Toronto BMO Field Renovations | ?m | ?s | MLSE | Gensler

Well, apparently FIFA considers the pitch itself a plus at BMO Field. That’s an important starting point!

They will have some work to do to reach 45,000 plus seats and I look forward to seeing the plans. At a guess, they will build a new south stand at a steeper pitch than the present temporary stands. Can they add seating between the goal lines, which would earn bigger bucks than additions to the north or south stands? The stadium itself looks utilitarian, rather like some of the British fields that have gradually been expanded over the years. I doubt that anyone will mistake it for a new purpose built facility.

I expect they will also have to renovate some of the smaller facilities around the city, as training bases for FIFA sides in the World Cup.
 
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JasonParis said:
I'm not a big sports person, but would there be any sense in making the expansion permanent?
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In my opinion, the sweet spot for MLS stadium capacity is probably around 25K? 30K at most? We've seen the Atlanta and Seattle teams play in NFL sized stadiums and draw 40K+ to games, but I think they are very much the exception. Considering the kind of crowds its main tenants draw, I think BMO is a great stadium at its current capacity.

Honestly, since the Skydome is likely to be replaced or renovated into something far more baseball centric and less adaptable for multi use purposes, I wonder if we'll hear chatter about a new large capacity multi use stadium in the city at some point. Something that could hold larger events/concerts that used to take place at the Skydome, plus be an ideal home to the national soccer team, and hey - in theory an NFL team (though it seems there's zero likelihood of that happening anytime in the foreseeable future). The cost of these mega stadiums is so absurd at this point that maybe it's a pipe dream, but I think the need could be there.
 
Will fans even be able to see the field? This looks so janky.

1637102306-TO_BMO_Ground_Stands_WIP-140fbf97b9.jpg
 
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I was up in the temporary seating for the 2016 MLS Cup Final and sightlines weren't an issue
 
jafri998 said:
I assume this rendering is to show the slightline from the top, just barley makes the field. Definitely a very strange and awkward addition though.
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I got a chuckle out of "barley makes the field" (I clearly have no life and am easily amused by typos).

Hmm... maybe BMO Field should switch to barley and launch their own brand of single malt.

FUhGh0pWYAEMug6.jpg:small

Link
 
It's not uncommon to use temporary seating for World Cup venues these days, and despite them often looking like the sightlines are terrible...they generally are ok. Here's some examples from Russia 2018 and Brazil 2014. I personally sat near the top of the temporary seating in Sao Paulo and it was totally fine.
Ekaterinburg-Arena-world-cup-2018_dezeen_2364_col_0 (2).jpg

Source

download (1).jpeg

Source
 
Flint said:
The plan is to expand to 45,736 seats, an increase of 17,756. The link below includes some renderings.
www.bmofield.com

FIFA26 | BMO Field

www.bmofield.com www.bmofield.com
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That looks like they will be tearing down the existing video/scoreboard and replacing it with four temporary ones, and then maybe have to rebuild the old one after all the temporary seating is removed.
 
It looks like the south stand will extend into the parking lot south of Princess Blvd. Blocking off that roadway. This would be a traffic concern since the only E-W roadway across BMO Field then become Lake Shore Blvd,.

45,000 fans plus ancillary people (Media, Teams, Officials, Staff) is a crap ton of people to try to move through that space. Plus if Budweiser stage happens to be hosting a concert there, and Jays games. Hopefully GO runs additional service on ALL lines during the events.
 
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Woodbridge_Heights said:
It looks like the south stand will extend into the parking lot south of Princess Blvd. Blocking off that roadway. This would be a traffic concern since the only E-W roadway across BMO Field then become Lakeshore Blvd,.

45,000 fans plus ancillary people (Media, Teams, Officials, Staff) is a crap ton of people to try to move through that space. Plus if Budweiser stage happens to be hosting a concert there, and Jays games. Hopefully GO runs additional service on ALL lines during the events.
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during the world cup? I would assume GO would definitely be running shuttles. I also assume that parking lot won't have any room for parking after dignitaries, busses, and International Broadcaster booths, and fan activation zones. lots of assumptions i'm making but i think this will be a public transit only event. lots of public transit, and instead of toronto providing much needed improvements to their public transit, they'll go with the bandaid approach and just run shuttle buses everywhere.
 
I just came here to say that BMO is almost as big an embarrassment as that concrete bunker called the Rogers Centre and the claustrophobic Scotiabank Arena. Clearly if we are to be world class and not upset ticket buyers we should burn these three buildings down and start over.

We haven’t had anything world class since Exhibition Stadium and Maple Leaf Gardens. It’s a damn shame.
 
sixrings said:
I just came here to say that BMO is almost as big an embarrassment as that concrete bunker called the Rogers Centre and the claustrophobic Scotiabank Arena. Clearly if we are to be world class and not upset ticket buyers we should burn these three buildings down and start over.

We haven’t had anything world class since Exhibition Stadium and Maple Leaf Gardens. It’s a damn shame.
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ok boomer
 
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