Percival Molson Memorial Stadium — Attraction in Montreal

The venue cannot be judged without also taking into account the team that calls it home, as the team that plays there effects one's enjoyment of visiting the venue. I will say the the venue has a beautiful backdrop when sitting on the South side of the field, looking out at Mount Royal in the background, as the sun sets behind it, is truly gorgeous. But that was all that was good about my visit last night aside from the company I spent it with. The venue is clearly dated when compared to the rest of the Stadiums in the league. The stands, the "jumbo" screen, and the rest of the amenities. The food is the same, and while the team is practiacally giving away tickets (as low as $14 in some cases) it's a little surprising when two beer at a minimum of $7 equal the value of your ticket. While beer prices are slightly better than the Centre Bell, its still not much of a help on a loyal fan's wallet when the rest of the menu is dated, mediocore, as well as overpriced (as bad as the Centre Bell: $4.50 for a water anyone?). Now a fan can, and we have been able, to deal with and look past all of the flaws with the venue in the past; when the product on the field was at least somewhat entertaining to watch. In a 56-10 loss for the home team on home opening night... well you can imagine how entertaining the team actually was. Eveything tastes and looks better when a team is winning but it's a lot easier to look behind the curtain when they're not. The home opener as an event was also a dud, the stadium was quite vacant at the beginning and even more so by half time. The cuts to the fans enterainment by the ownership also stood out when compared to last years home opener. No fan competition to catch a ball and win anything before the gam; no jets flying over the Stadium; no big helmet for the team to run out through like in years passed; no special fan zone on some crane lift or whatever that thing was last year; a half-time "show" which consisted of a singular song from some band no one had heard of and the microphone for the vocalist didn't work for the first 30 seconds and overall poor sound quality. They couldn't even to pay for the advertisement along the field to be printed in colour. I don't believe it was ever even mentioned that this was the home opener for the team. An uncompetitive, uninspired, boring team drags down every other aspect of attending a Montreal Alouettes home game. If your a Montrealer or a tourist, there are plenty of other more entertaining and less costly experiences, especially during the summertime, that Montreal has to offer. Oh, and if you're going to see the away team play, don't be too startled when your cheers echo throughout the stadium, over a depressed and mute crowd of Montreal...

The good: 1- Great seating 2- Beautiful stadium with lovely views of Montreal (bridge, skyline, Mount-Royal)! 3- Stadium kept clean 4- Helpful staff

The bad: 1- Location: Parking is grossly inadequate for the purpose of the stadium (hosting Alouettes games). We were advised to come 90 minutes before the game if we wanted to park there. This isn't even necessary for domestic flights! That's good management to advise us of this but poor planning to not have figured out a more efficient way to provide parking. Furthermore, there is no metro station that is within 5 minutes walking distance. STM does a decent job at providing a shuttle service but it's just a patch on the fact that this stadium isn't well located. 2- Space management around the concessions: not enough room to service people. Lines get too long and people can't walk around. Either there was never enough space or the concessions aren't quick enough or they're badly placed. Whatever the reason, it just...

Absolutely love our team and love the stadium — the atmosphere is just fantastic! It’s always such an exciting experience being there, cheering with the crowd, and soaking it all in.

The only thing that could use a bit of improvement is the food map. A few of the food stands listed on the website and map were impossible to find (I never did find them), and when I asked staff for help, some didn’t know what I was talking about — even when I showed them the kiosk map. A couple of others told me to ask someone else because they were on break. That said, the people working at the kiosks I did visit were super friendly and helpful.

Not being able to find what I was looking for didn’t take away from the experience though. I still love going to our games and will keep coming...