page_title: Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Olympic Stadium (Montreal) / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: The Montreal Olympic Stadium as seen by night, from the back. Made of 4 different exposition settings (0.5, 5, 10, 15). Edited version (perspective correction) of Image:Le_Stade_Olympique_de_Montréal_Nuit_Arriere.jpg Français&#160;: Le Stade Olympique de Montréal vu de derrière, la nuit. Image produite à partir de quatre clichés d'expositions différentes (0,5; 5; 10; 15). Version numériquement retouchée (correctionde perspective) de Image:Le_Stade_Olympique_de_Montréal_Nuit_Arriere.jpg
context_page_description: Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Montreal, Canada, located at Olympic Park in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of the city. Built in the mid-1970s as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics, it is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the doughnut-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof. The tower standing next to the stadium, The Montreal Tower, is the tallest inclined tower in the world with an angle elevation of 45 degrees. It is also called "The Big Owe" to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.
  The stadium is the largest by seating capacity in Canada. After the Olympics, artificial turf was installed and it became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and football teams. The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL returned to their previous home of Molson Stadium in 1998 for regular season games, but continued to use Olympic Stadium for playoff and Grey Cup games until 2014 when they returned to Molson Stadium for all of their games. Following the 2004 baseball season, the Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., to become the Washington Nationals.
context_section_description: The stadium was originally slated to be finished in 1972, but the grand opening was cancelled due to a strike by construction workers. The Conseil des métiers de la construction union headed by André "Dédé" Desjardins kept the construction site in "anarchic disorder" until the Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa bought him off in a secret deal. In his 2000 book Notre Cher Stade Olympique, Taillibert wrote "If the Olympic Games took place, it was thanks to Dédé Desjardins. What irony!" Further delays ensued due to the stadium's unusual design and Taillibert's unwillingness to back down from his original vision of the stadium even in the face of escalating costs for raw materials.  It did not help that the original project manager, Trudeau et Associés, seemed to be incapable of handling some of the most basic construction tasks. The Quebec provincial government finally lost patience with the delays and cost overruns in 1974, and threw Taillibert off the project.
  Additionally, the project was plagued by circumstances beyond anyone's control. Work slowed to a snail's pace for a third of the year due to Montreal's typically brutal winters. As a result, the stadium and tower remained unfinished at the opening of the 1976 Olympic Games.
  The roof materials languished in a warehouse in Marseille until 1982, and the tower and roof were not completed until 1987. It would be another year before the 66-tonne, 5,500 m² (59,000 sq ft) Kevlar roof (designed and built by Lavalin) could retract. Even then, it could not be used in winds above 40 km/h (25 mph). Ultimately, it was only opened and closed 88 times.
caption: Back view at night
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