Sorry if this has been covered .... is the idea that this can easily be expanded to 60K or something? Is that why the roofs are so high?
Sorry if this has been covered .... is the idea that this can easily be expanded to 60K or something? Is that why the roofs are so high?
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
in the short term? 40k is the number people usually used for special events.Originally Posted by ensco
But in the long term it's pretty well open to more expansion on all sides except the east.
Hard to believe, but that high south roof only allows temporary expansion (bleachers) for about an extra 10k people, incl. some temporary seating in other places. I.e., from 27k in the regular CFL configuration, to about 35k to 38k for the Grey Cup. For MLS, from regular 30k, perhaps up to 40k for an MLS Cup (jk). And that's only temporary, uncovered seating.
There's been some suggestion that the high roof above the west stands would also allow for future expansion, but I haven't heard anything concrete about west side changes (except MLSE saying they want to upgrade the suites etc. on the west side, sometime in the future). Even if they did an expansion above the west stand, I don't think it could bring them up to 60k. I think they could only fit a few thousand seats extra under the west roof. (Consider that last year's huge east stand expansion only added about 8k seats.)
And the South. The South cannot be more than temp seats. Construction prices are toooo damn high!
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
I don't know.
I look a this pic
and think that concourse could be covered over fairly easily with seating that goes up and a back wall and that umbrella turns into a roof.
The bigger issue in the south is emergency exit space - eventually they will have to close that road.
Which is why I think they will take capacity up to 40K in 5 years and then in 2035 build a new 60K stadium up at Downsview. Yes, I know, I'm weirdly bullish on this but I think the market for TFC is bigger then Seattle.
I agree that's close to the best way to do it. Cold reality is neither TFC nor the Argos warrant that type of extra cost. The other high cost option is you cart the grass field in and out, but there's no space for that unfortunately.
Regarding The height of the roof: speculation was that relates to the Wind. In the event you shield that off it increases the cost of the project as the load it needs to brace against increases.
When did Wembley do this?Wembley Stadium has shown the best way to do this. They put a temporary fieldturf pitch in for NFL games on TOP of the existing grass surface with a type of 'riser' between the surfaces. When the gridiron guys are done the turf and riser comes out and the grass is pristine. Yes its not the most inexpensive option but is a guaranteed means to make sure that the soccer surface is not impacted.
This sounds like what Spurs are doing with their new under construction stadium.
The groundskeeper speaks
Interesting tidbit
http://www.metronews.ca/sports/2016/04/06/groundskeeper-confident-that-toronto-fc-and-argos-can-share-bmo-field.htmlAs part of the ongoing renovations to the stadium, two positions for the football goalposts have been installed. While just a yard or so apart, it means the football lines won't be laid down the same place every game.
Last edited by OgtheDim; 04-06-2016 at 03:53 PM.
I know they used it for this. I watched a video explaining the system they used and they showed how the pitch underneath was perfect after this race. I posted about it in the one of these threads ages ago when discussing what possible solutions would be and just like I said back then, they have to invest in a system like that for the winter classic anyway. My guess is that pitch turf gets screwed this year and then they give the Argos turf next year since they'll have the tile system already bought from the Leafs account. Then they'll say they gave it their best try but this dual system was the best solution for all parties involved. Then raise ticket prices again.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 04-06-2016 at 04:34 PM.
To me it's just very strange. They spent probably half of the budget on the roof, say $60M. But it won't cover a lot of people - thousands of people in the best seats will continue be exposed to the sun or the rain because of this design.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Membership Team
it is beautifull thanks for posting
wow 2016 and things are looking up --- come on you reds lets go
No one should rely on the sort of self-fellating, blowjob journalism that we get from sports marketing organizations to assess what pitch conditions will be like after some sort of alien sports event occupies a soccer stadium.
It's neither objective nor informative in its intention. It is simply a public relations exercise. It would be good if folk could stop quoting all the horseshit bumpf and bafflegab that surrounds events at Wembley or with regard to what Tottenham Hotspur are doing with their remarkable new stadium project. Neither really applies to what will happen at BMO Field.
Let's focus on what's important to stop soccer from getting fucked over at a stadium the sport was the catalyst for building in the first place.
Last edited by greatwhitenorf; 04-06-2016 at 09:23 PM.
In the Davidson article, the groundskeeper is quoted as not worrying, then immediately starts talking about patience being required with this new project and that an entire grass field is being readied as a backup. So when he says he is not worried, its not that he has confidence that field will be any good or look appropriate, its that he expects a free pass if things go south and they have contigencies in place when things go really south.
I havent read anything about the sideline damage expected and how that is to be mitigated. The cfl game is tough enough on grass but the sidelines get more dense traffic. Boards or anything hard cant be used to protct the field as they are a harzard to the players. And carpet ontop of the grass will be deadly. If anyone has read something on the sideline protection issue, please post. Im very curious
Disagree.
He has LOTS of confidence in himself and his plans.
He says he's not worrying and suggesting those that are should wait until June and see what happens. That's not asking for patience. That's telling people to wait and see how good a job he thinks he's going to do.
I think you are reading your own worries into this.
THIS. This is unfortunately too easy a plan for them to eschew and strive for more. Not only the above but if one looks at the recent International success of FIFA events (not Canada results, obviously) in the this country one would see they have numbers to fall back on that if FIFA approves the turf and it "worked" for these events...
Their dedication to grass will wane.
...but I get ahead of myself and will let others wait it out.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
I'd bet that this is the plan. Go with the easiest stupid option this year (shared grass) and then when it's destroyed enough to piss everyone off, Argo knobs included, then they'll make an announcement of 'looking at new technologies' as our season winds down. Then they'll do a big "wow look at what we invested in" announcement when they make those PR videos showing the work that had to be done to put an ice hockey rink in BMO.
Afterwards, next spring, they'll say how they are committed to grass at BMO and how it's always been priority number one and how they will invest in a "state of the art" 6th generation field turf roll over system for the Argos, fully loaded with about 700 advertising logos and then they say they care about their fans above all else.
Then they'll justify the bump in ticket prices to us TFC SSHs because of all this extra work to improve our game day experience. Then they'll tell their few thousand Argos fans that they now they have a state of the art, best in CFL fake pitch to play their silly game on. And they'll make it seem to the Leafs fans like none of this would have been possible without the Winter Classic and the almighty Leafs putting in this tile system and we'll have to hear their shit for a couple years on how they saved our grass.
That's my prediction.
I may be incorrect, but i'm pretty sure i've read somewhere that those tiles can be rented. So MLSE would probably rent them for the Winter Classic.
Correct. And they will. Wait for the concerts to return.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Spot on. Except they might give us the field turf next year too.
My guess is that's probably in the 2019 plan, but they could move it up if they think they can get away with it
Last edited by ensco; 04-07-2016 at 11:30 AM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
I guess it would depend on if they want to take on The Molson Amphitheatre in the concert game and have dumb shit like Monster Trucks and stuff in there too. If they think they can fill the BMO schedule with events like that, then it'd probably be cheaper to buy than rent.
With the new state of the art sound system, the roof, and the big board all in use, I can see lots of bigger concerts for sure.
oops
I thought the conspiracy theories were for the Argos thread?
Has more to do with potential restructuring of and changes to the stadium and field than it does a second rung CFL team.
I never wanted to get 20 years older as much as I do now lol.
I sort of wanted to give you negative rep points on this.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Surely they could buy the tiles and put on 2 - 3 concerts during the summer and make their investment back in no time...
OVO fest at BMO field
06-18-09 i was there
Snaps from this past Saturday. Apologies for the lateness as I was traveling this week.
Excuse me, sir, but where did the grass go? We have a match in a month.
When I spoke with them they said it didn't make sense for them in the near future. They really don't want to go there. Yet.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
glass tiger !OVO fest at BMO field
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