Concert industry leviathan Live Nation is constructing Canada’s largest purpose-built concert venue.
What happened: Rogers Stadium — not to be confused with Rogers Centre — is set to open next June in Toronto with a capacity of 50,000.
- The stadium is to be built at the site of the long-decommissioned Downsview Airport. The developers that own the land were originally going to use it as a movie studio lot.
- Live Nation expects it to cost in the “tens of millions” and host 12 to 15 concerts a year. However, it will only exist for five-ish years before the land is used for housing.
Why it matters: Artists are increasingly turning to stadium tours to turn a profit. This leaves Canada at a disadvantage as it lacks the truly huge venues that the world’s biggest superstars want to perform at — and those that do exist have to accommodate sports teams.
- The five-year run of Rogers Stadium will determine the viability of giant purpose-built concert venues and their ability to lure in artists who might otherwise skip Canada.
Yes, but: There was a rash of undersold concerts and tour cancellations this past summer as cash-strapped music lovers pulled back. The bottom could potentially fall out on the globetrotting mega-stadium tour model (and be replaced by the safe bet, residencies).—QH