Opened: June 3, 1989
Capacity: 49,282
Rogers Centre
I’ve been to Rogers Centre twice, first in 2004 and later in 2015. To date this is the only major league park I have been to where the roof was closed during a game. There is of course some novelty here as it is the only big league team not in the US and when I drove here it marks the only time I have ever driven in a foreign country. That was certainly different, while yet similar.
How did I get there?
The first time I attended a game here we were staying in a hotel in downtown since we were on a bus tour. Fairly straight forward walking to and from the stadium. The second time I drove myself. This was the first (and to date only) time I have driven in a foreign country, crossing into Canada at Fort Erie at about 5:30 AM on an rainy Sunday morning. I arrived in Toronto at about 7:30 thanks to light traffic but terrible weather. I found an all-day lot about two blocks away at Wellington Place and Blue Jays Way for $25 Canadian. Not a bad value and had a delicious breakfast across the street at a place called Cora’s. I had considered taking the subway in but decided against it since I would be there on a Sunday and driving in would be easier.
Ticket prices
As a tourist I didn’t really care too much. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid for a ticket in 2004 (I think it was $9) but sat in the upper deck behind the plate. There was almost no one there for that game, they were playing the Devil Rays after all. In 2015 they played the Rangers. If I remember right I paid about $18 for a seat in the upper deck down the right field line. Considering that is less than what I would pay for the same seat in most other parks I was OK with that taking into account the exchange rate as well.
Finding my seat and amenities
This stadium is an older facility. Each row in the upper deck has a railing in front of it. There are few to none in the way of escalators so huffing it up or down the ramps is the only way to go the same way it was at Three Rivers, the Vet or RFK. I found that the concession stands on the upper level did not sell the souvenir sodas or ice cream helmets. Since I collect both of them I was then forced to go back to the lower level and then huff it back up. At least I got some exercise out of that. It seemed that they had the standard concessions and that was about it and there was nothing that stood out to me but admittedly I did not look very hard either time I was there.
In game experience
There was nothing that stood out here. It was a standard major league effort. The Blue Jays won both games I have been to so the crowd was happy. The only negative was a number of fans who gabbed while the Star Spangled Banner was played but then I have heard more than a few fans in the US do that so I won’t dock them too much for that.
Getting out
I stayed for the entire game both times I have been here. With a small crowd the first time getting out was easy. It was as well in 2015. I didn’t need to wait for anyone and made a beeline out. I was up in the CN Tower by the time most people were leaving and the elevator attendant and I had a nice conversation about the Jays. As far as getting out of the city, when I drove there was a LGBT pride parade so the streets were clogged. I decided to give it some time and stopped at a Pizza!Pizza! and tried some of their wares, quite good by the way for a chain place. I also had some Canadian money I needed to spend so that helped make the decision as well. Traffic did not dissipate so I sucked it up. Had to drive down to University Blvd. to get onto the Gardiner Expressway and found that packed as well. Maybe the issue wasn’t the parade but the crappy weather. Traffic didn’t clear out until I was nearly out of the metro area. One thing I did observe is that Canadian sports radio is different. They discussed hockey (duh!), soccer (the Women’s World Cup was going on at the time), baseball and even rugby. The Pan Am Games were coming up so that was also a major topic.
Wrap
Would I go here again? Yeah. There is a lot to see and do in Toronto. Am I going to rush back? No. I found nothing unique about the place and there were no thrills other than myself driving in a foreign country for the first time. I thought there would be an element of danger when I left cell-phone coverage but my provider has an agreement with Rogers so I had coverage the whole way. I even figured out how to switch my car to show kph rather than mph. Look, Toronto has all the problems of any major American city from crime on the way down to traffic so the experience was no different then New York or Chicago. The major plus for me was Steam Whistle Brewing across the street from the park. Good beer and to date the only foreign brewery I have visited.