Стадион «Комонвелт» в Эдмонтоне: История и Настоящее

Multiuse stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
the facility in Kentucky also known as Commonwealth Stadium

Commonwealth Stadium is an open air, multipurpose stadium located in the McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 56,302, making it the largest open air stadium in Canada. Primarily used for Canadian football, it also hosts athletics, soccer, rugby union and concerts. Construction commenced in 1975 and the venue opened ahead of the 1978 Commonwealth Games (hence its name), replacing the adjacent Clarke Stadium as the home of the Edmonton Eskimos (the Elks' name until 2020). It received a major expansion ahead of the 1983 Summer Universiade, when it reached a capacity of 60,081. Its main tenants are the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and has hosted five Grey Cups, the CFL's championship game. The stadium had remained the only CFL venue with natural grass for a long time, until FieldTurf Duraspine Pro was installed in 2010. Soccer tournaments include nine FIFA World Cup qualification matches with the Canadian men's national soccer team, two versions of the invitational Canada Cup, the 1996 CONCACAF Men's Pre Olympic Tournament, the 2002 FIFA U 19 Women's World Championship and the 2007 FIFA U 20 World Cup, the 2014 FIFA U 20 Women's World Cup and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. FC Edmonton played its Canadian Championship matches at Commonwealth Stadium from 2011 to 2013. Other events at the stadium include the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, the 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup and three editions of the Churchill Cup.

Prior to Commonwealth Stadium, the main stadium in Edmonton was Clarke Stadium, which opened in 1939 and was built on a plot of land. Work on applying to host the 1978 Commonwealth Games started in the early 1970s. With both federal, provincial and city funding backing the bid, it called for a massive renovation of the city's various sporting venues. The original plans called for Clarke Stadium to be rebuilt and expanded to host the athletics events. By 1974 there was consensus that Clarke Stadium would not be sufficient and that an all new stadium should be built. Several locations and sizes were discussed, with Edmonton City Council in January 1975 landing on building a 40,000 seat venue next to Clarke Stadium. The venue was designed by Ragan, Bell, McManus Consultants. The city also decided to build additional new venues: Kinsmen Aquatic Centre and Argyll Velodrome. Part of the public support for the stadium came from it being built to also support being used by the Eskimos (the Elks' name until 2020). The plans were met with opposition from local residents. There were also discussions regarding the necessity of a $50,000 royal retirement room and the allocation of training and office space to the Eskimos. The largest discussion was related to whether the stadium needed a roof or dome. As the roof would cost $18.2 million, there was limited public support, and the stadium was built without one. The venue was built on the former site of the Rat Creek Dump and the Williamson Slaughter House. During excavation, remains from the dump were struck, resulting in archaeological surveys being carried out. Construction of the stadium was completed within budget and time. Unlike most other major stadiums in Canada, Commonwealth Stadium elected for a natural grass turf. The natural grass turf was replaced with FieldTurf Duraspine Pro in May 2010, making the Eskimos the last CFL team to switch to artificial turf (and made all fields in the CFL having artificial turf; this would last for six seasons), and the last team to play on grass until the Toronto Argonauts began playing at BMO Field for the 2016 season. The investment cost $2.6 million and was split evenly between the city and the Eskimos. The complex, named the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre and designed by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects and HIP Architects, also has an aquatic centre and a fitness centre. The complex was completed in February 2012. With the seating installed, the total investment in the venue exceeded $200 million. Before the start of the 2014 CFL season, the track surface was stripped off, thus giving the football end zones a squared off look; they were rounded off prior to this. On June 15, 2016, the Edmonton Eskimos announced a five year field naming rights partnership with The Brick to name the field "The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium" during CFL events. The Edmonton Elks will not sell upper bowl tickets at Commonwealth Stadium for the 2024 CFL season, reducing the stadium's capacity to 31,000 seats.

Commonwealth Stadium has a seating capacity of 56,302, in an all seater configuration. The stadium has two twin tier grandstands along each side, and single tier stands on the corners and ends. The sides feature 44,032 seats, with the remaining 12,386 in the corners and ends. The side seats are wide and have a cup holder, a feature lacking on the narrower end zone seats. The seating is laid out in a colorized mosaic pattern, with dark green at the bottom, yellow in the middle and lighter green at the top. In the sides there are 14,203 dark green seats, 19,019 yellow seats and 10,810 light green seats. In the corner and end zones there are 8,672 dark green and 3,713 yellow seats. The stadium has a Shaw Sports Turf Powerblade Elite 2.5S artificial turf system, installed in 2016 by GTR turf, which covers an area of It contains additional cushioning through the installation of an extra shock pad. Because of the running track, the corners of the end zones were partially cut. In 2014, the end zones were squared off. The track and field segment consists of a Sportflex Super X all weather running track manufactured by Mondo of Italy. The International Association of Athletics Federations has certified the stadium as a Class 1 venue, a certification only two other stadiums have in Canada: Moncton Stadium and Université de Sherbrooke Stadium. At Commonwealth Stadium complex is the Field House, an three storey training facility which includes a running track, a artificial turf training field, a fitness and weight room, locker rooms and a running track. It is part of the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre, which also includes a aquatics centre with a four lane lap pool, water slides and a recreational pool; of administrative offices; and a fitness centre. The building features a central lobby with each of the facilities in an annex. The centre has Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The stadium is served by Stadium station of the Edmonton Light Rail Transit Capital Line. During Elks games, the service frequency is increased. The City of Edmonton and the Elks cooperate on the Green & Go program, which provides free transit rides to the venue from six park and ride lots throughout Edmonton. Any holder of a pre purchased game ticket can travel free on the buses from these lots to Commonwealth Stadium. The program was initiated by the city to minimize parking and congestion in the stadium's neighbourhood. Game tickets are also valid fare on the LRT service from two hours prior to games to two hours after games. The city bans on street parking in the vicinity of the stadium during games, excepting cars with residential permits.

Concerts held at Commonwealth Stadium include Pink Floyd, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Tim McGraw, Genesis, the Rolling Stones, the Police, Fiction Plane, AC/DC, Metallica, U2, Kenny Chesney, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Lilith Fair, Mötley Crüe, Edgefest and One Direction. DateArtist(s)Opening act(s)TourTickets soldRevenueAdditional notes August 7, 1983 David Bowie Peter GabrielThe Tubes Serious Moonlight Tour — — August 17, 1987 David Bowie Duran DuranThe Georgia SatellitesThe Northern Pikes Glass Spider Tour — — June 12, 1992 Genesis — We Can't Dance Tour — — June 28, 1994 Pink Floyd — The Division Bell Tour 57,701 / 57,701 $1,834,004 October 4, 1994 The Rolling Stones Colin James Voodoo Lounge Tour 121,604 / 121,604 $4,327,764 October 5, 1994 June 14, 1997 U2 Fun Lovin' Criminals PopMart Tour 90,000 / 90,000 $3,493,456 June 15, 1997 October 2, 1997 The Rolling Stones Blues Traveler Bridges to Babylon Tour 44,036 / 44,036 $2,033,971 August 18, 1998 Backstreet Boys Aaron Carter Backstreet's Back Tour — — June 2, 2007 The Police SloanFiction Plane The Police Reunion Tour 29,592 / 29,592 $3,216,118 July 9, 2009 Taylor SwiftKenny Chesney GlorianaKelly PicklerLady AntebellumMiranda Lambert Fearless TourSun City Carnival Tour 33,910 / 44,500 $2,540,906 This concert was part of Commonwealth Country. August 26, 2009 AC/DC The Answer Black Ice World Tour 55,838 / 55,838 $4,764,061 July 15, 2010 Bon Jovi Kid Rock The Circle Tour 40,451 / 40,451 $2,811,477 June 1, 2011 U2 The Fray U2 360° Tour 66,835 / 66,835 $6,498,291 July 21, 2015 One Direction Icona Pop On the Road Again Tour 40,989 / 40,989 $3,188,215 September 20, 2015 AC/DC Vintage Trouble Rock or Bust World Tour 55,000 / 55,000 — May 20, 2016 Beyoncé — The Formation World Tour 39,299 / 39,299 $3,723,830 This concert was performed in cold and rainy conditions. August 16, 2017 Metallica Avenged SevenfoldGojira WorldWired Tour — — August 30, 2017 Guns N' Roses Our Lady Peace Not in This Lifetime Tour 44,393 / 46,656 $4,780,270 The band covered "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown. June 24, 2022 Garth Brooks Mitch Rossell The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour 130,000/130,000 $9,387,811 June 25, 2022September 4, 2022Mötley CrüeThe Stadium Tour46,077 / 46,077$4,845,322June 3, 2023Luke CombsRiley GreenLainey WilsonLuke Combs World TourAugust 23, 2024MetallicaPanteraMammoth WVHM72 World TourAugust 25, 2024Five Finger Death PunchIce Nine Kills August 31, 2024 Pink Sheryl CrowKidCutUpThe Script P!NK: Summer Carnival

The 2003 Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22 between the National Hockey League (NHL) sides Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. The first regular season NHL game to be played outdoors, it saw the Canadiens win 4–3 in front of a crowd of 57,167, despite temperatures of close to −18 °C, −30 °C (−22 °F) with wind chill. It was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Oilers joining the NHL in 1979 and the 20th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup win in 1984. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television broadcast drew 2.747 million viewers in Canada, the second highest audience for a regular season NHL game. where the Oilers won 5–2.

Commonwealth Stadium has been used to host Churchill Cup matches. The 2004 edition had the first round played in Calgary and the second round played at Commonwealth Stadium. The 2005 edition saw all matches being played in Edmonton, with the final drawing a crowd of 17,000. In the 2006 edition the three finals were played at Commonwealth Stadium. The 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup was hosted in Edmonton and its suburb, St. Albert. Most of the Edmonton games were played at Ellerslie Rugby Park, but the final, third place match and fifth place match were all played at Commonwealth Stadium. On June 9, 2018, the Canadian Men's National team played host to Scotland, world number 6 at the time, in a test match at Commonwealth Stadium. Scotland came away with a 48–10 victory over Canada in front of a crowd of 12,824 at Commonwealth Stadium.

In 1980, the venue hosted a Billy Graham event during his Northern Canada Crusade. In 1983, the Edmonton Trappers Triple A baseball team defeated the California Angels of Major League Baseball in an exhibition baseball game witnessed by a crowd of 24,830. On 26 July 2022, Pope Francis led an open air Mass in front of an attendance of nearly 50,000 people as part of his first visit to Canada. On 30 July 2022, Monster Jam made its only appearance at the stadium.