Commonwealth Stadium — Canada's Largest Outdoor Football Ground
Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium. Home of the Edmonton Elks. 56,302 fans. Natural grass. Open-air. Built for a Commonwealth Games and forged by decades of Canadian football in an Alberta winter.
History & Construction
Commonwealth Stadium was built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, which brought international athletics to Edmonton and left the city with a permanent legacy in the form of one of the most significant sports venues in Canadian history. Constructed at a cost of CAD $19 million, the stadium was a source of civic pride from its opening day in June 1978.
Owned by the City of Edmonton, the stadium was designed as an open-air facility on a deliberately simple premise: natural grass, clear sight lines, and a capacity large enough to generate the communal intensity that outdoor Canadian football demands. Where other cities were building enclosed domes in the 1970s, Edmonton chose the elements — and that choice has defined the stadium's identity ever since.
The stadium has been expanded and upgraded several times since 1978, adding seating and facility improvements while preserving its open-air character. It received its current formal name — Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium — following a naming rights arrangement, though Edmontonians have always simply called it Commonwealth.
Commonwealth Games Legacy
The 1978 Commonwealth Games placed Edmonton on the international sporting map and gave the stadium its foundational identity. Athletics events — sprints, relays, field events, and distance races — were contested on the track that originally encircled the natural grass playing surface, drawing competitors from across the Commonwealth nations.
Hosting the Games required Edmonton to build to international standards and demonstrate organisational capacity that Canadian cities had rarely tested at that scale. The success of the 1978 Games strengthened the city's reputation as a capable host of major events, a reputation that later supported successful bids for the Grey Cup, FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and other national competitions.
The Games legacy also shaped the broader neighbourhood around the stadium. Infrastructure improvements, transport links, and public facilities built for 1978 are still visible in the surrounding area, a reminder that the original investment extended well beyond the stadium walls.
CFL & Edmonton Elks Tradition
The Edmonton Elks — one of the most successful franchises in CFL history — have called Commonwealth Stadium home since it opened. The club has won the Grey Cup thirteen times in total, with multiple championships celebrated on this very pitch before tens of thousands of delirious fans.
An Elks game at Commonwealth Stadium is an experience built on tradition. The atmosphere inside the bowl is amplified by the open-air design: sound doesn't dissipate into a dome but rises and circles back, creating a pressure that indoor venues cannot fully reproduce. Visiting fans consistently cite Commonwealth as one of the most intimidating road venues in the CFL.
The team rebranded from the Edmonton Football Team to the Edmonton Elks in 2021, connecting the franchise more explicitly to Alberta's natural heritage and giving supporters a name they could rally behind with renewed enthusiasm. The identity sits naturally at Commonwealth — a stadium that has always felt tied to the land and climate of the province.
Winter Football & Fan Culture
Edmonton's CFL season runs from June through November — and the late-season games at Commonwealth Stadium, when temperatures can drop well below freezing, have become part of the stadium's mythology. Fans layer up, bring hand warmers, and fill the stands anyway. That willingness to endure the cold in pursuit of the game is a point of local pride that sets Commonwealth apart from every enclosed stadium on the continent.
The Grey Cup has been hosted here four times — in 1984, 1997, 2002, and 2010 — including late-autumn editions where breath was visible in the air and players were competing in temperatures that would have closed a lesser venue. Each Grey Cup at Commonwealth has produced memorable football and cemented the stadium's status in the national consciousness.
Football culture in Edmonton runs deep: the Elks have a season ticket waiting list, pre-game tailgate traditions stretching back generations, and a supporter culture that doesn't need sunshine to generate noise. For anyone serious about Canadian football, a game at Commonwealth is a rite of passage.
Stadium Features
Natural Grass
In an era of synthetic surfaces, Commonwealth Stadium maintains a natural grass playing field — one of the few remaining in the CFL, and a point of pride for players and traditionalists alike.
Grey Cup Venue
Commonwealth Stadium has hosted four Grey Cup championship games and produced some of the most memorable moments in CFL history. The next time it hosts the final, you'll want to be there.
Open-Air in All Seasons
There is no roof and no apology for it. Late-season games in October and November under a steel-grey Alberta sky are an experience that no enclosed venue can manufacture.
Commonwealth Games Heritage
Built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games and continuously shaped by that legacy, the stadium carries a layer of international athletic history beneath its identity as a football ground.
Edmonton Elks History
Thirteen Grey Cup championships. A passionate fan base. A franchise that is genuinely woven into the social fabric of Edmonton. Follow the Elks here and you're following a city.
International Football & Soccer
Commonwealth Stadium has hosted FIFA World Cup qualifying matches featuring the Canadian men's national team, bringing international soccer to a city that lives and breathes sport.
Visitor Guide & Tips
Read through these crucial game-day checklists to ensure a seamless entry and visitor experience at Commonwealth Stadium.
"It was minus twelve when we walked in. The grass was frozen at the edges. Fifty thousand people were already singing. I remember thinking — they didn't build a dome here because they never needed one. This is exactly what Canadian football is supposed to feel like, and Commonwealth Stadium is the only place in the world you can feel it at this scale."
— Elks Season Ticket Holder, 22 years | Edmonton, AB
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