Rob Ford Stadium (formerly Centennial Park Stadium ) is a 2,200-seat stadium in Toronto , Ontario , Canada. It is primarily used for soccer , track and field , football and occasionally for kabaddi .
6-534: It is located within Centennial Park in Etobicoke , just south of Toronto Pearson International Airport and near the intersection of Rathburn Road and Renforth Drive. It was built in 1975. The stadium has seating in a grandstand on the west side and a small scoreboard on the north end of the field. The stadium was renovated in 2009 with the installation of new seating and artificial turf . The stadium
12-527: Is a large municipal park with many sports facilities, maintained by the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division of the city of Toronto , Ontario , Canada. The park was opened in 1967 for Canada's 100th birthday by the then-Borough of Etobicoke and was part of the Hirons' dairy farm (the remaining part of the farm was sold for residential development in 1968). In 1976, the park was one of two venue sites for
18-425: The 1976 Summer Paralympics . In 1998, when the six municipalities constituting Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated , the park was integrated into Toronto Parks and Recreation from the former City of Etobicoke Parks Department. This should not be confused with an identically named small city park in the east end of Toronto, on Centennial Road, Scarborough , which was also inherited by the amalgamation. In 2015,
24-616: The park hosted the BMX cycling at the 2015 Pan American Games . After the Games, the BMX track became a legacy site for public use. In November 2022, the City of Toronto announced the closure of skiing and snowboarding activities at the park, citing declining use due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mechanical issues with the lifts. Reducing snow cover during winter months may also have factored into
30-548: The park through the Centennial Park Master Plan that was also approved in 2021, city council again considered a motion to rename the stadium after Ford, this time passing 17 to 6. The stadium was officially renamed Rob Ford Stadium on May 28, 2024. The first game played on the re-named stadium was a Canadian Soccer League encounter between Serbian White Eagles FC and Spanish Future Stars on May 31, 2024. Centennial Park (Toronto) Centennial Park
36-418: Was originally named for Centennial Park , which it is located in and opened during Canada's centennial year of 1967; the stadium was opened in 1975, eight years after the centennial. In 2017, there were calls and support for the stadium to be renamed after former mayor Rob Ford as Rob Ford Memorial Stadium , but city council voted down the motion 11 to 24 on October 4, 2017. In 2023, amid the re-imagining of
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