Ceremonies Venues

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will be held in BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver. This will also be the site for nightly Victory Ceremonies presentations.

BC Place Stadium will seat approximately 55,000 spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies and features the largest air-supported stadium roof in North America. The enclosed venue offers many advantages in addition to protection from winter weather, including an unprecedented opportunity to stretch the boundaries of ceremonies’ spectacle using state-of-the-art lighting, projection, sound and special effects technology.

Construction Update

BC Place Stadium will receive general upgrades, including accessibility enhancements. Preliminary venue preparation will take place starting in August 2009, with related activities scheduled around existing building uses.

In addition to Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium, nightly Victory Ceremonies presentations for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be held at an outdoor celebration plaza created in Whistler’s town centre.

The Whistler Celebration Site will be a legacy of the 2010 Winter Games. It will feature a venue capacity of 8,000 during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designed to provide athletes, residents and visitors to the mountain community with the opportunity to recognize the achievements of each day’s medal winners, the Whistler Celebration Plaza will also provide a unique venue for the Paralympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony.