The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place.
Taylor Field, known in its latter years as Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field for sponsorship reasons, was an open-air stadium located in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the home field of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1936 until 2016, although a playing field existed at the site as early as 1910 and the team began playing there as early as 1921. Originally designed primarily to house baseball the stadium was converted to a football-only facility in 1966.
The Vancouver Whitecaps were a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1986, the team played its final year in the second tier of the United States soccer pyramid in the NASL Conference of the USSF Division 2 Professional League coached by Teitur Thordarson. The team played its home games at Swangard Stadium in nearby Burnaby, British Columbia. The team's colours were blue and white.
BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a crown corporation of the province.
Ivor Wynne Stadium was a Canadian football stadium located at the corner of Balsam and Beechwood avenues, two blocks west of Gage Avenue North in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The stadium was the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL from 1950 until it closed on October 27, 2012. The club's previous home was the Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association Grounds. The stadium was replaced by Tim Hortons Field, with a fixed capacity of 24,000, on the same property.
John Michael Landy was an Australian middle-distance runner and state governor. He was the second man to break the four-minute mile barrier in the mile run and held the world records for the 1500-metre run and the mile race. He was also the 26th Governor of Victoria from 2001 to 2006.
The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from 30 July to 7 August 1954. This was the fifth edition of the event that would eventually become known as the Commonwealth Games, the second post-war Games, the second Canadian Games after the inaugural event in Hamilton and the first event since the name change from British Empire Games took effect in 1952.
Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the athletic teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898; the current stadium was built in 2007 to replace the original permanent stadium built in 1911. Varsity Stadium is also a former home of the Toronto Argonauts, and has previously hosted the Grey Cup, the Vanier Cup, several matches of the 1976 Summer Olympics soccer tournament, and the final game of the North American Soccer League's 1984 Soccer Bowl series. It is located next to Varsity Arena.
Swangard Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Central Park in Burnaby, British Columbia. Primarily used for soccer, rugby, football, and athletics, the stadium also used to be home to the Simon Fraser Clan football team and the Vancouver Whitecaps while they were in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) and various US-based Division 2 leagues. It opened on April 26, 1969, and has a capacity of 5,288.
Paul McCallum is a former Canadian football punter and placekicker. He is a two-time Grey Cup champion, having won with the BC Lions in 2006 and 2011. He is also a six-time CFL West All-Star and a two-time CFL All-Star. He was also named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian in 2006 and won the CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams Award in 2011. McCallum had been a member of three different CFL franchises, one XFL team, an NFL Europa team, and a Scottish third division club. At the time of his retirement, McCallum was the oldest active player in the CFL, having played in 24 seasons over the course of his career.
There have been a wide variety of sports in Vancouver since the city was founded. Team sports such as ice hockey, lacrosse, and Canadian football have extensive history in the area, while the city's relatively mild climate and geographical location facilitate a wide variety of other sports and recreational activities.
The 70th Grey Cup, also known as the "Rain Bowl", was the 1982 Grey Cup Canadian Football League championship game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Edmonton Eskimos. The Eskimos, who were making their sixth consecutive appearance in the CFL championship game, defeated the Argonauts 32–16 on the Eskimos' way to their fifth straight Grey Cup. The game was played on Sunday, November 28, 1982, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
Thunderbird Stadium is an outdoor stadium on the University Endowment Lands in British Columbia, Canada. It is located west of Vancouver's city limits, and is primarily used for soccer and football by the UBC Thunderbirds. It seats 3,500 in the main grandstand, plus grass seating for about 5,000 people on the west side and ends of the stadium, and by using the surrounding grass embankment the facility can accommodate up to 12,000 spectators.
A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stresses multifunctionality over speciality. It is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports—Canadian football or American football and baseball—require radically different facilities. Football uses a rectangular field, while baseball is played on a diamond with a large outfield. Since Canadian football fields are larger than American ones, the design specifications for Canadian facilities are somewhat less demanding. The particular design to accommodate both is usually an oval, although some later designs use an octorad. While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, it also presents some challenges.
The 99th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the West Division champion BC Lions to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League in the 2011 season. The Lions defeated the Blue Bombers 34–23 and became the first team in CFL history to win the Grey Cup after starting the season with five straight losses. They also became the first team to win the championship game at home since the 1994 Lions did it in the 82nd Grey Cup, and were only the fourth team in the modern era to do so. This, a rematch of the 76th Grey Cup, was the second time that these two teams met for the championship.
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, 2009, and began play in 2011 as the 17th team to enter Major League Soccer while replacing the USSF Division 2 team of the same name in the city, making them a phoenix club and the third to carry the Whitecaps name. The club has been owned and managed by the same group since their USSF days.
This is a timeline of the history of Vancouver.
Empire Field was a temporary Canadian football and soccer stadium built at Hastings Park in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Located on the site of the former Empire Stadium, the 27,528 spectator venue was constructed while a new retractable roof was installed at BC Place in 2010 and 2011. Empire Field was home to the Canadian Football League's (CFL) BC Lions for the 2010 and part of the 2011 seasons, and for Major League Soccer's (MLS) Vancouver Whitecaps FC for part of their debut 2011 season.
The 2011 BC Lions season was the 54th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 58th overall. The Lions finished in first place in the West Division with an 11–7 record. The Lions won their sixth Grey Cup championship over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a score of 34–23. The Lions became the first team in league history to start a season 0–5 and finish in first place. They also became the first team to lose their first five regular season games and win the Grey Cup. The Lions were also the first team to win a Grey Cup championship in their home stadium since the 1994 BC Lions and were only the fourth team to win at home since the inception of the Canadian Football League in 1958. Because of their remarkable season, the Lions were named the Canadian Press Team of the Year for 2011, becoming only the second CFL team to win the award since 1983.
Con Jones Park was a sports facility located in East Vancouver that was mainly used for soccer. It opened in 1921, and was renamed Callister Park in 1942. After the demolition of the stadium in 1971, the area was redeveloped into a green space and retained the name Callister Park.
