Thread renamed to add "in 2014."
Thread renamed to add "in 2014."
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
If by American Football they mean the second coming of a smaller league, like a USFL, or XFL reboot, then it is possible. Or perhaps and NFL exhibition game. But the NFL is a long way from Toronto, and if it did, BMO would have no chance. The whole facility would need a rebuild, as even the west stand is not near NFL standards. you'd need 40-50,000 more seats, more luxury boxes, better access roads and transit infrastructure.Originally Posted by brad
The best place for an NFL stadium is Downsview. There's no Go Train access, but you do have a large area for parking, a major highway, and a subway in place.
I think Leiweke prbably meant American Football as not soccer, rather than not CFL.
Thought NFL would be a bit odd (only mentioned cause I know that is TL's pipe dream). To me, that screams Argos.
I heard something similar....
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The start of the interview on TSN 1050 with Argos CEO Chris Rudge interview starts at minute 19:
http://iphone.tsn.ca/tsnpodcasts/Dri...rTwo_Sept4.mp3
Another news article on possible Argos to BMO Field move:
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/09/04...xcellent-owner
Just wondering if anyone else is going to the TFC barbeque this Sunday. Leiweke says he will be there.
Leiweke spoke for about 7 minutes on the stadium issue.
The link to the conference call is on the Fan590 website (at 25 minutes in) - he sounds like they are looking at some way of making the stadium adaptable to suit football and gridiron (retractable seats I guess?)
Last edited by GabrielHurl; 09-05-2013 at 01:11 PM.
I thought the NFL required an individual owner (not corporation) to be in control, and also to not own other pro sports teams?You know they're already building a new GO Train and TTC subway station there at the northern part of Downsview Park just off Sheppard, right? The existing subway line is being extended under there, and the GO Train line already ran through there on its way north from Union Station to Maple, Aurora, etc., although I think it is only a single track which would limit the amount of service that can be provided.
not willing to consider it.
Not willing to try it.
If gridiron comes to BMO then I am officially done with Toronto FC.
No season seats. No watching. No wearing the colours. No blogging/tweeting. Nothing.
Considering that the club has in most of its decisions on the field since day one done everything to push all of us away or to the point of madness and/or apathy and many of us are still here, I do not think that the franchise can survive as an ongoing entity if they end up doing this.
Tweeted the following below about a half hour ago and its gotten a few re-tweets since. Kind of sums it up for me.
Dear #TFC. If Argos/turf/gridlines come to BMO Field then I am done. I will NEVER EVER write about, watch, support or follow #TFC ever again
I don't tweet but, if I did, I'd re-tweet that!
Same here.
This will be kiss of death for TFC. Lewieke got to realize this is Toronto/Canada. Culturally we're different bunch compare to the Yanks. What works in USA isn't always going to work in Canada.
Someone needs to tell Lewieke the history of Argos and how they almost killed soccer in this city when they ditched us the last minute in York U deal.
Actually there will be a Go Downsview stop on the Barrie line connecting with new subway line, the only think it will have to run during events, However it can be done
If CFL football were to be played at BMO, a new surface would likely be put in along the lines of hybrid grass. It is what they put in at Wembley after their initial disaster with the first NFL game there. It holds up much better.
http://www.dessosports.com/hybrid-grass
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If we have to revert to some kind of FieldTurf, does that mean we get Edu back?
http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=431233
The owners of Toronto FC say they are looking at whether BMO Field can be refitted to accommodate the CFL game. Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said the project was currently at "the information-only stage" and was part of a larger plan to see how the lakefront stadium can be improved.
Leiweke said high school football championships have been played at the StubHub centre, home to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Football is also played at the home of the Houston Dynamo.
And BMO Field has played host to the Canadian rugby team "which is just as tough on a pitch as football if not more so," Leiweke said on a conference call Thursday. "And we find a way to make it work."
"To me it's not a debate of whether you do football or not," he added. "It's a debate about if it's the CFL, can you design the stadium so that it grows for the CFL and shrinks back down to its current intimacy for soccer?"
Rugby is a bit more spread out though. CFL kills the area between the hash marks.
A little buddy within the Argos told me that they may be looking into doing something at Woodbine racetrack.
Argos move to BMO is going to happen eventually.
This is the only way to MLSE gets a catalyst for significant funding (ie. govt $$) to bring the stadium up to professional standards like other new stadiums in MLS (ie. british style roofs, more boxes/club seats, "real" stadium seats, expanded seating, etc). Benefit is you get a professional stadium and bells and whistles, trade off is you have to go back to field turf, have accordion soccer seats in end zones and TFC is the #2 tenant.
Thats what happens when Argo games are watched by 800,000 on TSN and TFC can barely crack 75k.
Is anyone missing the point that the federal government put money into the building to make it a SSS for the Canadian teams? That's why it's the national soccer stadium?
Think there just going to let there money go down the toilet?
I have supported soccer in this city since the early 1970's going to games back then as a kid with my dad supporting all the different pro teams and leagues that have come and gone right up to the present with TFC, and I have supported our national soccer teams in World Cup qualifying matches that have been played here over the years. but I have almost had enough and now with this Argo crap of rumblings of them eventually moving to BMO field I'm just about done, if this happens I'm done , let the Argos have BMO field who the fuck cares anymore I will find something much better to do than waist my time with this shit.
I guess we know more about the vision now.
The parade route goes through the Argo locker room at BMO.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I don't think the width of the field is a problem. If it's 3 or 4 yards narrower for Argos its no big deal still be much wider than nfl field. The length of field could be shortened by making end zones 10 yards instead of 20 yards. The cfl made the that exemption for American expansion 20 years ago. Only issue would be rebuilding south stand to move in and out for soccer vs cfl field and making 219. And 227 bigger. Centering press box by widening it. To make it in center of field for both products.
I think that's a moot point. The national team doesn't play 17 games a year, they are not the primary tenant. All I know is MLSE better fork over significant amounts of money to maintain the grass, no way turf is coming back.
interesting link, I figured Denver was artificial, but Green bay was an unexpected client on their site. I assumed Lambeau field was still grass. Not to mention the Premier League clubs that use it. Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, etc. Still, those are mostly single use fields, what about the lines on the field, etc?
Of course, even if one were to keep an open mind about the field, there still is a massive challenge in maintaining the intimacy of the stadium. I think we'd still have to see row 1 of all sections in a reconfigured field no further than they currently are.
Then there is the biggest issue, what's supposed to happen while they make this big stadium reno? Are we going to get some kind of temporary setup like Vancouver had? Are we going to be stuck in the Dome for a season? The scope of this project would be pretty big. I don't know if it could be accomplished in an off-season.
I know the Argos love playing this game of threatening to move every time their lease needs to be renegotiated. And as an Argo fan who has been to the Dome far too often, I feel a change of scenery would do wonders for the gameday atmosphere, and is deserved by the team and their fans. The press have really made this an issue this week and MLSE seems to have had some role in encouraging it. I'm afraid this time there may be some legs to the story.
Though BMO has its flaws, its built for soccer. It is the home of TFC. It has an amazing intimate feel to it unlike any other pro sports facility in this city. The Argos are simply too big. They don't fit. Making us feel like second class citizens in our own home is not an option. Its important we continue to voice this to MLSE.
Doesn't matter if they only play once a year. The federal government and provincial government have a say what happens to the building.
Either way the Argos are already close to signing a new 5 year deal at the dome. And we're also looking t moving to Woodbine. I don't think there coming.
I'll provide the accompanying pic for you:
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I thought Leiweke was guna make TFC into the Canadian LA Galaxy ? Sounds like he given up before he started and is just looking at $$$ signs instead. :@(
How so?
He's telling us to hold on to our dollars while he goes and spends so much that we'll want to spend again. Is that $$$ he's looking at?
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Woodbine racetrack? Interesting location, but wouldn't it be costly to build a stadium there? I know there's plenty of land there, but access to get there from TTC and GO is limited. Downsview is better location than Woodbine based on public transit access alone.
OK so let the Argos have BMO and build us a new soccer specific stadium at Downsview. Whatever they do I don't want to see American football lines on my field. Watching New England games is painful.
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