Toronto Stadium BMO Field

Discussion in 'Canada' started by Moaca, Jan 9, 2014.

  1. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    #1 Moaca, Jan 9, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2014
    Leiweke soothes TFC fan worries over BMO expansion
    John Molinaro January 9, 2014

    Like a lot of Toronto FC fans, Phil Tobin feels somewhat out of the loop.

    Tobin is president of the Red Patch Boys, one of TFC’s biggest and best-known supporters groups. He’s concerned about the possibility of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts moving into Toronto FC’s home at BMO Field.
     
  2. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    It is sending mixed messages to TFC fans about the stadium. What I find most insane is what is being proposed. It seems it would take knocking down at least half of the stadium and rebuilding it back to make room
     
  3. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
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  4. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    I have read that in the CFL circles as well and the renovations will be up over 120 Million. It does state that the MLSE will pay for maost of it but are expecting the city to also pitch in some money. I think that is where they will hit the snag.
    Over 128 million really you can almost build a whole new stadium. There are also questions that even with the seats that are placed in where the CFL end zones are that there will still not be nough room for full CFL stadium.
    Before they added the permanent concrete seats to where the CFL end zones would have been that the CFL was approached about the Argos having smaller end zones than the stadard 20 yards to to the spce availble.
    Also talking about keeping natural grass but will the National Teams still want to train on a filed that supports gridiron football as well.
    One of the big reasons that the natural grass was placed in and the concrete pured in the CFL end zones is that the CMT was very vocal about prefer Saputo's natural surface as well as it only being a soccer pitch.
    Sounds to me like the MLSE are talking out of their butts here and are already writing checks for the city of Toronto that they may not be willing to cash.
    Where did they get the 120 Million dollar reno number from has there been any official studies or is just an MLSE guess.
     
  5. fuzzx

    fuzzx Member+

    Feb 4, 2012
    Brossard
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Thanks for the
    Like Tim said in the interview, any upgrades to BMO that make it multi-use will be overwhelmingly better than building a whole new facility for the Argos, plus other uses. This is in the city's interest as well, especially if there is a revenue stream for them to recoup their money.

    Why would soccer Canada reject a facility because of a potential use? that makes no sense. The primary tenant is TFC, after spending $100 million this week I hope that's not in doubt. Whatever happens, I expect the soccer experience to be top quality.

    There is no explicit source for the $120 million, but we have been told that MLSE is going through engineering, financial and technical studies internally to figure out what the final plan is. I heard that this is suppose to take 6 months.

    Given how long we've been hearing rumors, I figure in the next 2-3 months we'll get a public unveiling.
     
  6. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    well we shall see i guess if 1. indeed that BMO has secured the funds, plans, and govt funds they think they are getting for the 120 million plus for the cost of Renos and 2. Whetger the National Soccer teams will feel comfrtable schedluing their training session around a stadium that will be used for gridiron football or go to a very similar stadium that has no gridirn football without having to change the set up back and forth for the two sports or go th a veneu inMontreal in which they already have trained at and like and also has no confilcts with the stadium being set for football for half the summer and fall.
     
  7. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    Funds should not be an issue.

    MLSE has tonnes of money. They just dropped $20 million to build a facility for their academy teams, after all. They'll want a larger stadium to hold the crowds necessary to support TFC's payroll (which isn't likely to be going down in the future). They would certainly be willing to have the city and/or the Argos pitch in, too, but they could do the whole thing on their own dime without even noticing.

    As for national team games, do you really think the CSA is going to avoid the Toronto market because the stadium is shared with a football team? If your honest answer is yes then that is something we are going to have to disagree about.
     
  8. Polygong

    Polygong Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 8, 2007
    Toronto
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    There are only two other soccer specific stadiums in the country that could hold an adequate number of people for CMNT games, Saputo in Montreal and King George V in St. John's. If they're really set on playing in a soccer specific stadium only, Saputo would probably fit the bill, but KGV is far too remote to use on a regular basis. Still, BMO has the best potential for crowd size.

    Still, I like the idea of rotating the stadiums somewhat to ensure that most of the people in this country have an opportunity to attend CMNT matches.
     
  9. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    They will certainly not aviod the Toronto Market for games but they may make Saputo their main training site is all I am saying. Maybe I am making too much of it and the city of Toronto could care less if the National teams would rather make Saputo their main training site over BMO.
    If they have all of this money to spend why even mess with a 120 million plus in Uprgades to BMO risking pissing off the BMO fans or the National teams and add the roof to BMO that seems to be the only major issue and expand their operations into another Region in the GTA and Build a new stadium for the Argos which could also be used for soccer events when needed as well as Oudoor Classic for the leafs. with the ability to expand such a stadium to NFL standards to keep that dream alive as well.
    With tons of Money having an arena for NBA and NHL, a Soccer specific stadium and a football specific stadium.
    Would that make sure that they keep everyone happy while expanding into other regions

    Every big North American city with 5 or more pro franchises have expanded at least one into another part of the metro region
     
  10. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    There is no doubt that the CMNT and the CWNT will be using all of the new stadiums around the country for matches but where would they like to set up there main home base training facility. As I have said the CMNT had already vocally spoke out about the preference of Saputo over BMO to train at until BMO replced the Artificial turf with a world class natural surface. JMO is that if BMO becomes multi putpose and having half of the summer and fall going from Soccer to football set ups back and forth that the CMNT would be likley prefer Saputo once again as its main training veneu which is exclusive set up as a soccer pitch and without the regular wear and tear of Gridiron football

    The CMNT is making a major effort of imporoving their program and world rankings
     
  11. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    #11 Moaca, Jan 15, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2014
    This has been said to you before, unless things have changed, the CMNT does not train at BMO for extended periods. Historically they have trained at Nottawasaga Inn Resort in Alliston, Ontario plus the fact that TFC has their own academy training facilities offsite from BMO at Downsview.

    They also have their traditional January training camp in Florida.
     
  12. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    I wouldn't call KGV soccer specific, especially since it's surface is FieldTurf.
     
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  13. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    OK
     
  14. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    City, MLSE close on BMO Field expansion: Councillor
    Don Peat, City Hall Bureau Chief Toronto Sun February 25, 2014

    TORONTO - The City of Toronto is close to a deal with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment to expand BMO Field.

    Councillor Mark Grimes told the Toronto Sun Tuesday that a deal is “getting close” and he’s hoping it could lead to the field becoming the new home for the Toronto Argonauts.

    “I’m confident that we can strike a deal between the city and MLSE,” said Grimes, the chairman of the Board of Governors of Exhibition Place. “It’s not there yet, we’re getting close in my mind.

    We should have something very shortly, in the next couple weeks we should know.”

    Grimes was spotted meeting with city officials in Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly’s office on Tuesday.

    He has called a special meeting of the Board of Governors on March 7 to discuss a possible deal.

    “It is going to cost us money to expand, there is a portion that we would pay that we’d be guaranteed back,” he said.

    The expansion would add around 10,000 seats to the more than 20,000-seat stadium, extend the length of the field and add a partial roof.

    Grimes said he hopes it would provide a better home for the Toronto FC, a possible new home for the Argonauts and one day host an NHL Winter Classic game.

    It is going to be a pretty extensive renovation ... but it will be great,” Grimes said. “It would be great to bring the Argonauts back to Exhibition Place.”

    Although the time frame would be tight, Grimes hopes the field could be updated in time for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

    A MLSE spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday.
     
  15. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    Plans for BMO from public meeting

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    - Open design to let grass grow
    - Hybrid grass system at BMO
    - EPL experience at BMO with roof
    - Adding video boards to BMO and special events like Winter Classic, MLS Cup. World Cup, Grey Cup other large events
    - From 21000 to 30000 in first phase to accommodate Argos
    - Very early on design for roof
    - Bob Hunter on the floor. Argos done deal at BMO
    - First phase of construction in time for Pan AM Games and Rugby
    - Private sector majority of cost
     
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  16. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    Could this be in BMO's future.

    Interesting to note that the head groundskeeper of Wembley says that football (he means soccer) is the hardest on the pitch (harder than NA football), especially warmups and goalkeepers who feel they have to practice in front of the goal on the pitch instead of another area.

    The digging in and turning (soccer) is the hardest on the pitch and Desso holds up well to Canadian/American football. Paint removal is an issue killing grass.

    One thing in Toronto's favour is that unlike England they don't play through the winter where maintenance, ie lack of sun, cold temperatures are issues complicating upkeep.
     
  17. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    I'm assuming the red blocks in the diagram are just general indications rather than perfectly to scale. Even so, I'm surprised the CFL configuration would add only ~4000 seats to the capacity.
     
  18. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    40K is the Min required to host a Grey Cup
     
  19. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
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  20. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    Sorry to repost the above (because of short editing time span) but these are better and more readable graphics than the photos above.

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  21. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    I'm looking at the Special Event configuration which, according to the list that is provided, includes hosting the Grey Cup. Is it just me or does the retractable seating shown in that configuration not sit directly on top of the football end zones? Wouldn't that make hosting the Grey Cup with that configuration unintentionally interesting for the players and a few thousand "lucky" fans?
     
  22. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    great looking plans now all that needs to be done is get some bid to the actual costs and then get the OK from the city. I am guessing that the soccer roof and extra seating for soccer will be done first with the MLSE $$$. Then the tearing down of the permanent endzone seats, digging up the concrete, laying new Hybrid grass/turf, and add the retractable seat up for the city to put up for payback from MLSE.
    How can I see the Argos getting screwed out again:(
     
  23. Moaca

    Moaca Member

    Mar 8, 2006
    A little better graphic of the preliminary stadium render (seeing as I can't edit and replace the older one)

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  24. Polygong

    Polygong Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 8, 2007
    Toronto
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    I think that it's great what they're doing, though I hope that this preliminary roof design is very raw. It'd be nice if it had a bit of a more modern look to it. Not that I'm complaining...
     

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