Olympic Stadium of Montreal: The Endless Moneypit

The story of Olympic Stadium of Montreal one of the biggest blunders in the history of stadiums...

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Song: “Becloud” by Keith Kenniff

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[firewalker]

It’s becoming much harder to find a city to host the olympics. Nobody wants that head ache anymore. When the Olympics leave town, they typically leave abandoning buildings and cause many many problems for the city.

[alexpadilla]

That '94 Expos team was so good. We will always wonder if the strike hadn't occur if they would still be in Montreal.

[aarondersnah]

My wife and I went to Montreal for our honeymoon in the spring of 2005. We toured various spots in the Olympic park including the stadium, the tower Observatory, the Biodome, and the Botanical Garden. While I never got to see a game at the stadium, we did get to stand in the area that had been the baseball outfield during our tour. I also remember that swimming pool in the stadium was open to paying customers.

[TheCymbalProject]

I've lived in Montreal my whole life most people here HATE the "Big Owe"....
The first time I ever went to the Olympic Stadium (or "Le Stade" as it is known colloquially here in Quebec) was in 1982. I absolutely LOVE everything about this building. Despite all of its problems and warts, its a stunning & visionary piece of architecture and its sheer scale still amazes me even after almost 40 years. Its one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen.

[alexoestreicher]

I'm an Oakland A's fan, so I know about bad stadiums, the Big O is by far the worst baseball stadium I have ever seen a game. It's so huge, yet somehow there are not enough bathrooms.

It's so awful, it's charmingly bad.

[thomasshircel]

The Big O was the setting for 2 of the greatest rock concerts of all time...Pink Floyd on their “In The Flesh” tour promoting their Animals album and Emerson, Lake & Palmer...both concerts drew massive 80, 000 crowds in 1977.

[reidhubbell]

At least the skateboarding community can continue to appreciate and shred the stadium and surrounding area.

[thomasb-oj]

It’s one of the coolest looking stadiums I have seen.

[sirmario]

The last time I watched an event at the Big O (as the Olympic Stadium is called by many), it was for a Toronto Blue Jays preseason baseball series (yes, held in Montreal). A line drive ball entering foul territory hit a billboard and plenty of dust came jumping out. Really a perfect demonstration of how out of date this venue is

[bigguyCIAu]

The 1970s were a truly awful decade for stadium design.
Multipurpose stadiums were so tacky and impractical

[Stretchst]

Shows that artistically unique achitecture design does not always mean it will be structurally sound in real life application.
Design of tower is cool, with marionette-like strings attached, but those cables are going to cause problems in long run.

[jmed]

The CFL team in Montreal does not even use it any more. The MLS team I think still does for early and late season matches

[xrq]

The design is amazing though, just too ahead of its time

[trumph]

MLB was much better with the Expos, they added so much character. I was fortunate enough to see two games at the Big O and despite it being less than an ideal stadium I had a great time. I remember cheap beer, a young Vladimir Guerrero belting a homerun, going to the botanical gardens before the game and also it was my first time to experience baseball in a dome. The Blue Jays play exhibition games there every year except the past two years for obvious reasons, it seems next year will also be cancelled. I truly hope Montreal gets a team and they use the Big O until the stadium they have been discussing is finished. Montreal has such a rich baseball history but the Expos got the shaft so many times it drove the fans away. Baseball can certainly thrive there under the right circumstances.

[senorsoupe]

The whole construction of the stadium was a debacle including labour shortages, rumours of organized crime being involved and incompetence that saw the roof portion forgotten in a warehouse in Marseille, France. These days the whole place is a grimy cavern, last time I was there was for an early season Montreal Impact game (when the weather was too Montreal for outdoor play) and despite a crowd in the 25, 000 range the place was just grimy and dirty. Even in the Expos days the place never seemed to be properly maintained

[Rutherford]

I want to go there to see a Blue Jays spring training game one day. I'm a Red Sox fan but the Expos were always my #2, even now

[jonathanrice]

I thought the place was nice when I visited in ‘97.

[natedole]

I am going to be honest, I went to see it in person while it was in the area, and it was an incredibly beautiful

[taylorverrall]

The stadium is in disrepair but it's shell and tower are architectural marvels. The stadium needs a real, proper update like what happened to BC Place.

[adamgarnes]

Montreal just had bad luck, the team or stadium couldn’t catch a break. Hopefully someday they will get an expansion team with a new stadium