Olympic Stadium

[mets16]

Haven't seen a thread here from inside. I have been to a few games there (pre digital camera days) but i went to Montreal last March and took a tour of a now empty place

Outside


From RF


Seat view


Scoreboard


Actual Turf


Sorry for the grainy pics, but it was 1. in the dark 2. taken with a bad camera.

[Gary Dunaier]

Are people just allowed to walk in off the street, or do they have formal organized tours?

[StadiumPage]

I went there in 1998 and they had "Olympic Complex" tours. They probably still do.

I took the tour, it wasn't that good except for the ride up the tower.

[Chevy114]

I always thought it was cool for the time it was made! But man did they have so many problems with that roof, I wish they would have gotten that thing to work permantly, it was cool!

[efin98]

I went there in 1998 and they had "Olympic Complex" tours. They probably still do.

I took the tour, it wasn't that good except for the ride up the tower.

They are still holding the tours, pretty cheaply too

[JT7]

Do they still have some Expos signage or have they taken that down? Any references to the stadiums baseball past?

[mets16]

Do they still have some Expos signage or have they taken that down? Any references to the stadiums baseball past?

Yes there was a ad on the scoreboard for labaat bleu with a ball and an Expos logo on it

[Takeover82]

I loved the expos ...I have seen my first live mlb game in that stadium. Good old days

[Brad MCdonald]

I was in Montreal on business in April of 2002, and myself and two coworkers were able to get to the Big "Owe" (as we Canadian taxpayers called it).The games was vs the Cardinals , about 6,500 in attendance( most seemed to be Red Bird fans from Vermont). Not great sightlines due to the slope of the lower bowl, but the BEST hot dog I ever had at at ballpark was at Olympic Stadium.They steamed the hot dog, with a whole wheat bun.Man that was good! It was fun taking the Metro(Subway) which dropped us off in a station just under the Stadium, up the escalator and there you were. Growing up an Expos Fan as a child, I had mixed feelings at the game..part of me thrilled to be there, part of me sad because of the "Death Watch" hanging over the team at the time.

[Greg B.]

Olympic Stadium was simply cursed from day one. It was built in a rush in order to be ready for the '76 Olympics and never seemed to ever be quite finished. For years the tower remained unfinished and there was scaffolding beyond the wall in center field. The roof wasn't installed until many years later when the tower finally got completed -- I seem to recall that the roof material was stored in a warehouse in Marseilles, France for many years waiting for the tower structure to be done. Then when it was installed it only worked in retractable mode for a short time before problems cropped up and it was eventually replaced with a fixed fabric roof.

The baseball field was originally installed with pieces of the Olympic running track remaining exposed around the edges, looking ridiculous. Whatever they used (Astroturf?) deteriorated and after a few years the field was covered with seams and patches and looked horrible before they finally got around to replacing the turf. There were several instances of large pieces of the structure falling off the buildng (fortuntately not injuring anyone), the roof leaked and ripped, a large fire in the tower did significant damage, and even a reno in the early 90s that took out a bunch of outfield seats and generally spruced up the place couldn't hide the problems.

Now I understand that even a demolition is going to be hugely expensive because of the involvement of the stadium into Montreal's subway system. It is perhaps the biggest mistake ever in terms of stadium construction.

[jC...]

Does anyone have any pics of the Expos playing with the roof off? I know it didn't have the roof until 1988. And I think one season in 1998.

[LetsGoMets687]

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[LetsGoMets687]