Business View Magazine | March 2018

48 COMMONWEALTH STADIUM fromaround theworld,and this time,Commonwealth Stadiumwas expanded significantly to accommodate just over 60,000 spectators.“That was one of themajor remodels-additional wings and seating,”says Fesyk. “Because of that,in 2002,the CFLGreyCup Champi- onship game that was played in Edmonton had an attendance of 62,531 people.That was a huge crowd for Canadian football.” Ahead of the 2001World Championships inAthlet- ics,featuring 1677participants from189 nations,the stadium received a $24-million facelift.Major invest- ments included a newfacade,an enlargement of the concourse,improved lighting,a newscoreboard,and an all-new,all-weather running track.Ahead of the 2008 season,the stadiumunderwent a reconfiguration, reducing its capacity to 59,537.Its natural grass was replaced with artificial turf in 2010,in order to reduce the long-term costs of annual grass substitutionwhile providing a year round,green playing surface. Starting in 2009, the stadiumunderwent a $112-million facelift,with themain investment in the FieldHouse,a 90,000.-sq.-ft.,three-story training facility which includes a 65x65 yd.artificial turf training field, a fitness andweight room,locker rooms,and a run- ning track.It is part of the Commonwealth Community Recreation Center,which also includes a 60,000-sq.-ft. aquatics center with a four-lane lap pool,water slide and a recreational pool; 30,000 sq.ft.of administrative offices; and a 30,000-sq.-ft.fitness center.The Center has Leadership in Energyand Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.Adjacent to Commonwealth Stadium,Clarke Stadium,seating 5,000,has been used as both a training field and as the home ground of the FCEdmonton,the city’s pro soccer franchise. In 2012,the Commonwealth Stadium initiated a seating replacement programat a cost of $12million. It removed all benches and replaced all seatingwith new,wider seats,reducing the capacityof thevenue to 56,302.With the addition of the seating replacement, total investment in Commonwealth Stadium,since its inception,has exceeded $200million.In 2016,the Ed- monton Eskimos announced a five-year field naming