Empire Field

Empire Field
BC Lions season opener against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 10, 2010
Map
LocationHastings Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates49°16′57.5″N 123°1′59.6″W / 49.282639°N 123.033222°W / 49.282639; -123.033222
OwnerBC Pavilion Corporation
OperatorPacific National Exhibition
Executive suites12
Capacity27,528
Record attendance27,528
SurfaceFieldTurf
Construction
Broke groundMarch 2010
OpenedJune 15, 2010
DemolishedNovember–December 2011
Construction cost$14.4 million
General contractorNussli Group
Tenants
BC Lions (CFL) (2010–2011)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (MLS) (2011)

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 to allow a new retractable roof to be 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 venue was constructed by Nussli Group in three months, cost $14.4 million and opened on June 15, 2010. The venue featured 20,500 roofed bucket seats—with the remaining 7,000 being benches—12 luxury suites, a press room, flood lighting and a FieldTurf artificial turf. The venue's record attendance are two sell-out matches: for the Lions it occurred in inaugural 2010 regular-season match against the Saskatchewan Roughriders; for the Whitecaps, it was a regular-season match against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Dismantling took place in November and December 2011 and the site is now used as a community playing field.