Have you ever wondered what it takes to convert BC’s largest multipurpose venue from one spectacular event to another?
Take it from us; it is not always an easy task. Our stadium is home field for two professional sports teams - the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer and the BC Lions Football Club of the CFL - as well as the host venue consumer shows, concerts and special events. We are regularly required to undergo quick transformations to accommodate our busy event schedule.
Luckily, here at BC Place, our fantastic Conversions team has got the stadium conversion process a down to a science. Everything from team signage, sponsorship advertising, seating configuration, LED displays, painting of the field lines and logos is changed before every event! With careful planning and exceptional teamwork, a complete stadium conversion can be completed in a matter of hours!
Take it from us; it is not always an easy task. Our stadium is home field for two professional sports teams - the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer and the BC Lions Football Club of the CFL - as well as the host venue consumer shows, concerts and special events. We are regularly required to undergo quick transformations to accommodate our busy event schedule.
Luckily, here at BC Place, our fantastic Conversions team has got the stadium conversion process a down to a science. Everything from team signage, sponsorship advertising, seating configuration, LED displays, painting of the field lines and logos is changed before every event! With careful planning and exceptional teamwork, a complete stadium conversion can be completed in a matter of hours!
Watch this video to see BC Place convert from Whitecaps, to Lions, and back to Whitecaps in just 5 days!
Quick Glance Conversion Facts!
· The stadium will undergo approximately 60-70 conversions each year at BC Place to accommodate our unique events
· It takes up to 15 people working within a window as small as 20 hours to convert the stadium from soccer to football, or vice-versa
· There are approximately 53,000 seats available for Lions games, and 21,000 for Whitecaps matches. Each team has a unique seating configuration based on the size of the field
· All advertising signage is changed to support the individual partners of the Lions and Whitecaps
· For floor shows, concerts and special events, up to 150,545 sqft. of Terracover (approximately 12,384 individual tiles!) is deployed to create a solid surface on which the event will take place
CFL Football Conversions
· Preparing the field for a CFL football game requires up to 8 staff members working up to 8 hours
· It takes about 20 gallons of eco-friendly paint remover to help ‘scrub’ and remove the lines from the soccer pitch
· Approximately 30 gallons of water-based paint is used to paint the CFL football field
· Roughly 2,800 of BC Place’s field-level seats are retracted for football games to make way for the end zones and sidelines
· Goal posts are installed and then removed for each Lions game
· It takes about 20 minutes to open BC Place’s retractable roof
Major League Soccer Conversions
· Painting the soccer pitch requires up to 8 staff members working more than 5 hours
· 40 gallons of eco-friendly paint remover is used to ‘scrub’ and remove the football lines
· The soccer lines are then painted to exact specifications using approximately 15 gallons of water-based paint
· A unique soccer curtain is installed between the upper and lower seating bowls during ‘Caps games to create more intimate atmosphere for spectators. The soccer curtain is then removed for events that use the upper-bowl seating
· The soccer curtain is made from a material similar to a boat sail!
· A team of approximately 28 skilled technicians are required to install the curtain, and this job can take anywhere from 8 to 10 hours.
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