McMahon Stadium – stadium description

Construction of one of Canada’s biggest stadiums took just 100 days back in 1960. After this short period 22,000 places were made available on both sides of the football field. Initial cost was a fairly modest one, just over C$ 1 million. Nearly a third of that amount was funded by McMahon brothers who to this day are mentioned in the name.

Capacity varied over the years, reaching peak at 38,205 in 1988. This number remained unchanged for years until the revamps of 2001 and 2005, when some regular seating was converted into fewer business seats, reducing the total capacity slightly. When needed, temporary stands are being added on both ends, raising the capacity to over 42,000.

The building is owned by University of Calgary, whose team Dinos is also one of two key tenants. The other is CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, multiple champions of Canada. Both franchises play here since opening, while in 1967 they were joined by Canadian Junior Football League side Colts.

Aside from club football the stadium hosted a wide array of other notable events. These include concerts (like Aerosmith or ZZ Top), opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Olympics, NHL exhibition game in 2011, domestic finals and all-star games.