DESIGN INTENT
McMahon Stadium is a Calgary landmark and home to the CFL’s Stampeders and the University of Calgary Dinos. By 2025 the playing surface had reached the end of its life, and the field was configured for Canadian football rather than the wider dimensions international soccer and rugby require. McMahon Stadium Society, with the University of Calgary, retained NAK Design Strategies to manage a full field of play renovation.
NAK expanded the field and delivered a surface certified for CFL, U Sports, FIFA women’s soccer, and World Rugby, along with NCAA and NFL goal post configurations. The 100,000 square foot renovation carried a $2.6M development value and was delivered through the winter of 2025 to 2026, ready for competition in the spring.
NAK’s central contribution was bringing several codes of sport onto a single field. The existing surface was configured for the CFL and functioned as a non-optimal FIFA pitch. NAK expanded the field of play to the greater width that international soccer and rugby require, then reconciled playing dimensions and line markings for four sanctioning bodies on one surface.
The completed field is certified for CFL, U Sports, FIFA women’s soccer, and World Rugby, and carries NCAA and NFL goal post configurations. Combining the rules of every code on a single field was the project’s defining technical challenge.
