Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium (), formerly Moncton Stadium (), is a track and field stadium on the campus of the Université de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, built to host the IAAF 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics. The $17 million venue opened in 2010. Although seating capacity had fluctuated early in construction (original plans called for as many as 28,000 seats), the stadium has 8,300 permanent seats, and is expandable to 25,000 via temporary seating. It is the home field for the Moncton Aigles Bleus soccer teams. Construction Construction by Acadian Construction began on April 22, 2009, and was completely finished in July 2010, just in time for the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics. Though the stadium was only completely finished in July, it was used on November 23, 2009, as the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic flame stayed there overnight.
The stadium was re-named to Stade Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium on March 20, 2019, following a $1 million contribution by Medavie Blue Cross to support scholarships to student athletes in health science programs. CFL events The facility has also been proposed as a potential venue for a future Canadian Football League (CFL) expansion team, but a significant expansion to 25,000 seats would be recommended. CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon said he wanted to see "neutral-site" regular season games played in the new Moncton Stadium by 2010. On February 1, 2010, it was announced that the Toronto Argonauts would play host to the Edmonton Eskimos in an event dubbed "Touchdown Atlantic" that took place on September 26, 2010. On February 18, 2011, it was announced that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would play host to the Calgary Stampeders in an event dubbed "Touchdown Atlantic 2" that took place on September 25, 2011. As every CFL stadium had an artificial surface until 2016 (the Argonauts began playing on natural grass at BMO Field in that year), the Touchdown Atlantic game had been the only CFL game played all season on a grass surface, although a temporary strip of artificial turf must be laid over the track in order to accommodate the end zones. Other major events The stadium plays host to numerous events during the year. Its state of the art track brings numerous track & field events to the stadium, including an annual youth competition for qualifying for the Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships. The stadium has also been used for university soccer games and has had the Olympic flame stay there overnight on November 23, 2009, during the torch relay for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. During the Olympic flame's visit to Moncton, the attendance was only 12,000 due to the construction not being finished at the time.
On September 22, 2010, it was announced that the 2011, 2013, and 2015 Uteck Bowl would be played at Moncton Stadium due to the crumbling infrastructure of Huskies Stadium in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Moncton Lands 2011, 2013, and 2015 Uteck Bowl On November 12, 2012, it was announced that the AUS would cancel its Uteck Bowl partnership with the City of Moncton due to low attendance at the 2011 game.
On May 4, 2012, it was announced that Moncton would join Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in hosting the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosting 6 group stage matches and a round of 16 match. Moncton will also join Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto in hosting the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, hosting 6 group stage matches, a quarterfinal match and a semi-final match.
On May 20, 2016, it was announced on September 4, 2016, the stadium will host Atlantic Fest 2016 featuring Selena Gomez, DNCE, Flo Rida, Shawn Hook and Francesco Yates.
On February 21, 2023, it was announced that rock band Guns N' Roses will be playing on August 5, 2023, as part of their world tour, with opening act Carrie Underwood.
Turf controversy In order to host matches for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the stadium was required to remove the grass surface and replace it with artificial turf. The stadium paid $1.5 million for the conversion to FieldTurf and is paying an additional $500,000 to create a new grass surface adjacent to the stadium for use where the turf surface cannot be used due to safety concerns, such as Paralympic Track-and-field, prompting allegations of discrimination against Paralympic athletes.
A coalition of elite female players from around the world filed a lawsuit challenging FIFA’s decision to play the 2015 Women’s World Cup on artificial turf. Alleging gender discrimination, the lawsuit states that they would never have the Men's World Cup held on "unsafe" artificial turf and thus violates the Canadian Human Rights Act.
+Football eventsDateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendanceSeptember 26, 2010 Touchdown Atlantic Toronto Argonauts Edmonton Eskimos Edmonton Eskimos 6–24 20,725September 25, 2011 Touchdown Atlantic II Hamilton Tiger-Cats Calgary Stampeders Hamilton Tiger-Cats 55–36 20,153November 18, 2011 Uteck Bowl 2011 Acadia Axemen McMaster Marauders McMaster Marauders 21–45 3,726September 21, 2013 Touchdown Atlantic III Hamilton Tiger-Cats Montreal Alouettes Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28–26 15,123August 25, 2019 Touchdown Atlantic IV Toronto Argonauts Montreal Alouettes Montreal Alouettes 28–22 10,126
+Soccer eventsDateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendanceMay 30, 2012 Friendly Canada 1–0 7,514
+2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupDateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendanceAugust 6, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Draw 1–1 3,587August 6, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Draw 1–1 3,587August 9, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Draw 1–1 4,636August 9, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Nigeria 1–2 4,636August 12, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Ghana 2–1 4,706August 12, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup USA 3–0 4,706August 17, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Nigeria 4–1 3,588August 20, 2014 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Nigeria 2–6 4,871
+2015 FIFA Women's World CupDateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendanceJune 9, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F France 1–0 11,686June 9, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F Draw 1–1 11,686June 13, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F Colombia 0-2 13,138June 13, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F England 2-1 13,138June 15, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group B Norway 1-3 7,147June 17, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group E Brazil 0-1 9,543June 21, 2015 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Round of 16 Australia 0-1 12,054
+Track & field eventsDateEventAttendanceNotesWebsite linkJuly 2–4, 2010 2010 Canadian Junior Championships in Athletics N/A July 19–25, 2010 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics 75,000 (over 7 days)Estimated 75,000 in attendance at 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships 2013 Canadian Track and Field Championships N/A 2014 Canadian Track and Field Championships N/A
+Other eventsDateEventAttendanceNotesNovember 23, 2009 Olympic Flame In Moncton 12,000 First event in the stadiumSeptember 4, 2016 AtlanticFest 2016 N/A Music festival
See also List of Canadian Premier League stadiums List of entertainment events in Greater Moncton 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics Canadian Football League Moncton Sport Facilities Université de Moncton Touchdown Atlantic Uteck Bowl
References