Montreal's Iconic Olympic Stadium from 1976

Olympic Stadium (nicknamed 'The Big O') is undeniably Montreal's most contentious landmark. Built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, this iconic structure was plagued with construction issues from day 1, due to poor soil conditions, an extremely complicated design, rampant corruption, political mismanagement and cost overruns that plunged the city into a billion dollar debt that took 30 years to pay off. Today however, the stadium is regarded by many as a masterpiece of Modern architecture and the legacy of the '76 Olympics can be found throughout the district the stadium now anchors, featuring a wide variety of activities and tourist attractions which draws more than 3 million people every year.
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So, do you love it or hate it?

[@ArnaudJoakim]

Love it!

[@cariopuppetmaster]

I love how bad it is!

[@patprop74]

As a Canadian that lived In Montreal and now resides just outside the city, I am both proud of Maire Jean Drapeau vision and at the same time ashamed of the greed of the Unions that are still very much in operation to this day, they should have all gone to prison for what they robbed from Quebecois and Canadian which were known for "Get the job done pride!" If not for them, Maire Drapeau's plan of getting paid off swiftly would have worked, and the stadium would have been finished in time. Sadly the whole Greed fiasco changed Canada and its pride in hosting worldly events.

[@SkyOfTheUniverse]

I love it. 1:50 is me by the way

[@jorgeponce5512]

Love it. Attended an Expos vs Marlins game in 2000. And the 1976 Olympics were fantastic.

[@natedole8276]

I personally think the building is BEAUTIFUL having seen it in person.

[@aubsta1]

Used to go watch the Expos au Stade Olympique back in the days. I also spent many weekends watching bicycle races at the Velodrome!

[@frankiesab777]

Apart from the Stadium construction issues, the 76 Olympics were very sucessfull. I was 13 years old, I have fund memories of this epic event.

[@darickymeister]

Me too! I was there in '76

[@quiricomazarin476]

Lol François 😆....j'ai trou ver le stade ?(owe)ssi .

[@frankiesab777]

@@quiricomazarin476 Cool...

[@user-qv2ur2bw3z]

Really why then did it take years for the Canadian Tax Payer to pay off the debts for the games it was a waste of money for nothing I hope Toronto never gets the summer games it was a cluster F&6K with the Pan-Am games again another waste of good money it pissed off the population with traffic screwups and a transit system that couldn't handle the extra people on the system and I should know I was a TTC employee during the games.

[@Shooter4547]

Spent the Summer of ‘86 in Montreal. Absolutely loved everything. Went to a dozen Expos games and they were awesome & fun. No roof, cool nights, cold Labatt’s. I remember that distinct sound during games & the blasts of the vuvuzela’s & many chien chaud. Great times.

[@Whosthatguy8995]

The first time I saw the stadium was 23 years ago and my impression was that it was a spaceship from out of space. I hope it becomes a protected landmark.

[@ChatGPT1111]

I was 16 when we went there from Los Angeles in '76. Saw the Queen and Jenner's Decathalon, quite an experience. I was in awe of both their stadium (LA had the comparatively modest '32 Stadium) and I also loved their incredible Metro system, which L.A. didn't get for decades.

[@NazriB]

Lies again? Watching My Mom Go Black

[@Zebra_3]

LA had trolleys, the tunnels have been closed off.

[@jaymalamute5730]

Never seen it in person, but I sure would love to visit it one of these days, see it from both outside and inside!

[@cnlicnli]

I was 12-years old when my family and I attended one of the last days of the 1976 Olympics track & field competition (it was raining intermittently). We were seated way up in the Olympic Stadium, at the running track’s bend, and at the far end of the tower. I felt embarrassed seeing the unfinished tower constantly staring at me. *However, we had great seats to see Canada’s-own Greg Joy earn a silver medal in the high jump! That was a highlight for everyone!* I'm glad the tower was finally completed. I still have several original Montréal 1976 Olympic posters!

[@AY-uf4oz]

A number of years ago, when the stadium had (and still has) few tenants, a survey asked Montrealers what they should do with the stadium. But they actually had to specify that you were not allowed to answer "blow it up" because they knew this would be the main answer. I'm not kidding.

[@ursulacatherinejohnson7411]

Outstanding video! Love this historical presentation and the changes made throughout time to the present.

[@penelop96]

Yes there were huge cost overruns but the end result is an iconic world famous architectural masterpiece. It is beautiful and a marvel to look at. How many other cities that have hosted Olympics can make that claim ? Saying it should be torn down amounts to the same as saying Egypt should tear down the Pyramids or Rome its Coliseum.

Yes! Beautifully said!

[@LordDavid04]

Put a new modern retractable roof and revert capacity to over 70,000 without the track in rectangular legacy mode. With of course renovations to concessions and toilets, etc. Home of the Alouettes. Should the city want a large baseball stadium to bring back the Expos, may that come later down the road.

[@joeybagadonuts5774]

Being born in Montreal I was very little when the Olympics were being held. I remember making my way to my first Expos Game in the early 80's as a kid, it was such a long Metro Ride, but was exciting to be there. When I went back as an teen and an adult it really hit how unnecessarily big this place was and the seats were so far away. My thoughts on demolishing it? Mixed. It's part of my childhood and cost a lot of people a lot of money. Haven't been back in almost 30 years to that stadium, but I will never forget the Big 'O'. Nice video!

[@SaintFluffySnow]

back in 1976, the Olympic stadium still had no roof there was a construction worker strike, too even in the early 1980's, no roof it remained open topped for a long time and I referred to it as the spikey toilet bowl seat

[@michelbergeron206]

I’ve worked to build the stadium and many things happened, beau documentaire mon ami

Trop cool, Merci Michel!

[@quiricomazarin476]

That before you coached the nordiques Michel?

[@SkateboardRanch]

Was happily surprised to see some of my footage in there and then really impressed you listed all your source! Great work on gathering all those bits and pieces of history. Stumbled on tou Expo67 video and then i followed with this one. Will keep watching more! 😊

I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your support it really means a lot!

[@DroneWorldbelo]

Hey Awesome Video I’m glad I made the cut. Thank you please make more. Your our favourite channel keep it up bro :)

Thank you so much! Love your channel keep up the great work😍

[@Minominemi]

Loved it a lot.

[@disneyplay4]

Nice

[@diamonddog13]

Very surprising to see a 28 minute video about the Big O and not a single mention of the Expos.

[@marcsimbrow8836]

MONTRÈAL WAS MY FIRST OLYMPICS MARCHING IN WAS FANTASTIC

[@TheElvisgratton]

comme j'ai tout le temps dis s'est Jean Drapeau qui a mis Montréal sur la map mais a quel prix, ostie qui nous a coûter chère avec son stade

[@jeffreylasky2737]

Very well done piece. From an outsider like myself who has no ties to Montreal or Canada it does seem you went out of your way to not mention the 500l pound gorilla in the room. The Montreal Expos They were the longest tenet of the facility and left due to lack of attention to the stadium while they held 81 dates a year for over 20 years

[@patprop74]

Well, Yeh the Expos, lol I never really understood that one tbh, Canadians or more to the point, Quebecois were not and still not all that big into Baseball. they should have used it as an Athletic training facility for Canada's Olympians and maybe, just maybe we would do better in the Olympics haha

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

It was always falling apart.

[@antonboludo8886]

@@patprop74 Apart from ice hockey, Montrealers only support winning teams. When the Expos were doing well, the Olympic was packed. We had even lost our CFL team for a number of years.

[@nanskiboutski243]

Jackie Robinson

[@maryrafuse3851]

So much like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The first generations after its construction did not appreciate its significance either. Now we love the Eiffel Tower and younger Canadians and New Canadians love and appreciate the Big O. Be honest, it is ultra cool.

Well said 👍

[@manuelgrothe608]

If the new TB Rays Ballpark fails, in 2027 is Montreal, Quebec’s turn for Major League Baseball in 🇨🇦 ⚾️

[@AliciaInNevada]

Imagine if Toronto and Montreal gets to joint host the 2036 Sumer Olympics

Let’s go!!

[@rwcrsarrc]

Hosting Olympics is tax payer abuse- no thanks

[@Zebra_3]

@ let's not.

[@SkyOfTheUniverse]

1:50 is me

Love your channel SOTU!

[@kevindohn6776]

Yes it's an amazing looking building, and if it had been built on time and within budget, it would have been a huge success, instead it just symbolizes greed and corruption and a big waste of way too much money, and stories of chunks of concrete falling from the roof, that's just ridiculous !!

[@s18169ex3]

Not only is it tall and height it is also one of the biggest expenses and white elephants in Canada

[@niftydom]

It's a money pit and butt ugly!! lol

[@MaxwellWarawa]

It was great when the Alouettes played there, but it still had very cavernous concourses. Grey Cup games played there were rocking though.

[@rockvilleraven]

They're better off in the cozy confines of Molson Stadium at McGill, in fact it was a U2 Concert that moved them there, and when they kickoff on Sundays, they play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" as a thank you.

[@MaxwellWarawa]

@@rockvilleraven yeah definitely better than the big O, seen countless amounts of game in both and McGill is better, hate the rebrand though. Makes the stadium look drab.

[@rockvilleraven]

@@MaxwellWarawa The Als were the team I used to root for back when the CFL had US Expansion in Baltimore, had the Original Browns not moved to Baltimore, that city would have hosted the Grey Cup in 1997 being the first American city that could have that honor.

[@manuelgrothe608]

The Mayor of Montreal, Quebec and the Commissioner of Major League Baseball from Manhattan, New York should negotiate with agreement terms for the future of Montreal, Quebec 🇨🇦 ⚾️

[@amtlpaul]

You know, the admirers and the detractors are both right

[@antonboludo8886]

Many people under 35 who were born in Montreal of course know the Olympic Stadium, but do not know it was built because Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976. They did not make the connection. They do not know the Olympics were held here.

[@francoisdelanauze8008]

i have sold small reproduction of the stadium on the site in 1976 ! i was 12 years old :-)

That’s so cool!

[@juicyjay1847]

👍

[@kuladeeluxe]

Saw Pink Floyd there. Sound wasn't great. Saw a double header baseball game. Now that was tedious. Great for the car show though.

[@dennisproulx3215]

Le Stade Olympique: C’est cher Mais beaux! Est-il pret pour une tremblement de la terre?

[@MichaelSIngle-gn9qz]

The Big Owe!!!!!!

[@loicmartin219]

Notice the reporters complanining about the cost are from NYC and Toronto. Both cities are jealous they never had the games

😂😂😂

[@egemensentin]

Adrienne Clarkson is from Ottawa, but your point still stands 😂

[@Zebra_3]

@@egemensentin she lives in her own world.

[@kylerittenhouse5426]

2:44 he's right.

[@victorjr9341]

It's unique and ''I'' paid for it, as a smoker 😎

Thank you!!

[@Mike12522]

I've sat in the stadium, and worried greatly about the thousands of tons of unsupported concrete arches over everybody. I believe they never did get the foldable roof to work ever. A useless design. I heard that when the interior concrete sections were installed, the last section didn't fit ! It held all the electrical and communication cables. A huge cutting and repair job had to be done. A total disaster and waste of money all around.

[@Milnoc]

This is my Montreal love/hate item. I want to love it, but it was expensive, has a checkered history, and is structurally questionable. At the very least, it served as a warning to other cities considering hosting the Olympic Games that the costs alone can spiral out of control very fast. And that's not including the massive amount of corruption that permeated the work site. A lot of homes were built with the buildings materials destined for the stadium. The popular joke was in one door and out the other.

[@chrissmith1521]

I remember lottery tickets became legal to help pay for this.

[@JeSuisHulk]

When Montrealer's still had dreams.

[@buckyschwartz]

It looks pretty, but it's a horrible venue to watch any kind of event in. The stands are REALLY far from whatever field it's configured as (football, baseball, soccer...) and when the Expos baseball team played there, you could barely hear the crack of a bat. The sound at concerts is horrible, and if you aren't sitting near the stage, it is so tiny it looks like it's in a different time zone. As to whether it's a "...source of national pride...", I don't think so.

[@antonboludo8886]

Montreal hosted the Olympics?

No. All of this was made up.

[@antonboludo8886]

I was kidding, of course. I am from Montreal. There are actually people as old as 40 who were born here and who do not know that Montreal hosted Expo 67 and the Olympic Games in 1976. This was the time when Montreal was the most important city in Canada, before being surpassed by Toronto after 1976. Toronto up to then was largely unknown.Today it is the opposite: many people from foreign countries have barely heard of Montreal, let alone know that it largely French-speaking. Things change... @

[@deezznuttzz]

Shameful. Not a single mention of the stadium's predominant tenant for nearly 20 years. Unbelievable really.

27 years actually, you could always check out our in-depth Expos video on this channel!

[@loicmartin219]

They were not that expensive. Not even in the Top 10 most expensive games. In today's value in Billions. Sochi 56, Bejiing 53, Athens 21, Tokyo 20, London 16, Barcelona 15, Rio 14, Pyeongchang 13, Seoul 9, Vancouver 8, Moscow 6, Mtl 5

Montreal’s cost overruns were 720% more than the original budget, the highest of all time but yes in actual dollars there were other cities who had more expensive games since.

[@loicmartin219]

@ True, Drapeau wanted to project approved. Realistically, nobody could the have the Olympics for 120 M

[@mariannaklement5851]

La musique est trop forte et dérangeante, je n'entends pas la moitié

[@ch-we7tt]

here is better than Tokyo

How so?

[@joenroute9646]

Feux monsieur Tallibert

[@LuisMiguel-sm5hr]

We are still paying for that, what a joke

🤦‍♂️ The stadium was paid off in 2006.

[@LuisMiguel-sm5hr]

We are paying in other ways. Are you protecting the great dictatorship in our government, it’s funnyhere government can not tell me what to speak!

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

"Iconic" is code for piece of expensive crap.