TD Place Stadium

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 20th of July 2008, at exactly 8:03 in the morning, controlled charges fired beneath the south-side lower stands of TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. The concrete grandstand, cracked and condemned, collapsed in seconds. How this ground survived a near-total demolition threat in the late 1990s, and what it took to rebuild it after 2008, is a story that begins with a clearing in the 1870s.

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• 2. A Century of Stands

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  The playing field was first cleared in the 1870s as part of the Ottawa Exposition Grounds. It served equestrian events, lacrosse, and rugby football before any permanent structure appeared.

  A mostly wooden grandstand, the first permanent structure at the venue, was built on the north side of the playing field in 1908. That structure stood for nearly sixty years before being demolished in 1967 to make way for a new set of steel-framed north stands. Engineers built an integrated ice hockey arena beneath those new stands, a facility that became known as the Ottawa Civic Centre.

  On the south side, a small grandstand went up in the 1920s. It was replaced in 1960 by a single-deck concrete stand. During the 1970s, a second tier and a partial roof were added to the south-side structure. This roughly doubled the total seating capacity to over 30,000.

  The grass playing surface that had been in place since 1908 was replaced by Astroturf in 1984. That synthetic surface lasted through the 2000 season.

  In 1993, the stadium was renamed to honour Frank Clair. Clair had coached and managed the Ottawa Rough Riders during the 1960s and 1970s. The venue had been known as Lansdowne Park, after the surrounding fairgrounds, for most of its history. In 2001, it became the first stadium in the Canadian Football League to install FieldTurf, one year before the Ottawa Renegades began play.

  As of 2008, the stadium held 30,927 seats for football, measured just before the lower south-side stands came down.

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• 3. Saved and Rebuilt

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  Jim Watson, then a city councillor and later Ottawa's mayor, led a campaign in the late 1990s. His goal was to open Lansdowne Park to private development. Every proposal the municipal government solicited called for residential construction on the very footprint of the football stadium. Massive public opposition reversed the effort, with the regional government stepping in to end the scheme.

  The stadium survived that fight, but cracks in the south-side lower stands forced their closure in September 2007. Ottawa's mayor at the time, Larry O'Brien, described the situation as an opportunity to review how Lansdowne Park was being used. A public consultation process called Design Lansdowne was launched soon after, followed by an engineering study that condemned the south-side stands entirely.

  In the summer of 2008, a group of investors began pursuing a new Canadian Football League franchise for Ottawa. Jeff Hunt was among the principal investors. He also owned the Ottawa 67's hockey club, which played in the arena attached to the stadium. Hunt stated that the venue and its location were ideal, given that Ottawa had more than a million people. The group had reportedly already pre-sold 5,000 season tickets before the franchise was confirmed.

  By the fall of 2008, the consortium had incorporated as Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, or OSEG. They submitted a plan to the city called Lansdowne Live! It proposed 350,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, 250 housing units, and an urban park built around a rebuilt stadium. The city had also received a competing proposal for a stadium in the suburb of Kanata. Ottawa City Council approved the OSEG plan in June 2010. Under the agreement, the stadium would be rent-free for the developers for 30 years, with commercial proceeds eventually returning to city control.

  The remaining south-side stands were demolished piece by piece from November 2011. The concrete and steel were recycled; the seats were re-used at a skating and hockey rink at Ottawa City Hall. Demolition was completed by January 2012. On the 7th of January 2014, the stadium and the Ottawa Civic Centre arena were jointly renamed TD Place. A 10-year deal with the Toronto-Dominion Bank covered the naming rights. The renovated stadium was ready for the Ottawa Redblacks' first home game on the 18th of July 2014.

  In November 2025, Ottawa City Council approved the next phase, called Lansdowne 2.0. The plan includes demolishing and rebuilding the stadium's aging north-side stands after the 2027 CFL season, along with a new arena and further site upgrades.

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• 4. A Stadium for Every Sport

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  The Ottawa Rough Riders and their predecessors played professional football at this ground from 1876. The team operated continuously until 1996, when it ceased operations. A successor franchise, the Ottawa Renegades, played at the stadium from 2002 to 2005 before also folding. Ottawa's current CFL team, the Redblacks, has been in residence since 2014. Three distinct generations of professional CFL football have now called this venue home.

  The University of Ottawa's Gee-Gees football program has been associated with the ground since the 1870s. In 2021, the Gee-Gees moved all their home games to TD Place as part of a partnership with the stadium's operators. The annual contest between the Gee-Gees and the Carleton University Ravens is called the Panda Game. In recent years it has drawn sellout crowds of around 24,000, making it the most attended Canadian university football event. The 1987 edition was marred when a section of railing collapsed, injuring at least 25 students. The result of that game was forfeited.

  In 1951, the Ottawa Giants of the International League played at the stadium, the first of several seasons in which the field was configured for baseball. The following year, the Philadelphia Athletics purchased the franchise and kept it in Ottawa, rebranding it as the Ottawa Athletics. That team played through the 1954 season.

  Ottawa Fury FC joined the North American Soccer League in 2014. They were the first professional soccer club to play in the renovated stadium. The club later competed in the US-based USL Championship before ceasing operations in 2019. Atlético Ottawa succeeded them in the Canadian Premier League in 2020. Ottawa Rapid FC of the Northern Super League debuted at the stadium in April 2025 and won their inaugural home match 2-1 in front of 6,980 spectators.

  Some sources still refer to the stadium as Lansdowne Park when covering the Panda Game, because neither university is party to the commercial naming rights agreement. This is an informal convention rather than official policy.

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• 5. On the World Stage

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  Seven Grey Cup championship games have been played at the stadium. The first, in 1925, was won by Ottawa, who claimed their first Grey Cup title that year. The games that followed came in 1939, 1967, 1988, and 2004. The 55th Grey Cup in 1967 was tied to Canada's Centennial year, a deliberate pairing of the country's hundredth birthday with its national sport.

  The 105th Grey Cup was awarded to Ottawa on the 31st of July 2016. That game was played at TD Place in late 2017, as part of Canada's 150th anniversary celebrations.

  During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, five soccer matches were held at the Ottawa venue. In mid-2007, the stadium served as one of six hosts for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Its capacity was listed at 28,826 for that tournament.

  The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup brought nine matches to the stadium. These included six in the group stage, two in the Round of 16, and one quarterfinal. Because FIFA forbids commercial stadium naming during its tournaments, the venue was known as Lansdowne Stadium throughout.

  On the 18th of July 2018, a fire broke out during a Canadian Championship semifinal between Ottawa Fury FC and Toronto FC. Members of a Toronto supporters' group called the Inebriatti had brought lit flares into the stadium, which ignited one of their banners. At least one firework was also detonated during the incident. The fire caused minor damage to the FieldTurf and some field-level seating set up for soccer.

  On the 27th of February 2024, the stadium was confirmed as the site for two Canadian international rugby union matches. Scotland visited on the 6th of July 2024 and won 73-12, with 11,447 spectators setting a record for rugby at the venue. Six days later, on the 12th of July 2024, Canada defeated Romania 35-22, the national team's first test win over Romania since 1995.

  On the 17th of March 2017, the NHL announced an outdoor hockey game at TD Place. The match would feature the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, marking the 100th anniversary of their inaugural NHL meeting. The game was played on the 16th of December 2017, in front of 33,959 spectators. The Senators won 3-0. Scotiabank, a banking competitor of the stadium's title sponsor, held naming rights for the event itself. As a result, the venue was again called Lansdowne Stadium for the occasion.

  The following day, the 17th of December 2017, the outdoor ice surface hosted a second game. The Gatineau Olympiques defeated the Ottawa 67's 4-1 in front of 11,671 spectators.

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• 6. Concert Nights

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  On the 28th of August 1987, David Bowie brought his Glass Spider Tour to the stadium, supported by Duran Duran, Eight Seconds, and the Northern Pikes. The show drew 29,000 people, the largest audience for an Ottawa concert at that time.

  Two weeks later, on the 9th of September 1987, Pink Floyd played the venue on their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. Of a possible 35,000 tickets, 26,062 were sold, generating $495,099 in revenue.

  New Kids on the Block sold out the venue on the 5th of August 1990 for their Magic Summer Tour. All 30,000 tickets were claimed.

  The Lilith Fair festival stopped at the stadium on the 14th of August 1998.

  The Rolling Stones arrived on the 28th of August 2005, supported by Les Trois Accords and Our Lady Peace on their A Bigger Bang tour. The show drew 43,000 people.

  AC/DC's Rock or Bust World Tour, on the 3rd of September 2015, was the first major concert event at the renovated stadium. Vintage Trouble opened for a sold-out crowd of 32,000.

  Guns N' Roses played the venue on the 21st of August 2017, on their Not in This Lifetime... Tour, with Our Lady Peace as the opening act. Of a possible 25,714 tickets, 21,204 were sold, and the show generated $2,144,550 in revenue.

  On the 29th of October 2014, the press box and media centre at the stadium were named for Ernie Calcutt, a former broadcaster for the Ottawa Rough Riders. The north-side stands at the stadium are themselves scheduled for demolition after the 2027 CFL season, the next stage in a cycle of construction that has continued at this address since 1908.

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