Nat Bailey Stadium

Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium, also known as The Nat, is a baseball stadium in western Canada, located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is home to the Vancouver Canadians of the High-A classification Northwest League.

Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium

The Nat
circa 2006
Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium Location within British Columbia Show map of British Columbia Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium Location within Canada Show map of Canada
Former names	Capilano Stadium (1951–1978) Nat Bailey Stadium (1978–2009, 2021–2022) Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium (2010–2020)
Address	4601 Ontario Street Vancouver, British Columbia V5V 3H4 Canada
Coordinates	49.2431°N 123.1063°W / 49.2431; -123.1063
Owner	City of Vancouver
Operator	City of Vancouver
Capacity	6,500
Field size	Left field: 320 ft (98 m) Centre field: 385 ft (117 m) Right field: 330 ft (100 m) Backstop: 30 ft (9 m)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	1951
Opened	July 15, 1951 (74 years ago) (1951-07-15)
Construction cost	C$550,000 ($6.26 million in 2023[1])
Architect	William Aitken[2]
Tenants
Vancouver Capilanos (WIL) 1951–1954 Vancouver Mounties (PCL) 1956–1962, 1965–1969 Vancouver Canadians (PCL) 1978–1999 UBC Thunderbirds (NAIA) 2000–2010 Vancouver Canadians (NWL) 2000–present

The grandstand at Nat Bailey Stadium

Stadium history

The stadium is located in Hillcrest Park immediately north-east of Queen Elizabeth Park in the Riley Park neighbourhood of Vancouver. It replaced Athletic Park, which had opened in 1913. Originally built in 1951 as Capilano Stadium, it was posthumously renamed Nat Bailey Stadium in 1978 for Vancouver restaurateur (and founder of the White Spot restaurant chain) Nat Bailey to honour his effort to promote baseball in Vancouver. On June 16, 2010, Scotiabank and the Vancouver Canadians announced a naming rights agreement that led to the name Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium until that agreement ended in 2019 and the stadium reverted to its prior name.^{[3][4][failed verification]}

The stadium was first home to the Vancouver Capilanos in the early 1950s and later attracted the Oakland Oaks, who became the Vancouver Mounties of the Triple-A classification Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1956 to 1962 and 1965 through 1969. The PCL returned to Vancouver in 1978 with the Vancouver Canadians, owned by Harry Ornest. He purchased most of the primary assets of Sick's Stadium in Seattle and shipped them north for use at Nat Bailey.^[5] The Canadians stayed in Vancouver through the 1999 season, then relocated south to Sacramento, California, as the Sacramento River Cats. The following season, a second incarnation of the Canadians began playing in the Class A Short Season Northwest League. In 2021, they were elevated to the High-A classification.

The stadium's seating capacity is 6,500. In 2019, the Canadians led their classification in attendance and outdrew Vancouver's former Triple-A team.^[6]

The Canadians ownership signed a long term lease at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium in February 2007. They significantly improved and modernized the stadium while also restoring parts of the park to its original 1951 condition.^[7]

In April 2023, team officials announced that Rogers Communications had acquired the naming rights to the stadium in an agreement through the 2027 season. The stadium was then renamed to Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.^[8]

Bud Kerr Baseball Museum

The Bud Kerr Baseball Museum is located inside Nat Bailey Stadium within the stadium concourse along the third base side. The museum, which opened on June 18, 2008, is dedicated to the more than sixty years of baseball that have been played in the stadium.^[9] The museum is named for Bud Kerr, the team's official historian until his death in 2009,^[10] and celebrates the players who have spent part of their careers there, including Rich Harden, Sammy Sosa, and Tim Raines, who helped open the museum.^[11][9]

In fiction

The stadium was used as the home of the fictional Santa Barbara Seabirds Class A minor league team in the "Dead Man's Curveball" episode of the television series Psych. It was also used as the home of the fictional Seacouver Chiefs in the "Manhunt" episode of Highlander: The Series. Additionally, was the setting for a scene between MacGyver and Reggie Jackson in the MacGyver episode "Squeeze Play".^[12]