SkyDome

Overhead look at SkyDome, from CN Tower, Aug-1992.

A better look at the first working retractable roof, the scoreboard, and the hotel, Aug-1993.

The field and seating bowl, as seen from right field.

• Location: Between King Street and Gardiner Expressway, Toronto, Ont.
• Opened: 1989 as SkyDome
• Additional names: Rogers Centre (2005)
• Home team: Toronto Blue Jays, American League (1989-present)
• Capacity: 50,516

Chronological Tour: Stop 48

Rating: 3 baseballs

In 1989, a new stadium arose next to the CN Tower, and the Blue Jays took up residence in midseason. The stadium was the first with a new kind of retractable dome, one that could slide out and enclose the stadium from an origin in center field within about 20 minutes.

The park is known as much for its amenities as for its sightlines. Center field features the SkyDome Hotel, in which game spectators have often observed guests “in action”, as well as a Hard Rock Cafe. McDonald’s was also a supplier of concessions through 1999.

I’ve enjoyed SkyDome on my two trips to the park; both times, I’ve been lucky to experience the place with the dome wide open on a cool, brisk August afternoon. The park does lose points, though, for the busy center field as well as the artificial turf. The CFL’s Argonauts play here, as did the NBA’s Raptors for a few seasons until the Air Canada Centre opened three blocks away in 1999.

With Rogers Communications buying the Blue Jays in 2004, the club changed the name of the stadium to the Rogers Centre in February 2005. However, it is anticipated that most Torontonians will continue to refer to the park as SkyDome.