When I lived in Winnipeg, I took in Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Canadian Football League) games and concerts at the old Winnipeg Stadium in St. James. It has since been torn down. I finally got to visit Princess Auto Stadium (previously Investor Group Field) a couple of times last month. Canada Day celebrations were happening here for free. A few days later, I took in a Bombers game on a Friday evening. This stadium is home of Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Valour FC, and University of Manitoba Bison. It's a football sandwich with soccer as the filling. It's located on the University of Manitoba campus. Canada Day celebrations consisted of various Canadian music acts playing for roughly an hour. It was a rainy day. The rain held off when I was there for a few hours. I parked in a lot across from this stadium on Chancellor Matheson Road. Parking was free. I got a decent spot. It is a bit crazy crossing the street, as you are essentially jaywalking. Pack some patience. I entered through the nearest gate. I liked seeing the Bombers Hall of Fame names. I spent a lot of time looking at the names. Seeing Khari Jones (2008) and Milt Stegall (2009) made me happy. They were and remain the best quarterback-receiver duo ever in Bombers history. The man at the gate was nice. He said that I didn't have to show my free ticket barcode. Instead, I could just go in. Nice! The stadium is spectacular. It's so much nicer than the old one. It looked good even on a gloomy day! I found a seat and took in roughly three acts. I called it quits at around 8 pm. I had had a long day (I woke up at 4:30 am to travel to Winnipeg). There was also a threat of thunderstorms, which did affect the fireworks display at 10:30 pm. I also wanted dinner, but not from a concession stand. Before I left, I did hit a mini Bomber Store and got a t-shirt for $24. Lindy was the associate who helped me with my purchase. I paid with a credit card. I got my receipt and waved off getting a plastic bag. I thanked him and headed to my car. I was debating whether I wanted to see the Bombers play. At this point, the team had lost every single game. Would the team bomb (pun intended) again or would I be their lucky charm? It was a hot, humid day. I had to. I had paid for parking. Trying to find where to park with a gold pass was interesting. I had one staffer said to head east. I did. I parked in lot W (W for win?) and took a leisurely walk over to the stadium. There were activities for kids and tailgating fun for adults. It was cool. I entered through gate 3. I had my barcode scanned. Done! I got a level 200 seat. I didn't break the bank. I was so happy with where I was. It was shaded and I had a good view of the Bombers hitting the field and more. I took the elevator to the second floor. A male staffer was operating it. When I left the stadium, I walked down stairs. It was great. The food here was yummy and prices were decent. I wish that there were more sugar-free options. The concession stand that I visited only had Pepsi. It needs Pepsi zero or Diet Pepsi. The drink was cold. I got a bag (a heap) of popcorn for $5. It was a good deal. I didn't finish it. The bag was larger than it looked. I brought it back to the apartment. I felt comfortable in my seat. There was a holder for my drink. I find that Winnipeggers aren't great at excusing themselves so that they can walk past you. The woman next to me literally went in front of me and kicked me with her foot. When she came back, I directly told her to stop. I got up so she wouldn't kick me with likely the other foot. I was not happy and made that fact known to her boyfriend who had manners. Bombers fans are loud. They still are. It was great! It was a tight game between the Bombers and RedBlacks. The home team won its first game of the season. I was their good luck charm. I'm sticking with it! I ended up visiting the main Bomber Store after the game. Staff were super helpful and nice, asking me if I needed any help and also letting me figure out what I wanted. I got my second t-shirt from this store. I loved the feel of it. The woman at the checkout was great. She gave me a bag for my t-shirt. I paid with a credit card. The transaction was smooth. I thanked her and took my time walking back to my rental vehicle. The women's washroom was clean. There was a bit of a wait after the game. I was briefly a graduate student at this university. It felt both familiar and different as I walked to the parking lot. Things have changed building-wise, but it threw me back to being a student walking towards the Winnipeg Transit bus stops. It's how I used to get to and from the university. There was a bit of congestion getting off-campus. It was a single lane in either direction. I thought that my visiting the Bomber Store would help a bit. It still took ten minutes to reach Pembina Highway. It was cool dropping by twice. I had a terrific experiences on the whole. (303) read more

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I went to my first Bombers game a couple Fridays ago. Living downtown, I like the location as it's a straight shot on the Blue bus from home; I got to the stadium in about 20-25 mins. My first reaction to the stadium was that the concourse is very cramped. It definitely felt like the concourse at Canada Life Centre is wider than IGF, despite the capacity being over 50% less. It definitely made for a suboptimal experience when I went to find food before the game and drinks during halftime. The experience in the stands, on the other hand, was amazing. The Blue Bombers are billed as the loudest fans in the CFL, and I can see why with all the cowbells and acoustics there. I highly recommend wearing earplugs if you're prone to loud noises or hearing problems. Food options are pretty decent and, if I'm to be honest, reasonably priced for stadiums. Shawarma Khan seems to be the go-to for many fans when I was there. If the concourse was less cramped this would be an amazing stadium. Sadly given that experience I believe a 3-star rating is more than reasonable. read more

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At the stadium this past weekend for the FIFA Women's World Cup, and had a blast. It was a solid venue. The city and the staff put forth a great venue, and everything from the parking situation to the public transit to the stadium were well done. Stadium and location are beautiful, that's for sure. I won't complain about the FIFA stuff too much, as they're going to get a separate email shortly, but, the stadium itself had some amazing sight lines to the game, it was open and the breezes were flowing through very nicely on a hot summer day, and the place has enough bathrooms for the capacity crowd. However, the concourse is VERY cramped. At halftime, it's butts to nuts kind of packed where you're hard pressed to a guard rail on the edge if you want to stand up there. This is a mix of the food vendor's lines going deep into the concourse, and they just aren't very wide around the sides of the stadium. That made it a very irritating situation. Food wasn't overly good, wasn't bad, and wasn't over priced - shockingly. I won't get into the merchandise situation too much here, as I'm not sure if that's a FIFA thing or the stadium, but, it was terrible. Awful lines and worse yet, awful staff doing nothing about it. Worse yet, it was almost 90 out, and only a couple of drinking fountains/refill stations for water bottles made things brutal. I shit you not, we stood in line for over an hour just to refill a water bottle. No exaggeration, and no over estimate. It was a solid freaking hour between the Australia/Nigeria match and the US/Sweden match. Just terrible. Overall, it was a good venue location, but, definitely needed some client service help in order to make it a better fan experience from line control to simply having more water stations on a day where people literally passed out from heat exhaustion (not kidding, the EMTs were busy on this day with people - at least twice we seen EMTs working on someone who fainted). Sticking with the ratings, I've experienced way better stadium/arena service environments. Beautiful place, easy to get to and find, but, the in stadium experience was totally forgettable and took away from an incredible event, which you never want an arena or stadium to do. read more

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I can't believe there is only one review here. As a huge CFL fan, I just had to come out and see what this stadium had to offer, and made the trip from Calgary in November 2013, coincidentally seeing an old Army buddy and his family in the process. I have been to games at McMahon, Commonwealth Field, and here, so I can't say that this is the best stadium in Canada - particularly with Tim Hortons in Hamilton and TD Place in Ottawa newly opened, but I can say that I was extremely impressed with the facility and think it has to be a world class arena, particularly for Canadian football. Most importantly, perhaps, is what the Winnipeg fans bring to the stadium. I am a Stampeders fan, but really am a fan of the whole league and have a great deal of respect for the Winnipeggers who come out and make the building rock for every home game. I was very happy to come out and sit with some very enthusiastic Blue Bomber fans and it is they who make the stadium a living and vibrant place to go. The design of the stadium certainly helps, much like the stadium in Seattle, with the curved roof sections that channel the noise and energy back down into the stands. A great place to experience CFL football. read more

Princess Auto Stadium - Investors Group Field, photographed in November 2013 during the last regular season game for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Winnipeg, Manitoba

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IGF (Investors Group Field) is the Number 1 Venue of any kind in Canada. It could be described as a smaller version of CenturyLink Field (Home of the Seattle SeaHawks) The 2 Massive Canopies Covering either grand stand create an intimate venue that isn't found anywhere else in Canada. In the stadiums short existence it has hosted 2 and a half seasons of CFL football and 7 FIFA Women's World Cup Matches. In the future the stadium well host The Grey Cup (Canada's Version of the SuperBowl) and an outdoor NHL Game Between The HomeTown Winnipeg Jets and a ToBeDetermined Team. A NFL Calibre Stadium which well be included in Canada's Bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Investors Group Field Home Of The CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and University of Manitoba Bisons Football Club is simply one of the best venues out there. Personally I have attended 1 Concert(Paul Mccartney), 4 CFL Games and 3 FIFA soccer Matches. The Venue Itself is Worth The Price Of admission, if I was you I would take any chance I could get to visit the stadium and watch one of the Greta sporting events that take place or any of the World Class Musical Acts from Around the World read more

"Get to the game EARLY to get best parking!" Investors Group Field is home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL), U of Manitoba Bisons football team, and the Winnipeg Rifles (Can. Junior Football League). It's also going to be one of the venues for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup!! No cover as of yet, but when the winter rolls around, IGF is covered and can be used for recreational games/training/concerts. There are many food and drink venues and the facility boasts wheelchair accessibility. That said, my mother has mobility issues (a walker) and has been a season ticket holder for over 20 years (same seats), and when IGF opened, she and my dad had to change seats to accommodate her. She says the accessible area isn't as primo as what she and dad are used to, so that's a bummer and a disappointment. The larger seats are sweet. Though I'm a shorty and don't need the leg room, I'm told by my tallo friends that the increased leg room is appreciated. I LOVE the giant HD Boards -- makes everything on the screen, and indeed the event (whether it's sport or live entertainment), seem so important! I love that there are a lot of food and venues to choose from, but I miss being able to bring in my own Twizzlers and pop. If you bring food and drink, be prepared to be searched at the door, and to lose your goods. And don't imagine for a second you can get away with sneaking something in. My parents and their friends, who brought snacks because they have diet restrictions, had their food and drinks taken and thrown out before their eyes! In my opinion, taking restricted diet snacks from an older adult is on the same level as taking candy from a baby (though you might have a bigger fight). Not cool IGF. read more

Horrible location for a Winnipeg's sports team Will take you almost 20 minutes to buy a beer and almost 10 minutes just to go to the bathroom. The concourse is VERY small. What a waste of money. Should have kept it by polo park read more

IG stadium is one of the best in Canada for layout and acoustics. Management has solved the traffic issues and parking. There is even a free bike valet service. Most of the friendly staff you will meet are volunteers(fan ambassadors). read more