The $14-million temporary stadium at Empire Fields in East Vancouver is rapidly taking shape and is on track to be completed before the B.C. Lions’ first home game on June 20.
The yet-to-be-named 27,000-seat stadium, located east of Playland’s old wooden roller-coaster, will be home to the Lions in 2010 (and possibly the beginning of 2011) and for the first few games of the Whitecaps’ MLS expansion season in 2011.
A tour of the site Thursday showcased a mass of metal scaffolding while workers hoisted large metal girders and secured them to the overhanging roof.
The bench seating in the end zones, which is taken from the Olympic venues Cypress and Whistler, is largely completed.
The covered sideline seating, which has been brought in from Switzerland, has yet to have the black plastic seats attached.
The scoreboard, situated at the north end of the stadium, has not yet been installed, nor have the B.C. Place field turf and the external washroom facilities.
Construction of the temporary stadium is being funded from PavCo’s operating budget and is not included in the $563 million for the renovations and new roof at B.C. Place.
The PNE, which turns 100 this year, will operate the stadium and is investing about $1 million in food and beverage facilities.
The stadium will be dismantled next summer after the completion of the new retractable B.C. Place roof.
