If they need to get 40 000 for the world cup, renovate the west stand. Add luxury suites, restaurants and high end amenities, new press box and an additional 3-5000 seats.
It's possible this will happen irregardless of us getting included in the World Cup bid but I think that's a massive long shot at this point. We're the only City that could provide a stadium that meets FIFA standards, so I'd doubt they'd just throw this city a bone while playing the rest of it in Mexico and the U.S.
No way Vancouver, Montreal or anyone else will be able to meet the required standards for FIFA. Means it's Very, very unlikely we get included in the final bid.
Tory has already talked about upgrades to BMO for the World Cup.
With Fed & Provincial money possibly involved? I've also looked at the reports of Tory's statements - doesn't use the word temporary. MLSE will find a way to massage this into a reno to take the capacity to 40K permanent. Look at the city bid supporting documents - Manning & the Ex chair. They know something could happen because of this, building wise.
As for other stadiums, Vancouver & Edmonton both currently meet the standards (they will rip up the carpet to put in grass). The bid includes Canada. No way they exclude us after the bid is accepted. ESPECIALLY with Victor M on the exec of FIFA.
Baring a weird confluence of anti-Trump stuff & stupidity, this is happening.
What it means for the grass is even if the Argos became wildly more successful then TFC, the grass stays until 2027.
Last edited by OgtheDim; 01-27-2018 at 07:30 AM.
Pretty confident.
I think the only confidence I have in this bid is the inclusion of Canada in it. It's the only unprecedented part of the bid.
That said, I doubt the majority of supporters will want this bid travel wise. Those that could afford it would rather zip around Monaco.
But hey, I won't turn it away from hogtown.
Even if it means they further Franken-BMO. They'll keep the pitch pristine as possible with the world watching.
Last edited by Fort York Redcoat; 01-27-2018 at 01:01 PM.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
First point: totally agreed on. Every word. We'll almost definitly have a north stand and a 40k capacity by 2026 regardless of what happens with the bid.
I entirely disagree with your second point though. The Stadium requirements Start at grass and necessary capacity. There's also a massive book filled with detailed, intricate and very specific requirements that need to be met on top of that. Parking, amenities, ample Public transit, specific distance between and location of the locker rooms, size of the seats to the cm, the size, location, functionality and even the catering in the fucking press box. It's a massive list that has made even Brazil, Italiy and Germany spend billions and billions of dollars fitting their stadiums to the very specific requirements.
They would have to gut Edmonton and Vancouver's stadiums. Are we sure our government - one that has been pretty good frankly on not wasting taxpayer dollars on sports stadiums the way they do in the states - is willing to spend billions of dollars to host at most 8-10 games, none of them past the round of 16? I'm not at all sold on that tbh. I need proof that they're willing to waste that much money on such a grand scale.
They are not rebuilding or retooling any stadiums in the US, Canada or Mexico. That's the point of this particular bid. FIFA knows this. The Blatter era in this regard is over.
I think they'd need a fairly significant renovation.
New locker rooms. Media facilities, luxury boxes. BMO is still fairly bare bones as a stadium.
Just think of the possible US venues. I'd assume they'd be playing in the new LA stadium, maybe Atlanta, Dallas.
By MLS standards BMO is great. Soccer specific, downtown/central, outdoors, grass, etc. But for the biggest sporting event in the world, currently it falls a bit short
We'l host. But we'll get a significant reno.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/TFC_GroundsDept/status/961694907382378496
Got off at Exhibition today on my way back from work, noticed the grow lights were on at BMO.
No, the blurry black strip on the left is the gate.
When Manning was asked about the flow of people exiting the game and the traffic that ensues , especially around the GO Train tunnel, he talked about how the City was looking at improving that. I came across this the other day, and it looks iike they are only in the planning stages but they are indeed considering putting in other tunnels (including a nwe street, new streetcar tracks, etc..).
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/...ile-112265.pdf
Speaking of, what exactly was the point of that construction on the north side a few years back. It looked like they were expanding the go station but it's still fenced off??
Second tunnel off of Jefferson Ave will be nice but this is years from now - think 2026 World Cup.
There is an option of going up Dufferin but that only helps if you're not trying to get Westbound on the GO.
If you're going to Liberty Village, it's about 5 min more of a walk.
If you're going to Joe's, it's about even.
We take the train Westbound, but we hang out around the stadium for a bit and then walk through when it is less congested. In the summer, this usually means an ice cream to celebrate the win.
Road Games:
2013 - Montréal , 2014 - Orlando (Disney Classic), Montréal
2015 - Columbus, New England, Montréal
2016 - NYCFC (Leg 2 Conference Semis), Montréal (Leg 1 Conference Final)
2017 - Ottawa (Leg 1 Canadian Championship Semi), DCU, Red Bulls (Leg 1 Conference Final), Columbus (Leg 2 Conference Final)
2019 - Montréal, NYCFC (Eastern Conference Semi @ Citi Field), Seattle (MLS Cup Final)