McMahon Stadium is a Canadian football stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The stadium is owned by the University of Calgary and operated by the McMahon Stadium Society. The stadium is between the downtown core and the University of Calgary, north of 16 Avenue NW between Crowchild Trail and University Drive. It is within walking distance of the Banff Trail C-Train station. It is the home venue for the University of Calgary Dinos, Calgary Colts of the Canadian Junior Football League, Calgary Gators and Calgary Wolfpack of the Alberta Football League, and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, who played at Mewata Stadium from 1935 to 1959. The stadium also was the open-air venue (as an ice rink) for the National Hockey League's 2011 Heritage Classic match between the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens. The stadium was also the location of the 1988 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, serving as the Olympic Stadium. History From 1945 to 1960, the Calgary Stampeders and other athletic organizations operated out of the Mewata Park Stadium, a 10,000-person facility, which was expanded to 16,700 located in the Downtown west end. An early proposal for a new stadium came in 1954 when the Stampeders proposed a new 20,000-person facility south of Victoria Park. The rush for a new stadium came with construction of a new bridge for 14th Street, which was believed to require land adjacent to the Mewata Park Stadium. The Victoria Park Stadium proposal had limited support from the Calgary Stampede and Exhibition board. In February 1957, it was announced that a new stadium was planned near the University of Alberta (Calgary) with an estimated cost of $1 million. The planning sketches detailed a 20,000-person facility on an tract of land near the site of a tract of land set aside for the university. The initial plan sought financing through provincially or city issued bonds. The city and province failed to back the stadium plan. On January 1, 1960, the team General Manager Jim Finks, play-by-play commentator Eric Bishop and Calgary Herald columnist Gorde Hunter approached the McMahon brothers to finance the stadium, which they agreed to. The stadium was designed by architect Peter Rule and constructed by Red Dutton's firm Burns and Dutton Concrete and Construction Company on the then University of Alberta (Calgary) campus using pre-cast concrete over 103 days with groundbreaking beginning on April 4, 1960, for a