Rogers Stadium concert venue to debut in 2025 at former Downsview Airport
Posted September 26, 2024 10:49 am.
Last Updated September 26, 2024 5:56 pm.
Toronto is getting a massive new outdoor concert venue at a site that has welcomed thousands of signature acts like the Rolling Stones over the years.
Live Nation Canada confirmed on Thursday that Rogers Stadium will debut at YZD, the former Downsview Airport location, in June 2025.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford were on hand for the announcement.
Rogers Stadium will become Toronto’s largest purpose-built outdoor concert venue, with a capacity of 50,000 on approximately 44 acres of the north end of the runway.
Live Nation Canada says the new concert venue will be a “temporary fixture,” serving as an open-air facility designed to operate during the summer, with a primary destination for live music and “international acts of diversified genres.”
“I’m so pleased to welcome Live Nation and the future Rogers Stadium to YZD,” said Premier Ford. “This exciting venue will bring even more tourists and investment to our province, boosting local businesses, creating new jobs and drawing in artists and events from around the world.”
Company officials say the former Downsview Airport was chosen as the venue’s location due to its “proximity to major transportation and transit connections in a north area of Toronto that makes it easily accessible from other cities in the GTA.”
In May, Northcrest Developments took over the site and announced a landmark $30-billion, 370-acre development of the former airport, renaming it “YZD.” Once completed “in the coming decades,” YZD will feature seven neighbourhoods and 24,000 new homes.
“Rogers Stadium is a fit with Northcrest Developments’ vision for YZD as a destination for housing, work, culture, and entertainment, moving the centre of gravity north for new signature Toronto activities,” Live Nation Canada staff say.
Downsview Airport opened in 1929 and served as an air base for the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Bombardier sold the site in 2018 to a Canadian pension manager, which created Northcrest to oversee the development.
Budweiser Stage, formerly the Molson Amphitheatre, is Toronto’s only major, active outdoor concert venue.
“This new music venue will enhance Toronto’s reputation as a world-leading destination for the biggest touring acts around the globe,” said Mayor Chow.
