Originally Posted by Fort York Redcoat
And the drum beats for Downsview 2035. 60K stadium
Downsview Stadium... Soccer only
It will be an 80K stadium for the Toronto NFL team and the 2026 World Cup Final.
Neither of those are going to happen.
I'm serious.
If only people in the ACC platinum suites and directors lounge would stop talking about it.
But they haven't. And they're in a position to know better than any of us.
They can talk all they want.
This is off topic but...
When it comes to the NFL and FIFA, MLSE has no clue how out of their depth they are.
Go read up on the in behind story about how LA got 2 NFL teams to play in one stadium by taking San Diego & St. Louis and moving them - the NFL is run by the owners and they do not give a shit about MLSE or Larry T or Toronto. They don't care about anything except what it maximizes their profits. They see a team having issues -they develop long term plans to fix them. Oakland and Jacksonville are the next fixes. Oakland - who knows? Jacksonville, possibly going to England cause there is a ton of money in the UK. Oh, and look, there are now 2 more cities (St. Louis and San Diego) where the NFL can spend the next 30 years grinding away on politicians just in case there is a good deal to go back.
Toronto? People didn't bow down and worship the Bills when here so this city means nothing to them.
As for a World Cup, with Mexico and the US and China wanting 2026, Canada has no chance. The US doesn't need Canada to successfully run a World Cup. China is the market FIFA wants to cement. & Mexico has more corporate cash and the stadiums in place already, with grass.
Nah, they can talk, but I'd rather contemplate the reality of our revamped stadium, even with its imperfections.
It will happen Toronto is what the fourth or third largest market in North America , the NFL is big here, when the NFL is in season that's all I hear people talk about. The NFL will be here, we have the NBA , MLB and they are big here we will get the NFL and once we do the Argos could be history but maybe not , they can probably still survive with the NFL here, there will always be a core of Argo fans in the city.
No- there will not always be a core of Argo Fans in the city - their demographic is senior citizen and they have been fading for decades. ( I know, I know they have good tv ratings)
No -Toronto will not get a NFL franchise just because they have franchises in the other leagues, the NFL does not work that way. It is an incredibly rich league, very very connected to the US television networks and Toronto just does not register in the US tv market. If anything the track record of the other Toronto teams is an obstacle to the Toronto NFL pipedream, Raptors and Blue Jays are not big draws on the road - either in tickets bought or tv ratings....
the NFL can keep the status quo and collect very nice side money from CTV for Canadian rights.
yes this is true . There simply is not a big enough tv market here to justify the nfl . We're peanuts to American numbers . The Bills are our nfl team .
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I think you guys are underestimating the possibility that the Argos get seriously reinvigorated by going to BMO.
Not saying it's going to happen, I really don't know, but it might.
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.
Let's be honest, the NFL is "big here" because people gamble on it.
You take gambling out of the NFL equation here in Ontario, and interest would plummet.
I doubt that. Most people I know watch NFL every weekend yet gamble once or twice a year.
Underestimate CFL interest, sure. NFL is crazy popular in Canada and in the GTHA.
Well it looks weird on the West stand with the old mini roof over the box offices, now with a huge roof over top of the old roof and the box offices with a big gap between them, why would they leave it like that for the future? it does look weird. Either build some sort of back wall to close the roof in, or add more box offices to fill in the gap, jt just seems like a weird design to have that gap forever. Maybe next year? As for the South stand....that gap is huge and clearly looks like it will just be there so they can add temp seats in when needed, but looks to big to have permanent wall installed connecting the South stand roof to the actual stand below.
I don't gamble on the NFL at all and I haven't missed a single game/play/snap since the 2005 Steelers Super Bowl season, going on 12 seasons coming up whether I go or watch it on TV.
As a previous person said the NFL in Toronto will never happen due to TV rights.
I read just recently that Twitter won the bid to stream games for roughly 1million per. It costs ESPN roughly 120 mil per MONDAY NIGHT GAME!!!!
Top that off with CBS, FOX and NBC having the rights for the full Sunday slate and each getting a Super Bowl to broadcast on a 3 year rotation; it just wont work for a Canadian team due to the crazy cost to broadcast one game.
I mean maybe one day it will happen, but I doubt it will be in my life time.
As I've said previously, one of the stated goals of the World Cup is to build soccer infrastructure in countries that do not have stadiums in place and build the game in that nation. The US and Mexico have everything in place already so they don't meet that spec, but Canada fits this to a T. I also wouldn't be surprised if they make it a point to play a men's World Cup on turf to make a point since the women's WC was held and they had no injuries. BC, Edmonton, and Montreal have stadiums large enough to house up to a semi-final (60,000 spectator requirement), but I'm pretty sure FIFA WC bid requirements state that the stadium the hosts the final has to hold at least 80,000 spectators. Whether or not Toronto gets the bid or they refurbish the Big O and add seats to the West end to meet this requirement, it's up to the CSA to decide. But if they build it in Toronto, they'll probably re-purpose it after the WC for the other teams and events (Blue Jays, TFC, Argos, NHL Outdoor Classics, concerts, Monster truck rallies).
I don't think they'll have to worry about attendance since there will be a veritable wave of Americans flooding across the border to catch games in cities relatively close to the border.
And as a Bills fan, The Bills stay in Buffalo.
I agree.
The interest is there. The logistics arent.
Also China cant have 2026 because its in Asia 4 years previous.
Its our region or Africa or South America. But it probably wont be SA.
Canada actually have a chance to win World Cup bid. FIFA is all about growing game and Canada fits that description. BTW: USA exactly isn't on good side of FIFA these days so I would be surprise if USA got World Cup. Mexico have already hosted World Cup like two times so I fail to see how FIFA will give World Cup to Mexico again especially when no nation has ever hosted World Cup three times.
Rio's Maracana Stadium - reconfigured for 2014 - didn't hold 80,000. On it's WC stadium website, FIFA had it logged at just over 71k. Other sources say it holds a bit more, but less than 80k.
You bring up a good point about FIFA's previous goals to help create infrastructure to grow the game. I wonder how much of that was a by-product of the culture of corruption that enveloped everything the organization did before Blatter et al got tossed. No idea if that will change going forward, but Canada can hardly be looked upon as a needy nation when it comes to sporting playpens. It wouldn't take much to create a proper network of adequate stadiums to host a WC, but a new stadium would definitely have to go up if the final was to be played here.
And doesn't Larry Tanenbaum just love stadium deals where he gets to pour the concrete and, maybe, play a role in seeing certain industry associates get their share of the build.
I'd love for a WC to be in the USA again with the hopes of Canada being host to some games.
Not sure if it was this weekend or the first game of the season with Bill Manning or Garber but one of them said in the next 5 or so years they want to expand MLS to 28 teams which I think is great. The flip side is they will have to expand the DP rule to 4 or even 5 players as the league much like the NHL will get watered down due to their being other leagues that will pay equal or more to said star players. I say the NHL because there's only maybe 1-3 top players per team whereas the NFL you can have one at almost every position.
Only question then is how does that work for scheduling?
MLS has adopted some of the same mould of the NFL for when you play Western conference teams ie TFC played Vancouver, Seattle, and LA out west last season now all are coming to the '6' this year. So the rotation idea could still work if and when MLS gets that far.
If FIFA can hold a WC in South Africa and soon Qatar all it will take is the Mexicans ponying up enough Pesoes that FIFA will give them a 3rd lol
It's all about TV rights and the US ones I mention will never want to give up a slice of their rights to a Canadian team.
As Rogers or TSN would want 'exclusive' rights to the Canadian team regardless of where they play.
I think we need to separate the debates about NFL in Toronto vs FIFA World Cup 2026 in Canada. The NFL is more of a longshot than Canada hosting in 2026. We are very much one of the front runners along with the US. Mexico has already hosted twice and as far as China goes, continental rotation dictates it's North America's turn as 2022 will be in Asia. We'll have further clarity after May once FIFA convenes and decides the parameters of the bid process.
Didn't they scrap continental rotation?
Yeah. From what i understand is doesnt have to go all the way around but it cant be from a continent of the previous two hosts.
Yeah, hence Asia and Europe are out of the running for 2026, more clarity and confirmation will come in May once the new rules are revealed.
So.... I wonder how the BMO Field construction is coming along these days? Maybe with the better weather, we'll get more work done quickly, and more people likely to stop by & post some pictures.
There are actually some fresh pictures from yesterday morning on the UrbanToronto construction thread. Looking good to me.
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Looks like a new logo/sign going up on the south east end of the stands. Perhaps it will be an Argos sign to match the TFC one on the north end. Hoping it's another TFC one...
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