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The Rogers Centre (until recently called SkyDome), which opened on June 1, 1989, is a huge ballpark in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario. There is significant public opposition to renaming SkyDome to Rogers Centre. It is the stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball and the Toronto Argonauts play Canadian football. It is also the home of many special events that require very large venues, including what is believed (in 2003) to be the world's largest book reading, by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, on 24th October 2000. It was one of the first stadiums in the world to have a fully retractable motorized roof. It can seat 53,506 people at a football game. The Rogers Centre also has a hotel.
The Rogers Centre was designed by Rod Robbie and Michael Allan and was constructed by Ellis-Don Construction of Toronto. The stadium's construction lasted just over three years, from April 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was $600 million (Cdn) which was paid for by the Canadian federal government, Ontario provincial government, and a large consortium of corporations. Though nominally a multi-purpose stadium the primary impetus for its construction was the need for a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays, who until 1989 played in the wholly inadequate Exhibition Stadium.
The Rogers Centre was the first major team sports arena in North America to sport a fully retractable roof. It is also well known for its enormous Jumbotron scoreboard, at 10 by 35 metres the largest scoreboard in the world. It is the tallest and most massive stadium used by any Major League Baseball team.
In the early 1990s the consortium of companies that had built the stadium had amassed a huge debt and a massive, and controversial, government bail-out was given them. However, by 2004, Rogers Communications, parent company of the Blue Jays, agreed to acquire SkyDome from Sportco International, LP for about $25 million CAD (about $21.24 million USD) which was 1/24 the cost of construction.
On February 2, 2005 Ted Rogers, President and CEO of Rogers Communications, which owns the Blue Jays, announced that his company will significantly increase the Blue Jays team payroll to the tune of $210 million over the next three seasons, starting in 2005 and annouced a three year corporate contract to change the name on SkyDome to the Rogers Centre.
The Toronto Blue Jays announced as part of the Rogers Centre, they will erect a new state of the art, integrated scoring and display system replacing the Jumbotron. The Rogers Centre features a new artificial playing surface starting in the 2005 season called FieldTurf.
Usage note: Torontonians typically do not say the SkyDome; correct usage is SkyDome, without an article. This usage has been more or less accepted outside of Toronto, especially by ESPN.
See also: List of Major League Baseball stadiums
More images of the Rogers Centre
The Rogers Centre is visible at left in these photos. - Toronto Skyline during the day
- Toronto Skyline at night
External link Rogers Centre - World's Greatest Entertainment Centre (http://www.rogerscentre.com/)
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