Rogers Centre, Multi-purpose sports venue in Downtown Toronto, Canada
Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose sports venue in downtown Toronto with a retractable roof that opens or closes in about 20 minutes. The structure forms an oval bowl with seating tiers surrounding a central playing field, while the roof mechanism allows natural light to flood the interior when open.
The stadium was designed by architect Rod Robbie and engineer Michael Allen, built by EllisDon and Dominion Bridge from October 1986 to May 1989 on the former Railway Lands. It opened as SkyDome on 5 June 1989, when the Blue Jays lost 5–3 to Milwaukee before a full house. The final cost reached about C$570 million, funded by federal, provincial and city governments plus a corporate consortium. Rogers Communications bought it in 2004 for C$25 million and renamed it in February 2005.
The name SkyDome was chosen through a public naming contest before the 1989 opening, and many Torontonians still use it despite the 2005 rename to Rogers Centre. A ship's horn sounds when a Blue Jays player hits a home run. The stadium's mascot in the SkyDome years was a turtle named Domer.
The entrance sits a short walk from Union Station, making it easy to arrive by subway or commuter train. Seating holds around 49,000 people for baseball games, while concerts and other events use a flexible layout that adjusts to different crowd sizes.
A hotel sits inside the structure with guest rooms overlooking the playing field through windows. Some of these rooms allow hotel guests to watch games or concerts from their beds without leaving the building.
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