ARGOS GETTING NEW HOME

TORONTO (CP) – After rain at 17 of Toronto FC’s 19 home games last season, an overnight snowfall in advance of the 2014 home opener isn’t entirely out of character.

MLSE boss Tim Leiweke takes solace from the fact that the forecast calls for the temperature to warm up during the day. But the grass will be less than perfect.

“I bet we’re going to see a pretty ripped up field because it’s soft and it’s wet,” Leiweke told The Canadian Press on Friday. “We don’t love the idea of our world-class players going out there on a pitch where we’re going to have a lot of moving turf and a lot of divots. That’s how players get hurt.

“So hopefully nothing bad happens (Saturday).”

Leiweke has a solution all planned out. And if he gets $30 million in public money, he’s ready to spend another $90 million of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment’s cash to make it happen.

A hybrid grass surface is just part of the planned $120-million facelift for BMO Field, which opened in April 2007 and currently seats around 21,500.

The plan is to increase permanent seating to 30,000 with the ability to add temporary seating that would raise that total to 40,000, with an eye to hosting an outdoor NHL game.

Add in a roof over the stands and the ability to accommodate CFL football, the latter mandated by the City of Toronto.

The MLSE CEO will meet with season Toronto FC ticket-holders before Saturday’s game against D.C. United to discuss the proposed renovation.

Almost evangelical in his discussions on the improvements, Leiweke says the revamped stadium will offer fans protection from the elements and ramp up the atmosphere in what is already the third-oldest stadium in MLS.

“We want to be the toughest place for a club to come in and play in in all of Major League Soccer and I want our environment to be renowned around the world as being one of the great experiences in live sports,” Leiweke said. “And I think the roof does both.”

He has to do a delicate dance since announcing expansion plans.

MLS has long maintained soccer-specific stadiums are the way to go. The improvements to BMO Field seem to make it less soccer-specific. Lewieke answers that by saying it will still be better for soccer.

TFC fans have worried that the stadium might revert to artificial turf, despite repeated denials by Leiweke.
The plan now is for a hybrid surface, which is already used by Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham as well as Wembley Stadium and the World Cup venues in Brazil.

“This is THE best surface in the world,” said Leiweke. “And the best clubs in the world have all gone to this system.”

Leiweke pointed to Wembley in London, saying the surface had held up during a one-month period that saw two NFL games and two training sessions, two rugby matches and four soccer games.

“It’s not cheap but what it will do is it will take our current surface and make it better, because it allows the real grass and its roots to grow around the implanted artificial roots.”

Less than 10 per cent of the surface is the hybrid product. The rest is below ground so the real grass “becomes harder and tougher and it doesn’t move as much.”

The blueprint calls for the field to be lengthened to provide 20-yard endzones for the CFL with the stands at each end on rollers so they can be moved as needed.

Logos for CFL play will be restricted to the end zones, to keep the rest of the field pristine for soccer.

“There is dialogue going on,” Leiweke said. “Do we have an agreement done yet with the Argos? No. Will we have to do one in short order if the city council approves? Yes.

“Because the lease and the deal with the city are dependent on locking in a solution for the Argos.”

The Argonauts have to be out of the Rogers Centre by the end of the 2017 season.

The MLSE board has approved the renovations, including “a CFL solution” as per the City’s mandate.

“It does not mean that our owners have approved us owning the Argos,” added Leiweke. “That’s still a separate decision and we’ll follow their lead.

“But we can get the solution that the City is requesting without us having to own the Argos.”

BMO Field is currently owned by the City of Toronto and run by MLSE.

MLSE is counting on $10 million each from the municipal, provincial and federal governments to help pay for improvements.

The City of Toronto’s executive committee has already approved its contribution – with only Mayor Rob Ford voting no – with a full council vote scheduled for April.

“Based on everything we know and hear, I think that will go well,” Leiweke said.