Autostade The Autostade ( the English name Automotive Stadium was rarely used ) was a Canadian football stadium in the Victoriatown neighbourhood of Montreal , Quebec that stood at the north - west corner of the Cité du Havre sector of the Expo 67 site . It was the home of the Montreal Alouettes from 1968 – 1976 , except for a brief period in 1972 when the team returned to its previous home , Molson Stadium . Design and financing . The Autostade was built in preparation for the 1967 World ' s Fair , Expo 67 as a venue for several events including the World Music Festival and the Rodeo Show . It was designed by architects Victor Prus and Maurice Desnoyers . With a seating capacity of 33 , 172 , the stadium is best remembered for its odd shape : to allow the stadium to be dismantled and re - erected on a new site if required , the architects employed a segmental structural system comprising 19 independent but linked pre - cast concrete grandstands , each 40 seats wide , arranged around the central field . The stadium was financed by donations from the five major auto manufacturers in Canada at the time : American Motors , Chrysler , Ford , General Motors , and Volvo . History . It was originally planned that Montreal ' s new baseball team , the Montreal Expos , would play home games at the Autostade . However , the city was unwilling to pay the cost of adding a dome , thought to be a must because of Montreal ' s often bitterly cold springs and falls . Instead , the Expos opted to use Jarry Park , and the new stadium was configured for CFL football use . The first CFL game played at the Autostade was the 1966 Eastern final between the Ottawa Rough Riders and Hamilton Tiger - Cats , held on November 19 . The Rough Riders would have hosted the game , but Lansdowne Park was undergoing extensive renovations at the time . Ottawa won the game 42 - 16 . This game also marked the first use of the single - shaft " goose - necked " field goal posts in the CFL . Following its use in Expo 67 , the gaps between the sections were filled in as preparation for the Alouettes ' 1968 season . However , the stadium was considered by many to be located too far from downtown ( a complaint that would be echoed years later regarding Olympic Stadium ) as well as too cold due to its proximity to the Saint Lawrence River . As a result , crowds declined rapidly . Despite this , those fans that did attend remember the stadium as having an intimate atmosphere well suited to CFL football . The only Grey Cup contest at the Autostade was played on November 30 , 1969 , between the Rough Riders and Saskatchewan Roughriders . Due to fears about FLQ terrorist activities , the CFL had 300 police officers in full riot gear on standby just in case anything got out of hand . Fortunately , there were no incidents . Ottawa ' s Russ Jackson and Frank Clair ended their Hall of Fame careers with a 29 - 11 win over Saskatchewan . This game was featured in the 1969 movie " Deux femmes en or " and is chronicled in TSN ' s 2012 documentary series of films " Engraved on a Nation " . Crowds remained small for the next two seasons . The 1971 CFL All Star Game attracted little attention , and the Alouettes ownership decided to return to Molson Stadium in 1972 , hoping to draw larger crowds . The plan backfired , with overall attendance dropping by 60 , 000 from the previous season , and the team returned to the Autostade the following year . The stadium fell into disuse after the Alouettes moved to Olympic Stadium following the 1976 Summer Olympics . Although the venue was used for concerts and various other events for a few years , it was demolished in the late 1970s . In May 2005 , the Montreal Impact soccer club had announced that they would be building a new stadium near the former location of the Autostade . The Impact have since changed their plans , and broke ground on a new stadium in the Olympic Park in the spring of 2007 .