Argonauts still an afterthought at BMO Field
By KURTIS LARSON, TORONTO SUN, Leader-Post May 7, 2015 2:49 PM
The Toronto Argonauts aren't a priority at BMO Field.
They're an afterthought, apparently.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's top boss Tim Leiweke reiterated that this week when he insinuated the embattled CFL club is fairly far down on the BMO Field priority list – a distant fourth behind the company's Major League Soccer franchise.
The proof? The bizarre, uh, design flaws the CFL team could face are an indication of the Argos' place in the pecking order.
While the soccer pitch at BMO Field will remain grass,
CFL games – assuming the deal goes through – will feature an all-turf end zone at the north end of the stadium while the south end zone could be half-turf. Not exactly ideal, but a similar adaptation exist in Oakland, where the NFL's Raiders play on a baseball diamond.
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Still, there's no hiding the fact that MLSE's CEO means business when he says this country's national stadium is, well, just that: A soccer stadium.
“At the end of the day, it's first, TFC. Second, TFC. Third, TFC,” MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke told the Toronto Sun during a tour of Toronto's downtown soccer-specific venue. “If you go to a TFC game, you won't notice a setup different than this.”
Especially if certain deadlines aren't met over the next few weeks.
Accompanied Wednesday by Bob Hunter, MLSE's Chief Project Development Officer, Leiweke reiterated the need for a resolution to the will-they, won't-they Argos situation in the coming weeks if the CFL side is to play at BMO Field in 2016.
“It's an immediate issue,” Leiweke added. “For (our construction company) to do Phase 2 they need to know in the next week or two where they're headed. If we're doing a Phase 2, the entire area up to the scoreboard disappears next year. We'll put in a party plaza there.”
As far as Toronto FC is concerned, Phase 2 is already underway in the bowels of BMO Field, where machinery is currently digging colossal holes that will hold columns leading up to the to-be-installed stadium roof.
For football, though, an entirely different process would need to begin come winter, when MLS takes a break.
“For CFL (action), we'll have to go all the way back to the scoreboard to create an end zone,” Leiweke explained.
As a result, the seats at the north end of the stadium (near the Gardiner Expressway) would disappear. Those 800 seats would be replaced by a retractable, multi-layered terrace soccer fans will utilize on game days.
The multi-deck terrace would cover the north CFL end zone during soccer games before being rolled back for football.
“That's the misnomer that's out there,” Leiweke said. “You won't see end zone markings during soccer games. All of our portables come out and cover it at both ends. Those end zones would be field turf. They'll have logos on them. During a TFC game, you aren't going to see that.
“There will be no logos anywhere on this field ever. If they want logos, they're going to have to work with the field turf in each of the end zones.”
Nonetheless, the Argos – and their fans – view a potential move to BMO as a positive despite the fact CFL venues in places like Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver are approaching world class. Anything is better than another season at Rogers Centre, even if the Argos remain secondary tenants.
“We understand the pressure from the province and from the city that everyone wishes we can solve the (Argos) problem,” Leiweke said. “We get that and we want to play a role if that's what happens.”
The keyword in Leiweke's aforementioned phrase? Problem.
And that's why the Argos are pretty far down on MLSE's depth chart.
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