Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium

Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium (French: Stade Croix-Bleue Medavie), formerly Moncton Stadium (French: Stade Moncton), 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.[5] 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.[1] It is the home field for the Moncton Aigles Bleus soccer teams.

Stade Medavie Blue Cross Stadium
Moncton Stadium just before the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics.
Former namesMoncton 2010 Stadium
Moncton Stadium
LocationMoncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Coordinates46°6′30″N 64°47′0″W
OwnerUniversite de Moncton and City of Moncton
OperatorUniversite de Moncton
Capacity8,300 (expandable to 25,000)[1]
SurfaceNatural grass (2010–2013)
FieldTurf (2014–present)[2][3][4]
Construction
Broke groundApril 22, 2008
OpenedJuly 19, 2010
Construction cost$17 – $27 million

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.[6][7]

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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[10]

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.[12][13] 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.[14]

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.[2][3][4]


Football events
Date Event Home team Away team Winner Score Attendance
September 26, 2010Touchdown AtlanticToronto ArgonautsEdmonton EskimosEdmonton Eskimos6–2420,725
September 25, 2011Touchdown Atlantic IIHamilton Tiger-CatsCalgary StampedersHamilton Tiger-Cats55–3620,153
November 18, 2011Uteck Bowl 2011Acadia AxemenMcMaster MaraudersMcMaster Marauders21–453,726
September 21, 2013Touchdown Atlantic IIIHamilton Tiger-CatsMontreal AlouettesHamilton Tiger-Cats28–2615,123
August 25, 2019Touchdown Atlantic IVToronto ArgonautsMontreal AlouettesMontreal Alouettes28–2210,126
Soccer events
Date Event Home team Away team Winner Score Attendance
May 30, 2012Friendly Canada ChinaCanada1–07,514[15]
August 6, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup England South KoreaDraw1–13,587[16]
August 6, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Mexico NigeriaDraw1–13,587[17]
August 9, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup England MexicoDraw1–14,636[18]
August 9, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup South Korea NigeriaNigeria1–24,636[19]
August 12, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Ghana FinlandGhana2–14,706[20]
August 12, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup United States ChinaUSA3–04,706[21]
August 17, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Nigeria New ZealandNigeria4–13,588[22]
August 20, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup North Korea NigeriaNigeria2–64,871[23]
June 9, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F France EnglandFrance1–011,686[24]
June 9, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F Colombia MexicoDraw1–111,686[25]
June 13, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F France ColombiaColombia0-213,138[26]
June 13, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group F England MexicoEngland2-113,138[27]
June 15, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group B Ivory Coast NorwayNorway1-37,147[28]
June 17, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group E Costa Rica BrazilBrazil0-19,543
June 21, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Round of 16 Brazil AustraliaAustralia0-112,054
Track & field events
Date Event Attendance Notes Website link
July 2–4, 20102010 Canadian Junior Championships in AthleticsN/A
July 19–25, 20102010 World Junior Championships in Athletics75,000 (over 7 days)[29]
2013Canadian Track and Field ChampionshipsN/A
2014Canadian Track and Field ChampionshipsN/A
Other events
Date Event Attendance Notes
November 23, 2009Olympic Flame In Moncton12,000First event in the stadium
September 4, 2016AtlanticFest 2016N/AMusic festival

See also

References
  1. "Croix Bleue Medavie Stadium". Moncton.ca. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  2. "Artificial turf for Canada 2014". fifa.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-19. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  3. "Moncton stadium installs new $1.5M turf field". CBC News. May 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  4. "FIFA visit to Moncton stadium overshadowed by turf lawsuit". CBC News. Oct 2, 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  5. "Construction on Moncton's world-class stadium gets underway". New Brunswick. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  6. "Local businesses continue to show support". March 24, 2019.
  7. Lacelle, Patrick (March 20, 2019). "Université de Moncton: on parlera dorénavant du Stade Croix Bleue" [University of Moncton: From now on, we will talk about Croix Bleue Medavie Stadium] (in French).
  8. "Canadian Football League eyes Moncton for future games". CBC. 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  9. "CFL's Touchdown Atlantic". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  10. "CFL Schedule 2011". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  11. Moncton Lands 2011, 2013, and 2015 Uteck Bowl
  12. "Global News | Latest & Current News - Weather, Sports & Health News". Global News. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  13. FIFA.com. "FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™ - Moncton - FIFA.com". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  14. "AtlanticFest announces full on sale details; new Moncton date for September 4th". Atlantic Canada Rock. May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  15. Canada VS China in Moncton, New Brunswick
  16. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: England – Korea Republic, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  17. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: Mexico – Nigeria, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  18. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: England – Mexico, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-09. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  19. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: Korea Republic – Nigeria, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-09. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2015. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  20. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: Ghana – Finland, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  21. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: USA – China PR, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2014-08-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  22. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: Nigeria – New Zealand, Match Report". fifa.com. 2014-08-17. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  23. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014: Korea DPR – Nigeria, Match Report". fifa.com. 2014-08-20. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 21, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  24. "FIFA Women's World Cup 2015: France – England, Match Report". fifa.com. 2015-06-09. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
  25. "FIFA Women's World Cup 2015: Columbia – Mexico, Match Report". fifa.com. 2015-06-09. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
  26. "FIFA Women's World Cup 2015: France - Colombia, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2015-06-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  27. "FIFA Women's World Cup 2015: England - Mexico, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2015-06-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  28. "FIFA Women's World Cup 2015: Côte d'Ivoire - Norway, Match Report" (PDF). fifa.com. 2015-06-15. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 18, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  29. Estimated 75,000 in attendance at 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships
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