History
Commonwealth Stadium was built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, held in Edmonton. In the early 1970s, a group of Edmonton sports enthusiasts organized a bid to host the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Initially, when Edmonton was chosen to host the games, thought was given to rebuild the existing Clarke Stadium to make it large enough to host the main track and field, and other sports events for the games. However, by late 1974, there was substantial agreement that a new larger stadium was the best option. In January 1975, the Edmonton City Council decided to build a new over 40,000-seat stadium adjacent to Clarke Stadium.
Despite considerable opposition from residents and community groups in the new stadium area, construction began on the new facility in March 1975. Construction of the new Commonwealth Stadium was a massive undertaking. 500,000 cubic yards of dirt was removed for the stadium infield, and this excavation work required 40 trucks, eight earth movers, backhoes, excavators, and other heavy equipment. Construction was completed in 1978, prior to the start of the Commonwealth Games on August 3, 1978. The stadium cost $20.9-million to build, and the original capacity was approximately 42,500. Commonwealth Stadium boasts one of the largest outdoor screens in the world. The Sony Jumbotron has a 16:9 aspect ratio and features full animation, split-screen, and slow-motion replay.
Read more about this topic: Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Universal history is the history of a few metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)