How SkyDome came to be
SkyDome opened in downtown Toronto on June 3, 1989, next to the CN Tower. It was designed by architect Rod Robbie with structural engineer Michael Allen, and cost roughly C$500 to 600 million depending on the source. It is widely credited as the first stadium with a fully retractable motorized roof. The Toronto Blue Jays played their first game there on June 5, 1989.
How the roof works
The roof has four panels of steel trusses: one fixed panel on the north side and three that move. They travel on rails, driven by electric motors, and the roof takes about 20 minutes to fully open or close. Opened, it exposes the field to the sky; closed, it turns the building into an indoor stadium. It is about 31 stories high at its peak.
Why the roof is open or closed
There is no published rule. The Blue Jays decide roughly 90 minutes before first pitch, weighing cold, rain and wind. For concerts and shows the roof is normally kept closed because of stage rigging. This site predicts the call from the weather, and once a game starts it shows the roof status reported by MLB. See the roof history for the result of every home game since 2024, or today's answer.
A few landmarks
- 1991: hosted the MLB All-Star Game.
- 1992 and 1993: hosted World Series games as the Blue Jays won back-to-back championships.
- 1990 and 2002: hosted WrestleMania VI and WrestleMania X8.
- February 2005: renamed Rogers Centre after Rogers Communications bought the building.
- 2016: a full dirt infield replaced the sliding pits used for the previous six seasons.
- 2022 to 2025: a major renovation of the seating bowl, reducing capacity to about 39,000 for baseball.
- 2025: hosted games of the World Series.
Sources: Wikipedia's Rogers Centre article and Ballparks of Baseball. Figures such as cost vary between sources.