Empire Stadium was a multipurpose stadium that formerly stood at the Pacific National Exhibition site at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. Track and field and Canadian football, as well as soccer and musical events, were held in the stadium. The stadium was originally constructed for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. The stadium, which sat 32,375, was Vancouver's venue for both Elvis Presley and The Beatles. It saw most of its use as the home of the B.C. Lions of the CFL from 1954-1982, in which the venue also played host to the first Grey Cup game held west of Ontario in 1955. Empire Stadium also hosted the Grey Cup game in 1958, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1971, and 1974; seven times in total. Telstra Stadium in Sydney, Australia is capable of being converted from a rectangular football field to an oval for cricket games A modern stadium (plural stadiums or stadia in English) is a place, or venue, for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts or other events, consisting of a field or stage partly... The Pacific National Exhibition is an annual two-week summer fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ... Hastings Park is located in the northeast sector of Vancouver in a neighbourhood called Hastings-Sunrise. ... This article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. ... Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sport events. ... Canadian football is a sport in which two teams of twelve players each compete for territorial control of a field of play 110 yards (100. ... Football is a ball game played between two teams of eleven players, each attempting to win by scoring more goals than their opponent. ... Countries which participated The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ... Elvis redirects here. ... The Beatles were an English pop and rock music group from Liverpool, who continue to be held in the very highest regard for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, and their ground-breaking role in the history of popular music. ... The British Columbia Lions are a Canadian Football League team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. ... The Canadian Football League (CFL), also known by its French name, Ligue canadienne de football (LCF), is a professional league located entirely in Canada that plays Canadian football. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Then Prime Minister Joe Clark presents the 1979 Grey Cup to victorious Edmonton Eskimos Danny Kepley and Tom Wilkinson. ...

The stadium was also home to the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League during the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as the Vancouver Royals of the same league for their only year of play in 1968. The Whitecaps (officially Whitecaps F.C.) are a Canadian professional soccer team, which currently plays in the USL First Division (formerly the A-League) of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), the largest system of national soccer leagues in North America. ... NASL logo North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional American (with a few teams in Canada) soccer league that operated from 1968 to 1984. ... The Vancouver Royals were a soccer team based out of Vancouver that played in the NASL. They played only one year, 1968. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Both the Lions and Whitecaps moved to BC Place Stadium for the 1983 season. The stadium was demolished shortly afterwards. The site served as a parking lot for the neighbouring Pacific National Exhibition as well as Playland for many years before being converted to a soccer field and track on the site of the old field. BC Place Stadium is Canadas first domed stadium. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Playland in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is located at Hastings Park. ...

The Miracle Mile

Vancouver hosted the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 at Empire Stadium. The most famous event of the games was the One Mile Race in which both John Landy and Roger Bannister ran the distance in under four minutes. See four-minute mile for a historical perspective on this accomplishment. The race's end is memorialized in a statue of the two (with Landy glancing over his shoulder, thus losing the race), that stood outside the stadium until its demolition. The statue now stands near the site of the former stadium. Countries which participated The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Michael Landy AC MBE, (born April 12, 1930) is a former track athlete and the 26th Governor of Victoria, Australia. ... Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CBE (born March 23, 1929) is a British former athlete best known as the first man to run the mile in less than four minutes. ... The four minute mile, in athletics, is the running of a mile (1609 metres) in under four minutes. ...

External links

• Empire Stadium