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Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium

BC Place Stadium

BC Place is the home venue for the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team and BC Lions football team. The stadium also hosts concerts and other major events.

If you like professional sports, then this is one of Vancouver’s best places to visit at game time.

 

In this article you’ll find information about the following topics:

Re-opening and New Changes | Home Teams | Events Schedule | History of BC Place | Other Information |

 

BC Place Stadium

BC Place Stadium is in downtown Vancouver at 777 Pacific Boulevard. It can be accessed from Pacific Boulevard, but also from Beatty Street near Georgia and Robson. The stadium is also around a five-minute walk from Rogers Arena, the home of the Vancouver Canucks.

Built for the Expo 86 world’s fair, BC Place is an impressive building with a capacity of about 54,500 people. Significantly renovated a decade ago, the stadium hosted the 2010 Olympics (including for the opening and closing ceremonies for the games). In 2015, BC Place hosted nine matches in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Soccer Tournament, including the final.

The stadium is divided into multiple levels with a lower bowl and an upper bowl. Both levels have concourses that wrap all around the stadium. The lower bowl has a capacity of up to around 28,000 people. For some sporting events, only the lower bowl is open.

The stadium has a retractable roof, which makes it nice on warm sunny days. The venue is also home to the BC Sports Hall of Fame. The museum is of interest to sports enthusiasts.

 

BC Place Stadium
Inside BC Place Stadium

 

Re-opening and New Changes

After nearly a year and half with no big sporting events, BC Place re-opened to the public once again for major events in August 2021. In order to comply with health and safety guidelines in times of COVID, the stadium adopted some new policies.

New procedures include a 100% mobile ticketing system and completely cashless transactions. If you want to buy something within the stadium you need either card or mobile payment, or to purchase what is fundamentally a BC Place gift card which is then used at their concessions.

Because the stadium doesn’t want security searching through bags at the entrances, there is a new bag policy as well. The only types of bags allowed in are small purses (with a maximum size of 6.5 inches by 8.5 inches) or clear bags (up to 12 inches by 12 inches by 6 inches). All items that don’t fall into these categories must be held in a bag check while you’re inside the stadium.

BC Place has been newly certified by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, an American company that specializes in helping facilities deal with potential infectious diseases. BC Place was the first Canadian stadium to receive the GBAC STAR accreditation.

 

Food at BC Place Stadium

 

Home Teams

While other sporting events are held in the stadium, BC Place has two main tenants. They are two of the three most popular sports teams in Vancouver, with the other being the Vancouver Canucks who play in Rogers Arena next door.

  • BC Lions Football – Vancouver’s CFL football team plays home games at BC Place from June until November.
  • Vancouver Whitecaps – Vancouver’s premier professional soccer team. Their schedule runs from spring until fall.

 

BC Place Events Schedule

Many of Vancouver’s biggest and most impressive events take place at BC Place Stadium. Below is a list of upcoming events. (Note: Dates and other details are subject to change.)

 

BC Place Stadium

 

BC Place Events in Winter and Spring

Another big event happening at BC Place Stadium next year is the Invictus Games. The international sports competition for injured military personnel runs in Vancouver and Whistler from February 8th to 16th in 2025. In 2026, meanwhile, the stadium will host games for the FIFA World Cup, which is the biggest soccer tournament on the planet.

 

Looking Up in Canada Place End Zone

 

History of BC Place

With construction beginning in 1980, the stadium opened to the public in 1983. At the time of opening, the stadium’s roof was inflated by an air pump. This made its dome the biggest air-supported one in the world.

The stadium successfully hosted the opening ceremony of Expo 86. As the years went on, it became clear that the roof had issues. In both 1996 and 2007, snowstorms damaged it and forced significant repairs. The original roof’s last time in the spotlight was when the stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics.

A few months after the Olympic Games the roof was deflated, and in 2011, the stadium reopened with a new retractable roof made of steel. The new roof can be opened or closed in around 20 minutes. It’s now the largest steel retractable roof in the world.

The stadium has a 35-foot tall bank of LED lights that wraps all the way around the stadium. The place lights up every night with different colours. To the present day, BC Place continues to be the site used for all the biggest sporting events and concerts in the city.

 

BC Place Stadium
BC Place and False Creek at Night

 

Other Information

For more information about events and performances at the stadium see the BC Place Stadium website.

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