page_title: Exhibition Stadium
section_title: Expansion for CFL football
hierarchical_section_title: Exhibition Stadium / History / Expansion for CFL football
caption_attribution_description: English: Toronto Argonauts vs Hamilton Ti-Cats at Exhibition Stadium Fall of 1971
context_page_description: Canadian National Exhibition Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium that formerly stood on the Exhibition Place grounds, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally built for Canadian National Exhibition events, the stadium served as the home of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, from 1959–1988, the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball from 1977–1989, and the Toronto Blizzard of the North American Soccer League from 1979–1983. The stadium hosted the Grey Cup game 12 times over a 24-year period.
  In 1999, the stadium was demolished and the site was used for parking until 2006. BMO Field was built on the site in 2007 roughly where the northern end of the covered grandstand once stood.
  The grandstand was used extensively throughout the summer months for hosting concerts.
context_section_description: 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. In this form the stadium seated 33,150.
  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 a NFL team played in Toronto. 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." 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. Two months later, contracts totaling 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.
caption: 1959 south side expansion seen during 1971 Argonauts game
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2020:08:06 12:16:13", "Image ExifOffset": "2242", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4516", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10322", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "1971:09:12 12:19:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "1971:09:12 12:19:17", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}