Toronto BMO Field Renovations (FIFA26) | MLSE | Gensler

i saw several expos games at the O back in the day right up until their last season. a few soccer games too. The place is a dump and like others mentioned the seats are super far away from the field. The stadium itself is also way outside of central montreal. It is iconic from the outside but its a terrible fan experience going there
 
Why I prefaced my post saying that the idea of a larger stadium in Toronto is discussed outside of just NFL circles.


This attitude does us no good and is a good reason why we've ended up where we have.
The "this is canada" comment not really a negative one but realistic, Canada is a small market. Without nfl there isnt a case for 50k stadium.
 
While I do generally agree I also look at Australia which is smaller than Canada, has a similar geographic distribution, but whose major cities have multiple 50k+ stadiums.
Without actually ever being in australia - my view as an outsider is i think their culture/people are more connected and cohesive than Canada. More sense of relatability between citizens, the fact they are an anglo country far from the western world may breed a different sense of community, they dont have the largest economy in the world next door where they just watch their sports/entertainment, they had to create their own.
Take Canada where we have french speakers with their own culture next door to ontario, then you have east coast, west coast etc
 
While I do generally agree I also look at Australia which is smaller than Canada, has a similar geographic distribution, but whose major cities have multiple 50k+ stadiums.
This is because their sport interests, rugby and cricket, point more towards larger outdoor stadiums. If ice hockey wasn't an indoor event with arenas this country would be littered with 50K+ venues for them. Think about how many and how much we spend on arenas and transfer that into stadiums and we'd be in the same ballpark as Australia.
Without actually ever being in australia - my view as an outsider is i think their culture/people are more connected and cohesive than Canada.
I don't believe this to either be true or any sort of reason why their sport culture is different from ours.
 
This is because their sport interests, rugby and cricket, point more towards larger outdoor stadiums. If ice hockey wasn't an indoor event with arenas this country would be littered with 50K+ venues for them. Think about how many and how much we spend on arenas and transfer that into stadiums and we'd be in the same ballpark as Australia.

I don't believe this to either be true or any sort of reason why their sport culture is different from ours.
Location > warm climate > will create a different culture > different ppl/activitites/sports. Also location > bottom of the world > not close to similar cultures ie england/canada > forced to rely on themselves > actual proof...they created a sport they only play and its their most popular.
Average league attendances for rugby/cricket not significantly higher than arena, but yes some markets could handle 50k, but the country would not be littered with those arenas. The north american sports model is set up incorrectly for that.
 
Don't forget AFL which has a league average of 38k (and the stadiums double up as cricket stadiums)...

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I lived in Sydney and Toronto for considerable amount of time so I think I have a formed opinion on both. I really believe Australians are more "sportsy" in general. People was crazy for a lot of things like rugby, AFL, Football and cricket in particular but they were more engaged with everything. Here in Canada a lot of cities don't even have a sports team in any league and specifically in Toronto I don't see the same general excitement for the locals teams as I saw back in Australia.

As for the national identity and pride someone mentioned, it would be disrespectful to opine about it given that I am not a national of either country. However, one thing I can say, with all due respect, is that Canadians seem to have a rather pessimistic view of their country and a diminished perception of their own greatness as a nation.

End of my offtopic.
 

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