.

85 Rick Winston, “Sack attack snuffs Argos,” Hamilton Spectator, September 27, 1982: 13.

86 “Ballpark beer sales get nod,” Niagara Falls Review, July 8, 1982: 1; Neil MacCarl, “Suds celebration as Jays rebound to win in 12th,” Toronto Star, July 31, 1982: D1.

87 Allan Ryan, “Yankee slugger charged in seagull slaying,” Toronto Star, August 5, 1983: 1.

88 Ironically, Jenkins had been honored with a Ferguson Jenkins Appreciation Day at Exhibition Stadium during the Rangers’ previous series in Toronto. Ferguson Jenkins, “Ontario is home to me,” Toronto Star, July 7, 1980: A7; “Fergy Jenkins Hit with Drug Charge,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 1980: III-2.

89 “Baseball,” Miami Herald, February 8, 1981: 2B. Suspended for several weeks after his arrest, Jenkins agreed with Commissioner Kuhn to donate time and money in support of anti-drug efforts following his trial.

90 Donn Esmonde, “Blue Jays Upstage Streaker with Run of Own in 8th,” Buffalo News, April 18, 1984: D1.

91 “Jays, police meet in effort to avert hooliganism at ball park,” Kingston Whig-Standard, April 16, 1986: 16; “Blue Jays seek police assistance,” York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, April 18, 1986: 21. Mike Boddicker was the pitcher Weaver claimed was affected.

92 “Blue Jays edge Red Sox to stay alive,” Biddeford (Maine) Journal Tribune, September 18, 1984: 14.

93 Vern Plagenhoef, “Blue Jays hit ‘routine fly ball,’ beat Tigers, Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle, September 5, 1983: C1.

94 “Exhibition Stadium: Park Factors (1-year),” Seamheads, https://www.seamheads.com/ballparks/ballpark.php?parkID=TOR01&tab=pf1, accessed October 2, 2024.

95 “Blue Jays lightweight gives Yankees a clout,” White Plains (New York) Reporter Dispatch, June 28, 1977: B9.

96 Tom Conaway, “Viola is glad to see last of Exhibition Stadium,” Kitchener-Waterloo Record, May 25, 1989: D1.

97 Stew Thornley, “No-Hitters Broken Up in the Ninth Inning Since 1961,” https://milkeespress.com/lostninth.html#ninth, accessed September 29, 2024. Key’s near no-hitter on June 6, 1985, was the first major-league game that 21-year-old prospect Fred McGriff saw in person. Andy Knobel, “Chiefs Fall, but 2 Hear Good News,” Syracuse Post-Standard, May 16, 1986: C1.

98 Niekro’s 8-0 win made him the oldest pitcher to throw a shutout (46 years, 188 days old), a record he held for 25 years. Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies broke his mark on May 7, 2010, when he shut out the Atlanta Braves at the age of 47 years, 170 days. “Oldest Pitcher to Record a Shutout,” Statmuse, https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/oldest-pitcher-to-record-a-shutout, accessed September 30, 2024.

99 Tom Slater, “Royals’ big sixth was really the killer,” Toronto Star, October 17, 1985: 1-BLUEJAY.

100 Allan Ryan, “Game called after seven – Key gets shutout win,” Toronto Star, June 13, 1986: B1.

101 Jack O’Connell, “Strawberry gets a little taste of the bigs,” Hackensack (New Jersey) Record, April 25, 1983: S-5. Two weeks later, Strawberry, the number one pick in the 1980 amateur draft, became the New York Mets’ everyday right fielder.

102 “It’s Day 1 for baseball,” Ottawa Citizen, April 6, 1987: 19. This was also the first tipoff game not held in Cincinnati in two decades.

103 Trent McCotter, “Ripken’s Record for Consecutive Innings Played,” Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2012, https://sabr.org/journal/article/ripkens-record-for-consecutive-innings-played/

104 “Astrodome proposed by Archer,” Toronto Star, November 15, 1966: 21.

105 Alan Christie, “Grey Cup loss may gain Godfrey a stadium dome,” Toronto Star, November 30, 1982: A6; Rick Matsumoto, “A dome on the range?” Toronto Star, February 18, 1983: B1.

106 Alan Christie, “Roll-up roof key feature in dome plan,” Toronto Star, August 4, 1983: 1; Rick Haliechuk, “Stadium will be perfect circle with seating for up to 62,000,” Toronto Star, January 18, 1985: A10.

107 Tom Kerr, “Dome deal approved by city council,” Toronto Star, March 18, 1986: 1.

108 Wayne Scanlan, “Bombers torpedo Argos,” Ottawa Citizen, November 21, 1988: B1. After the Argos moved their games to SkyDome, they continued to store equipment, maintain offices, and practice on and off at the Ex, until 1994.

109 Rosie DiManno, “Jays say goodbye to Ex after playing 966 games,” Toronto Star, May 29, 1989: A5.

110 Sam Laskaris, “Gavaskar and Company bowled over by Pakistan,” Toronto Star, May 15, 1989: D7.

111 Susan Reid, “Toronto pulls plug on CNE stock car racing,” Toronto Star, May 7, 1991: A6.

112 Jim Wilkes and William Clark, “Fans and foes all agree first Indy-type auto race was a roaring success,” Toronto Star, July 21, 1986: 1; “The king of Indy,” Toronto Star, July 17, 1995: 1; “Indy track hosts charity challenge,” Toronto Star, July 8, 1996: 14; Molson Indy 1986 Folio Brochure Press Notes, Glory Days Collectibles, https://glorydayscollectibles.com/products/1986-inaugural-molson-indy-toronto-folio-brochure-press-notes-vintage, accessed September 28, 2024.

113 Royson James, “Sports complex studied at CNE,” Toronto Star, December 11, 1991: 1.

114 “Toronto fails in bid to land Olympics,” Niagara Falls Review, September 18, 1990: 1. Toronto’s bid for the 1996 Olympics was one in a long line of unsuccessful attempts to lure major international sporting events to the city with the Exhibition Stadium site as the centerpiece, including the 1954 British Empire Games, the 1960 Olympic Games, and the 1978 British Commonwealth Games. An aborted bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics considered shortly before the Ex was razed also assumed the building of a new facility at that location. Richard Foot, “Toronto begins Olympic chase,” Brantford Expositor, February 25, 1998: 14.

115 Tony Van Alphen and Geoff Baker, “SkyDome pondered creditor protection,” Toronto Star, November 5, 1998: B4.

116 “People standing in line to buy empty Ex seats,” Toronto Star, September 23, 1998: B4.

117 Denise Marie, “Exhibition Stadium Baseball Diamond Plaques – Running the Bases,” Toronto Journey 416, August 8, 2023, https://www.torontojourney416.com/exhibition-stadium-baseball-plaques/