Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium


Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium, formerly Moncton Stadium, 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. The $17 million venue opened in 2010. Although seating capacity had fluctuated early in construction, the stadium has 10,000 permanent seats, and is expandable to 20,725 via temporary seating.
The facility has also been proposed as a potential venue for a future Canadian Football League 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. 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. On September 22, 2010, Atlantic University Sport and Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced the Uteck Bowl will take place at the Moncton Stadium in 2011, 2013, and 2015. 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. As every CFL stadium had an artificial surface until 2016, 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.
The stadium also plays host to university soccer games.

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.

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.

Major events

The stadium plays host to numerous events during the year. Its main events are football related, however its state of the art track also 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, British Columbia, Canada. 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. 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.
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. 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.
DateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendance
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

DateEventHome teamAway teamWinnerScoreAttendance
May 30, 2012FriendlyCanada1–07,514
August 6, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupDraw1–13,587
August 6, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupDraw1–13,587
August 9, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupDraw1–14,636
August 9, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupNigeria1–24,636
August 12, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupGhana2–14,706
August 12, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupUSA3–04,706
August 17, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupNigeria4–13,588
August 20, 20142014 FIFA U-20 Women's World CupNigeria2–64,871
June 9, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group FFrance1–011,686
June 9, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group FDraw1–111,686
June 13, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group FColombia0-213,138
June 13, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group FEngland2-113,138
June 15, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group BNorway1-37,147
June 17, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Group EBrazil0-19,543
June 21, 20152015 FIFA Women's World Cup Round of 16Australia0-112,054

DateEventAttendanceNotesWebsite link
July 2–4, 20102010 Canadian Junior Championships in AthleticsN/A
July 19–25, 20102010 World Junior Championships in Athletics75,000
2013Canadian Track and Field ChampionshipsN/A
2014Canadian Track and Field ChampionshipsN/A

DateEventAttendanceNotes
November 23, 2009Olympic Flame In Moncton12,000First event in the stadium
September 4, 2016AtlanticFest 2016N/AMusic festival