Dear Councillor Hall,
As a constituent of yours in Ward 1, I am writing to you to express my concern over the possibility of the Toronto Argonauts moving into BMO Field, Canada's National Soccer Stadium and home of Toronto FC.
It was widely reported today that the Argos have again stated their interest in moving to BMO Field. This is concerning to me, as a Torontonian and an avid fan of Canadian soccer, for a number of reasons.
As you may be aware, the process of replacing the FieldTurf pitch at BMO Field with a real grass playing surface was begun today, at a cost of $5 million. The installation of real grass at BMO Field represents a giant step forward for the game of soccer in our city; until now, Canada's national team players had expressed their preference to play at Montreal's Stade Saputo because of its real grass surface, and indeed the FieldTurf surface at BMO has also been roundly criticized by Toronto FC players and staff, as well as visiting players.
However, if the Argonauts were to share BMO Field, the $5 million being spent on grass would be money wasted. The additional wear the field would incur from having the Argonuats play and practice on it would cause it to rapidly deteriorate and become virtually unplayable. Even the FieldTurf surface, likened to concrete after three years of constant use, would be better than a trampled, destroyed grass surface. The cost of maintaining the pitch would inevitably skyrocket with such overuse, and it seems to me that MLSE would likely be reluctant to cover the costs incurred by the Argonauts.
In addition, BMO Field would have to be completely renovated to accommodate the Argonauts. Among other things, additional dressing rooms and training facilities would have to be built, and each of the four stands would have to be moved to accommodate the larger size of a CFL field, which is 45 yards longer and 20 yards wider than the stadium's current field. The necessary work to accommodate the Argos would come at a huge cost to the city; work undertaken to accommodate a team that currently enjoys free rent at the Rogers Centre, a facility also built with funding from the City of Toronto.
The existing Argos ownership also had several opportunities to be part of the proposed stadium development that eventually became BMO Field. They were heavily involved in the various plans to build a joint Argonauts and Canadian national soccer stadium at the University of Toronto and then York University. In fact, their last-minute decision to withdraw from the York stadium plans seriously jeopardized the ability of Toronto to host the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup (FIFA's granting of the tournament to Toronto was on the condition that a soccer-specific stadium be built in time for the tournament), which would have left the city in a publicly humiliating position. Please bear in mind that this late withdrawal from the plans for York University was prompted by the offer from the Rogers Centre to allow the Argos to play rent-free, as documented here:
http://www.tsn.ca/story/print/?id=123591
While I respect the tradition of the Argonauts and in fact am a fan of the team, it is my belief that their playing at BMO Field would not be in the best interests of our city, and especially not in the best interests of Canadian soccer, to which BMO Field has been a godsend. Toronto FC's popularity has furthered the growth of the game in Toronto and across Canada in an un-precedented manner, and last year a FIFA World Cup qualifier between Canada and Jamaica at BMO Field sold out and the support was largely pro-Canadian; something that never would have been possible, and indeed never happened, when our national teams played at Varsity Stadium.
In its present capacity as a soccer-specific stadium BMO Field has been an overwhelming success. While I have the utmost respect for the Toronto Argonauts, their moving to BMO Field would prevent it from being a proper home for Toronto FC and for our Canadian national soccer teams, as illustrated.
I would ask, as a constituent of yours, that should this matter come before city council, you please share my concerns with your peers.
Sincerely,