Loss of the National Football Stadium

[Joe MacCarthy]

BMO Field's grass guys feeling the pressure
Larson talks with the guys in charge of keeping the grass green
Kurtis Larson, Toronto Sun, February 05, 2016

Heggie's reserve pitches are growing in identical soils a short drive away. They'll be trucked in whenever needed.

After being laid, the new sod is considered playable after three days. Toronto FC won't play before five days following a CFL game, with most games arriving a week after the Argos play.

“It's a matter of scheduling more than anything else,” said Dan Almand, a grass consultant with Millennium Sports Technologies Ltd.

“It's about giving the field enough time to recover between events.”

[paul-collins]

I would imagine the three days have to be pretty perfect.  This article was at the start of the season (note the citation of five days, which is not true for this one turnover).

If they're not relaying sod right now it means they're going with what is on the ground.  I didn't see any big lumps come up, only little clods.  Hopefully they can be replaced and the roots reintegrated quickly enough.

[-Hammer-]

I think this will certainly be the biggest test of the grounds crew. That said, when I left the Grey Cup, apart from one area in the south endzone, I didn't really notice anything too absurd as far as damage.

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/video/tfc-not-concerned-about-grass-conditions-following-grey-cup~1004857

[Grizzly]

The had a story on this on CTV and at the same time they were playing the audio of an interview with both the grounds keeper and Vanney saying the field is in perfect condition they were playing footage of the game where you could see bits of turf flying in the air from the players feet. You can see the same thing in the TSN story posted above. It is possible that these pieces are small and don't matter so much but I am still a bit skeptical that the pitch will be in as good condition as they are claiming with only 3 days between games and November weather.

[theaub]

It looks pretty damn good from what I've seen - its tough to have a perfect grass pitch in late November here regardless of there being a football game three days before.

[shermanator]

Given that less than 72 hours ago Grey Cup was held, I think the turf looks pretty good. Think we can put the arguments over whether the turf will hold up to bed.

 

 

[paul-collins]

BMO Groundscrew FTW.  Wow.

[masster]

Props to the grounds crew. Things looked good.

I wonder what this would have been like if the weather for the two events had been reversed. I think that is the ultimate test. But given the limited amount of football games and the fact that the climate in Toronto is not like Vancouver or Seattle, the chances of us ever finding out are pretty slim.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

They dodged a bullet weather-wise on the weekend with the Grey Cup:

https://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2016/11/30/toronto-fc-groundskeeper-has-field-in-pitch-perfect-condition.html

A B+ is a better grade than he and BMO Field General Manager Peter Church expected, and better than the “prepare for the worst” warning they gave Toronto FC’s players heading into the match, well aware of the short changeover time coupled with the difficulty of late November weather.

This could have been a fiasco by the sounds of things and is not something that should be attempted regularly.

[Markoaleks]

I was at the TFC Game last night and as a CanMNT first supporter and TFC second, I can only look forward to a time when the stadium will be as full, as loud and as passionate when our national team plays at BMO.

It was an amazing evening and would love to think eventually,  something similar in terms of support can occur for the national side as well

[deschamp86]

30 minutes ago, Markoaleks said:

I was at the TFC Game last night and as a CanMNT first supporter and TFC second, I can only look forward to a time when the stadium will be as full, as loud and as passionate when our national team plays at BMO.

It was an amazing evening and would love to think eventually,  something similar in terms of support can occur for the national side as well

They're going to have to start playing regular friendlies in Canada is that is ever to happen

[paul-collins]

3 hours ago, deschamp86 said:

They're going to have to start playing regular friendlies in Canada is that is ever to happen

and winning. :-/

[Kent]

Yeah, the field looked great last night! Well done to the grounds crew. Sure, there is a risk of some day getting burned and having a poor pitch, but it looks like that will be rare, and it's not like the pitch was always perfect before the Argos moved in. If anything, perhaps the Argos moving in has resulted in them investing more resources into the quality of the pitch. Let's hope they continue to do so going forward.

[SuperCanuck]

On 01/12/2016 at 7:51 AM, Markoaleks said:

I was at the TFC Game last night and as a CanMNT first supporter and TFC second, I can only look forward to a time when the stadium will be as full, as loud and as passionate when our national team plays at BMO.

It was an amazing evening and would love to think eventually,  something similar in terms of support can occur for the national side as well

Is it possible to press the 'agree' button twice for this?

[gigi riva]

On ‎2016‎-‎12‎-‎01 at 10:51 AM, Markoaleks said:

I was at the TFC Game last night and as a CanMNT first supporter and TFC second, I can only look forward to a time when the stadium will be as full, as loud and as passionate when our national team plays at BMO.

It was an amazing evening and would love to think eventually,  something similar in terms of support can occur for the national side as well

Me  too  But  they  have  to  schedule   more  Friendlies  and  they  have  to  start  winning   more 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

This thread is almost 3 years old. With the first TFC/Argos shared season over, let's look back at @Trillium 's initial post.

On 03/01/2014 at 1:42 PM, Trillium said:

1. The National Football Stadium does not need a roof for national team women's or men's games.

The partial roof on the West and East stands doesn't seem to have detracted from the soccer atmosphere.

 

On 03/01/2014 at 1:42 PM, Trillium said:

2. The National Football Stadium should remain a natural grass surface.

The pitch is as close to that as possible. Huge pressure by The Voyageurs, TFC fans, the media, players and the CSA made MLSE invest huge sums in groundskeeping and pitch maintenance. This season had a compressed schedule for TFC and a great playoff run + hosting of the Grey Cup. They made it work. Next season should be easier. Our worries about an artificial pitch were not unfounded but if MLSE continues to spend the big bucks on the surface we will have dodged a bullet. In fact, the MLS Cup Final showed us we can easily host games on really cold days in late November; ideal for WCQ.

 

On 03/01/2014 at 1:42 PM, Trillium said:

3. The National Football Stadium does not need expansion of seating beyond 25,000 seats untill such time as every National Team game is sold out at an average ticket pricing of $50.00 dollars per seat ( 1,250,000.00 gate ).

Just over 36 000 for the MLS Cup final. A sellout for the Women's National Team in June. If the Men's National Team play a minnow or a friendly and only sell 9700 tickets (numbers for the WCQ vs Dominica in 2015) the stadium will look empty but it won't be a disaster and it won't look much worse than before expansion. They didn't go to 50 000+ and that's good.

 

On 03/01/2014 at 1:42 PM, Trillium said:

CSA released from using the facility for National games, ( men and women ).

"In order to have sufficient time to recoup its additional investment, MLSEL has proposed that the term of the agreement be extended 10 years so that it will now expire on December 31, 2037 rather than December 31, 2027"

from http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-67466.pdf

Instead of the CSA being released, it seems the CSA has doubled down and it will be the National Soccer Stadium for the two decades to come.

Ironically, instead the Argos killing our National Soccer Stadium, the National Soccer Stadium may yet kill the Argos! With their suburban fan base not making the trip and not filling up the place like TFC fans did this year!

Conclusion: Changes were made, but we have not lost our National Soccer Stadium. Can we lock this thread now?

[Fort York Redcoat1555362293]

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/video/giovinco-blames-bmo-s-other-tenant-for-poor-play-at-home~1014017

 

Sorry I don't post the whole article as well. Groundshare is still bushleague.

Congrats to the groundscrew on a successful season in perfect weather conditions this year. I wish them luck as it will only get tougher in the year to come.

I hope IF we are lucky enough to get a Gold Cup match in whatever they call BMO sportplex for that event, that the groundscrew treat it with the same regard they have done. Next up, here comes the Ice Palace!

[Levi Oakey]

Oh please. Groundshare is quickly going to become the norm. This isn't the 1800s when you can just buy land for cheap in a city core. Look at Spurs new stadium? Looks at other Premier League teams that aren't ages old. They groundshare.

Are you ready to fork out millions of dollars for max 20 home games a year? Just to be clear, that's millions of dollars to support something that takes up less than 1% of the year. 

Governments are not going to fund this stuff so easily in the West anymore. Even for the Olympics there is talk of saying that all stadiums need to have secondary tenants. Look at Brazil. They are getting hammered due to the Olympics and the World Cup.

[shermanator]

Get over the groundshare already. The fact that Giovinco is using it as an excuse for what was flat out an uninspiring performance in the biggest game of the year is pathetic.

[Markoaleks]

The pitch did not impact TFC scoring 5 against Montreal, or 2 against NYCFC and 3 against Philly during the play off run

Heck, Seba scored against NYCFC in New York on a far worse pitch than BMO during the playoffs too

He played poorly, by his standards during the playoffs, and it is easier to blame the pitch than his performance or match fitness

[-Hammer-]

This is a joke of a response.

I see you didn't once mention this was an issue when you beat the Impact, or when you had to play in Yankee stadium,

The season that saw TFC do the best it ever did, you are going to blame the pitch. Get real. We all saw the field at it was in pristine condition after the Grey Cup and the grounds crew posted day to day on it. The reason for your cramping is the pitch? Give me a break. You mean to tell me, that you are perfectly capable of playing on Olympic stadium turf, and at Yankee stadium without seizing up, but somehow a still great pitch that the BMO grounds crew busted their butts to produce isn't good enough? Not once during the entire season was this an issue, but suddenly the spotlight is on you and the pitch is at fault.

It's a joke and shame on you Sebastian for that pathetic excuse. You effectively destroyed a large swath of goodwill TFC and your team generated during that playoff run and damaged the growth of soccer in this country with that weak, self serving, pathetic excuse.

You've given ammunition to every single critic who claims Soccer is a diving, whining, prissy boy game and have hurt any potential fan by acting like a child and not owning up to the fact that the pitch had nothing to do with your cold performance. You've also given ammunition to every single elitist snob who makes the sport look bad, by treating grass conditions as a more important factor then the fact you couldn't slip one by Frei, of which I'm sure that near goal was completely the fault of the pitch.

Shame on you, and I hope you hear the same earful from Mr. Totera

 

[rob.notenboom]

I'm with @Olympique_de_Marseille

Time to lock this thread. 

Or nevermind ... let's just continue with 20 more pages of people's hot takes and overreactions. 

[1996]

Shame are you people who have no clue and and just jump all over Giovinco just like that , please !

[gator]

I am one that also think they were fortunate cfl wasn't played in heavy rain which made the recovery that much less of a challenge! The grounds crew did a good job, just ask them, the pitch did look to be deteriorating as the season went on, that's just what I saw, I didn't play on it!

[theaub]

lmao @ some of these reactions

And fwiw, I heard from multiple people connected with the team that the general consensus from the players was that the pitch was hot garbage from September onwards, and the grounds crew was fully aware of it.  There was just nothing either side could do about it.  They put in a hell of an effort, especially after the Grey Cup.