Victoria Highlanders - Stadiums

Stadiums

• Bear Mountain Stadium; Langford, British Columbia (2009–2011)
• Royal Athletic Park; Victoria, British Columbia (2011-current)

The Highlanders when first announced were to begin playing in a 4500 seat stadium; however, the West Shore Parks and Recreation stadium proposal at the Juan de Fuca velodrome in Colwood did not proceed, and the stadium in Langford was down-sized to the minimum acceptable size of 1600 seats, 1200 of which are permanent. It has dressing rooms, concessions, luxury boxes, and the playing surface is field turf. Capacity concerns regarding dressing rooms, field space, mid-field seating capacity, and training time conflicts for the four Highlander teams with the Victoria Rebels Football Club of the Canadian Junior Football League and other tenants resulted in the move downtown to Royal Athletic Park in 2011. The primary concern reported in the media was lack of seating capacity.

In November 2011 the City of Victoria announced it had accepted a bid from a Vancouver businessman to establish a West Coast League baseball team to become the sole anchor tenant of Royal Athletic Park (RAP) with a permanent outfield fence. Baseball teams of higher level leagues have used RAP in the past with a movable outfield fence. Public pressure during the municipal election resulted in the facility remaining multisport. Soccer has been played at Royal Athletic Park for over a century. As a secondary tenant, the Victoria Highlanders 2013 schedule was front loaded with all but one home game played before the baseball season's third game. The Highlanders reserves and Highlanders Women 1st team home games were moved from RAP to Hampton Park and Tyndall Park respectively.