Massive temporary stadium opens in Toronto this month
The massive Rogers Stadium under construction at Toronto’s YZD (formerly the Downsview Airport Lands) is now just a few weeks away from its first scheduled show on June 29, and the temporary behemoth set to become the city’s largest purpose-built music venue is inching closer to the finish line.
First announced by Live Nation in September 2024 with an eyebrow-raising plan to open the following June, Rogers Stadium has quickly materialized on the former airfield, and a hurried construction timeline that once seemed improbable is now looking very attainable.
New photos of the venue captured over the weekend show the temporary structure is now in place, and blue seating has been added to the vast rows of bleachers.
Large staircases linking the stadium’s interior with the surrounding lot pierce through the network of scaffolding and supports holding up the seating sections.
For anyone holding their breath for exterior cladding to enclose this porous structure, the stadium’s spartan aesthetic is a product of its temporary nature.
So, if you don’t like it, just know it will all be torn down years down the road.
With a capacity of 50,000, Rogers Stadium will become Toronto and the surrounding GTA’s largest purpose-built music venue when it hosts K-pop boy band Stray Kids for the stadium’s first concert on June 29.
Tickets are still available, and range from just over $130 to prices north of $2,200. The show is just the first in a series of hotly anticipated concerts scheduled through the summer.
Live Nation
The venue has also been rushing to fill jobs for the staff who will usher concertgoers, serve concessions, and otherwise keep the shows running smoothly.