The All Access Experience

March 4^th, 2015

Did you know BC Place's High-Definition Centrehung Videoboard is the second largest of its kind in North America? Or that the floor of the BC Lion's dressing room is painted like a football field?

Lucky for you, BC Place and the BC Sports Hall of Fame have teamed up to offer behind-the-scenes tours, an All Access Experience, of BC’s premiere stadium!

Your knowledgeable tour guide will escort you through BC Place's media rooms and the beautifully appointed executive suites. You will then venture below the stands to the locker rooms of the two professional sports teams to call BC Place “Home” – the BC Lions of the CFL and Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer (when available), and finally you will know what it feels like for the players to stand field-side with a view up into the stadium(when available)!

Purchasing a tour ticket also grants you access to the BC Sports Hall of Fame, which displays the province’s greatest athletic accomplishments and memorabilia!

The All Access Experience tours typically run on Tuesday's and Wednesday's at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. As tour dates and times are subject to change, your best approach is to contact the BC Sports Hall of Fame at (604)-687-5520 or reach them by email at sportsinfo@bcsportshalloffame.com.

Tours start at the BC Sports Hall of Fame, located at Gate A of BC Place.

For ticket prices and other important tour information, head to the BC Sports Hall of Fame website!

www.bcsportshalloffame.com

Giant Conversions: How BC Place prepares BC's largest indoor venue for unique events

March 2^nd, 2015

Have you ever wondered what it takes to convert BC's largest multipurpose venue from one spectacular event to another?

Take it from us; its 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 for 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 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 in bowl advertising signage is changed to support the individual partners of the Lions and Whitecaps
• For consumer 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.

COUNTING DOWN: 100 days until kick-off of the 2015 FIFA Woman's World Cup!

February 26^th, 2015

Single match tickets have gone on sale this morning for the highly anticipated 2015 FIFA Woman's World Cup taking place at BC Place Stadium this June through July.

Today marks the 100 DAY COUNTDOWN unitl June 8th when the first 2015 FIFA match will be played in Canada!

The first match at BC Place on June 8th will see Cameroon take on Ecuador at 4pm, followed by Japan and Switzerland on the same day at 7pm.

BC Place will host another "double header" game day on June 12th when Switzerland takes on Ecuador at 4pm, and Cameroon battles with Japan later at 7pm.

To celebrate the "100 Days Countdown to FIFA Woamn's World Cup Canada 2015" soccer fans from across BC have been invited to the Vancouver International Airport. The festivities include Japanese drumming and professional soccer freestylers.

In the evening BC Place, along with other popular Vancouver landmarks, will be lighting up red to mark the special occasion.

Which FIFA matches are you most excited to see played at BC Place?