PL1
Senior Member
The surface looked really good on Saturday, with no divots that I could see. It's usually less good after the Argos' season starts. But I'm sure that will be after the WC this year
Toronto BMO Field Renovations (FIFA26) | MLSE | Gensler
- Thread starter unimaginative2
- Start date
SubHuman
Active Member
Yes, it appears they don't play at BMO Field until Aug.6 .
Three of their nominal "home" games will be road games, and the pre-season one will be in Guelph.
The first Argo game I went to at Exhibition Stadium when I was about 13 or 14 years old was with a friend who had bought what he said were great seats, that turned out to be in Row 1 or 2 of that main north grandstand. The view from there was of the backs of the players standing on the sideline.
Since then I've alway bought any sports event tickets myself, and always wanted to be at least 15 rows up.
I think even today, TicketMaster seems to automatically and incorrectly (imo) assume the "best available" seat is always the lowest row, regardless of the type of event, though in recent years people can choose from whatever seats are available.
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simplmind02
New Member
Sorry but i dont buy any of the turf being the best discussion. Actually all the turfs should be the "same" or as close as possible and all stadiums will receive new turfs 4-6 weeks before the tournament. Even if Toronto had "good enough" grass, they would still replace it and they will with a hybrid.
Red October
Senior Member
Your points about the infrastructure projects in the surrounding area are valid (I was going to say it's a very Toronto outcome but Montreal famously didn't have their Olympic Stadium finished for the Olympics they were hosting), but at least it'll be better for visitors than making the trek out to a suburban parking lot in Kansas City, Missouri and East Rutherford, New Jersey.I still find all of this rather embarrassing. We invited the world to our house and set up milk crates for couches.
Biking by and seeing that "Toronto Stadium" is a series of temporary bleachers, unfinished ceilings under the canopies and seats and exposed piping and ironwork in the permanent areas, makes me grimace every time. I hope international broadcasters are distracted by the lake and skyline views and the party atmosphere from Princes' Gates to the stadium pulling their eye (and cameras) away from the stadium itself.
World Cups and other international events like the Olympics or World Fairs are an opportunity for the world's top engineers and architects to perform their best work and showcase a city, each stadium a character onto itself representing the city its in. It's also a once in a generation opportunity to leave a legacy for sports and urban infrastructure in that city. We threw together some scaffolding and much of what was built for this will be taken apart weeks later.
I can't think of a single urban infrastructure legacy project that was accelerated to accommodate the World Cup, with the foresight of knowing we were selected 8 years in advance of the Cup. No transit improvements, no new nearby parks, no new or renovated public square, and certainly no flagship stadium.
In fact, a bird's eye views from the stadium will be seeing this at nearby Ontario Place:
... and this at the stadium's transit stop, with attendees walking over and through a construction zone:
I've been to a few of these world events in different countries and let me you, they all rushed to finish nearby construction projects to show off an appearance of finished and well put together grounds. We didn't even try.
It's easy to point to vague missed opportunities so I'll list specific doable projects that could've been accomplished with planning:
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- Work on the Ontario Line should've been started in advance at Exhibition Station to have begun building the station 8 years ago to have a finished World Cup transit terminal for GO trains, buses and streetcars linking Toronto Stadium to Liberty Village. An entire subway line is asking for too much (even though some cities like Vancouver expedited their transit line to open in time for their world event) but the station itself could've been built in time.
- Legacy public space: The Bentway west of Strachan and east of Bathurst had plenty of time to have been built with 8 years of anticipated scheduling and a strict deadline, creating a Fan Festival from Toronto Stadium to Downtown Toronto, leaving a permanent linear park as a legacy after the Cup.
- Exhibition Place: demolition of the Better Living Centre to expand Bandshell Park could've been done in time for this with years of advance notice.
- The Food Building is only now being planned to be renovated. Not like we didn't know 8 years ago that we'd be hosting the world in 2026.
- Liberty Village Park is only now starting the process of launching a competition to design a park.
- Toronto Stadium: it has the right bones for a respectable venue and granted the temporary seating was inevitable given our smaller permanent requirements but seeing that little was done to improve the appearance of the stadium and bring the collection of disparate additions into some harmony is disheartening. A new permanent south canopy, lifting the existing one to the height of the others. At the very least finishing the underside of the canopies and seating and the exterior of the stairwells, expanding the yellow brick and red cladding to finish unfinished areas around the perimeter. A competent architect could've harmonized the stadium into feeling like one.
As far as the stadium itself goes - the tide for these types of events has very much shifted in favour of reusing and adapting existing venues or building temporary ones instead of spending billions for brand new state-of-the-art stadiums that will be used a handful of times and then basically abandoned (cough, Manaus). A lot of the London Olympic venues had the same look and feel. It's not a Toronto thing.
GabrielHurl
Active Member
This isn't true.
BMO already got it's World Cup turf back in November - check the pics from @kotsy here - https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...ifa26-mlse-gensler.8777/page-103#post-2315767
BMO isn't even all grass either - it already has a hybrid system and has had one since 2019.
BMO Field - Setting the Standard for Hybrid Grass Surfaces in North America
With Canada co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, FIFA mandated that all host venues install hybrid playing surfaces. Learn more about the install.
www.sispitches.com
Johnny Au
Superstar
March 14, 2026:
Next door to BMO Field, there was an Endy mattress pop-up warehouse sale; the sale ended on Sunday. There were huge discounts on mattresses, pillows, bedsheets, and blankets. I got myself a new Endy mattress, as well as a pillow, bedsheets, and blankets. The new Endy mattress I just bought was so comfy, it's like sleeping on a soft fluffy cloud.
Next door to BMO Field, there was an Endy mattress pop-up warehouse sale; the sale ended on Sunday. There were huge discounts on mattresses, pillows, bedsheets, and blankets. I got myself a new Endy mattress, as well as a pillow, bedsheets, and blankets. The new Endy mattress I just bought was so comfy, it's like sleeping on a soft fluffy cloud.
Obsidian
Active Member
Some more pics from:
narduch
Senior Member
New England (Boston) just installed their grass this past week too.This isn't true.
BMO already got it's World Cup turf back in November - check the pics from @kotsy here - https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...ifa26-mlse-gensler.8777/page-103#post-2315767
BMO isn't even all grass either - it already has a hybrid system and has had one since 2019.
BMO Field - Setting the Standard for Hybrid Grass Surfaces in North America
With Canada co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, FIFA mandated that all host venues install hybrid playing surfaces. Learn more about the install.
narduch
Senior Member
I'm just making an educated guess based on BMO Field using better technology than those other installations (proper drainage, grow lights, etc).
Also based on past history. BMO Field's pitch is usually really good until the Argos start playing. And the won't play there until after the World Cup.
Plus I've seen enough of these real grass on top of artificial turf installations. They tend to go to shit after a few weeks. I don't know that FIFA is doing to stop that.
Chris R.
Senior Member
Those temporary stands on scaffolding look so sketchy. Thousands of people jumping in unison could cause issues with this surely.Some more pics from:
simplmind02
New Member
No sane company would ever agree to install it without proper testing, certification, inspections etc that proves it is safe for that plus safety factor.
simplmind02
New Member
Nothing points to bmo having better tech than all of the US stadiums lol
"The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s world-renowned turfgrass experts are leading a first-of-its-kind research collaboration with Michigan State University and FIFA, the global governing body for soccer, to set the stage for the world’s biggest and most-watched sporting event—FIFA World Cup 26 for some of the world’s top athletes." https://www.utk.edu/turfgrass/
I'm not arguing we wont have a nice pitch...just don't see how it will be ahead of the rest.
Chris R.
Senior Member
Gestures wildly at numerous things in Ontario, Scarborough RT, Ottawa LRT, GO train, most of road repairs, general contractor apathy.
nightstreak
Senior Member
I still think a couple of million could've been used to clean up the stadium's permanent areas to make it feel more put together. The red paneling that was added over time to cover up the stairs and supports of some of the stands. At minimum the opportunity to host the World Cup could've been leveraged into adding permanent paneling to the rest of the exterior of the stadium and cleaned up the concessions.
None of that was done. It still looks like a high school facility. Forgetting the temporary stands which I acknowledge were necessary, hosting the world in a facility that looks temporary in its entirety is embarrassing for Canada's largest city. It will still look like this during and after the World Cup. What a gigantic missed opportunity.
kotsy
Senior Member
At the very minimum, they should add a wrap around the backside of the permanent seating. It would be the perfect spot to commission a mural, TFC/Argos themed or otherwise.