Toronto BMO Field Renovations | ?m | ?s | MLSE | Gensler

One would think since the name BMO they should put the funds upfront..the banks quarterly reports in profits are of control.. and we shouldn't talk about it as am sure you all agree here thank you...
 
Amare said:
Only American Football teams use stadiums that are in the 50-60K range. The MLS will never have a need for that kind of a massive stadium. So in short, no TFC doesn't need a larger stadium for their needs.
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Never say never. Maybe there will be a spike in fan interest in the next couple of years?
 
Downsview was a NFL stadium area when there was 10 floor height limits. Now that it's been sold and zoning applications have been submitted you can kiss that dream goodbye
 
Isn't the NFL to Toronto pretty much dead now?

I can't see anyone willing to pay the franchise fee now. And I don't think the public has the appetite to foot the bill for that type of stadium for less then 10 dates a year.
 
At most I could see TFC permanently expanding to 45,000 seats but beyond that seems unreasonable. They do a pretty good job of selling out the 28,000 seats and the atmosphere because of that is fantastic. It's a lot like how Juventus only have 42,000 seats in their stadiums so it's always full, compared to places like Emirates or Nou Camp that only fill 70% of the stadium most of the time leaving a rather empty atmosphere at times.
 
It should be noted that BMO Field isn't guaranteed to be the stadium used for the World Cup. In fact, Toronto isn't guaranteed to be a host city. All that's been decided is that the US, Canada and Mexico will host. The details will be finalized in 2021 when host cities will be announced. Of course, Toronto is very likely to host given it's Canada's largest city, the Mayor is all in and the city was front and centre in Canada's part of the bid.

The next step in the process will have bid cities put forward their plans to the organizing committee to be considered. BMO Field will have to submit their plans and commitments but other stadiums will have the opportunity to do the same. If Rogers decides that they now want to be a part of this, they can outbid BMO Field by demonstrating their revitalization plans, their central location in downtown, close to hotels, restaurants and economic activity and next to Toronto's major transit hub, and they could I think easily win the right to host Toronto's games. BMO Field has a lot to prove so they better hope that their plans are impressive.
 
Rogers don't seem interested in making the SkyDome a multi sport facility anymore.

It will most likely be at BMO Field.

I wonder if there is way for Vancouver to get back in. The 3 Canadian cities are pretty much set .
 
narduch said:
Rogers don't seem interested in making the SkyDome a multi sport facility anymore.
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In fact, in the Rogers renovations thread, there was talk of rotating the field so home plate would face the CN Tower. That would obviously be a major change to the stadium, but in eight years could be a possibility.
 
BMO on any given night has a lot of empty seats, although that may be partly a function of empty but paid for seats. I think one of the serious issues they need to address is wind both at field level and in the stands.
 
What can they do enhance this stadium to make it look professional looking for the 2026 games. It kind of embarrassing to have Canada's largest city playing in the soccer ternament there. They should build a proper stadium of at least 60.000 to house a soccer and football franchise . The same way they have hockey and basketball.
 
When they need a 60,000 seat stadium for both they'll do that .... both seeing as both teams combined average 45,000 per game - it won't be for years.
 
Many people seem to think bigger = better, but that's just not true. There's no point adding 10-15k seats to BMO field (beyond the approx 40k needed for the World Cup) if it will ruin the atmosphere for the next two decades of TFC games. No one's going to say "Oh, the World Cup would've been great, but those three Group Stage games in Toronto were awful because there were 10k less people in the stands than if they had an NFL stadium (even though I only saw the stands on TV for a brief moment) and it ruined the whole competition and my image of Canada..."

If it's a good game then it won't matter whether there's 40k or 60k people. Same if it's a bad game. And frankly, it's not like we're auditioning to hold another World Cup any time soon - it won't be coming back to Canada for at best 20-30 years.

An advantage of BMO field is the huge parking lot area/Ex grounds around the stadium. I hope they move parking off-site and set up huge screens for viewing parties. It would be an epic view and create a great atmosphere for the fans, both in and outside the stadium.

Also, I may be wrong but I don't think the SkyDome is even an option for the World Cup. The arrangement of the stands is just too awkward for a soccer field. NFL stadiums would work because the field is similarly shaped (and therefore sightlines are the same), but MLB stadiums are different (so far as I remember, it was "okay" for the Argos because they didn't open up the upper bowl). While it could theoretically work, I'd imagine FIFA wouldn't allow such a hodgepodge arrangement of stands/sightlines in a World Cup match (not to mention I'd imagine FIFA has pretty hefty requirements regarding the grass, which BMO Field can make work while SkyDome couldn't due to the baseball base-running dirt parts (there's gotta be a proper term for that, but I can't think of it...)).
 
To be fair, Rogers Centre has hosted soccer games before. I think they even once used a grass turf that was rolled out.


But, again, it comes down to what kind of state the Rogers Centre will be in eight years from now. If they actually did rotate the field, the lower bowl would be completely changed.
 
As Star Fox mentioned the EX grounds make BMO field a no brainer and the only real option. The site can be totally controlled and isolated which suits big events like this, their security requirements, and acts as a buffer between the event and the rest of the city which in these cases is a plus. See the pan America games for reference which was a great well run event.
 
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