In 1970-71, Hamilton’s Civic Stadium was heavily rebuilt to meet the needs of a modern professional football stadium. Originally built in 1928 for the British Empire Games (the forerunner to the Commonwealth Games), the stadium was dated and considered one of the worst stadiums in the country.
A new north grandstand was built, bringing the capacity to about 35,000. New lights were added – much to the delight of television broadcasters. And, all-season AstroTurf was installed, the first stadium in Canada to have it.
In 1971, the stadium was renamed Ivor Wynne Stadium in honour of the former chairman of the Hamilton parks board and athletics director at McMaster University. Ivor Wynne had died a year earlier.
The new state of the art stadium would host the 1972 Grey Cup the following year and continued to be Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ home until it was replaced by Tim Horton’s Field in 2014.
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