Soccer in Canada | Canada Hosting the 2026 World Cup

[elly63]

See, the only issue with us "amateurs" is that Herdman knew all about everything that was facing him in Edmonton and still chose and was prepared for that option. They didn't need a game there to prove anything to FIFA inspectors, getting a large crowd there at the same time was icing on the cake. Some people talk as if turf won't be installed there for the WC. They'll put it in and likely leave it for the year and the Elks will play on it. Then they'll revert back to an artificial surface.

Few stadiums are appropriate in extreme cold weather. Undersoil heating of a turf field can only do so much in freezing temperatures so it's not a helluva lot better. I don't think the surface was the biggest factor in our game. Fact is this team struggles early against taking it to teams we should beat, this teams prefers to be on the counter.

I don't think anyone can say that we are not at an advantage going into the Mexico game (just the way Herdman first said when the games were announced) If they win it's because they are still the better team and we didn't take advantage of the factors we had going for us. They will be desperate as well. If Mexico loses this one heads will likely roll.

You can't keep playing all the games in Toronto, they have to grow the game. If we didn't have one of the best players in the world I would hazard to say they would be even less known than they are. And ticket sales are important, until that last game Toronto IMO was a failure as a host city. They would have nearly 10k less people attending than a TFC game when TFC was doing well. Edmonton has had back to back 45k games which increases exposure and hype. Herdman has explained the whole reason he wanted the job was because he wanted to get the 2022 WC revenues (15 mil or so) because without it, we were going nowhere.

[Tg11]

Well we face Mexico on Tuesday but hoping for a win or a draw

[Hawrylyshyn]

After seeing them lose to the US, a win is definitely doable (although very difficult).

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by trueviking

It wasn’t about how it looked on tv. It was how it played. The pitch was a significant disadvantage to the more skilled Canadian team.

Which is what quite a few of us were warning about when it was announced they'd be playing at Commonwealth.

Originally Posted by trueviking

Until Edmonton puts a proper grass pitch back in that stadium it should never host meaningful games. Just having lots of seats is not good enough. It’s not a soccer appropriate stadium anymore. Especially in cold weather.

Yep.

Originally Posted by trueviking

Until there is another appropriate option all games should be at BMO.

BC Place can fill in for November-February matches.

[esquire]

Edmonton had natural turf for all those years until relatively recently... why would it be impossible to go back to that model? You'd think there would be some incentive for the stadium operator if it meant being able to host major soccer matches.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

Edmonton had natural turf for all those years until relatively recently... why would it be impossible to go back to that model? You'd think there would be some incentive for the stadium operator if it meant being able to host major soccer matches.

Maintenance costs are higher, amount of usage has to be restricted, length of season is shortened without expensive tools and maintenance ie growth lights. That's just a start.

I posted an article somewhere by the former Edmonton groundskeeper describing the difficulty, I'll see if I can find it.

[Tg11]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

After seeing them lose to the US, a win is definitely doable (although very difficult).

Yeah because Mexico is still Mexico at the end of the day. Believe it or not I really do want our boys to win but realistically I wouldn't be surprised if we draw with Mexico at home.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by elly63

Maintenance costs are higher, amount of usage has to be restricted, length of season is shortened without expensive tools and maintenance ie growth lights. That's just a start.

I posted an article somewhere by the former Edmonton groundskeeper describing the difficulty, I'll see if I can find it.

Re: amount of usage, the Eskimos used the field from May/June to November each year, I'm not sure how much one could realistically expect the stadium to be used beyond that in any event.

Amount of usage has to be restricted with natural turf sure, but is Commonwealth really used that much more now with artificial turf? There is still only one tenant in there as far as I know. These kinds of one-off events like the World Cup Qualifiers also happened before with grass.

[Coldrsx]

'More than 48,000 tickets have been sold for the Canada and Mexico FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 16, according to Canada Soccer. Canada defeated Costa Rica 1-0 with 48,806 fans in the stands on Nov. 12. - Taproot

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

Re: amount of usage, the Eskimos used the field from May/June to November each year, I'm not sure how much one could realistically expect the stadium to be used beyond that in any event.

Amount of usage has to be restricted with natural turf sure, but is Commonwealth really used that much more now with artificial turf? There is still only one tenant in there as far as I know. These kinds of one-off events like the World Cup Qualifiers also happened before with grass.

I think the key issue is the first one that elly brought up - $$$.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I think the key issue is the first one that elly brought up - $$$.

I get that... but they had grass for so long! How expensive could it have been to just keep the existing turf in place? It's odd. But in the grand scheme of things I guess it's not that big of a deal.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

I get that... but they had grass for so long! How expensive could it have been to just keep the existing turf in place? It's odd. But in the grand scheme of things I guess it's not that big of a deal.

From 2010:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...story-1.962863

"Workers will start ripping up the grass at Commonwealth Stadium next week after council unanimously approved a deal Wednesday to split the cost of installing artificial turf with the Edmonton Eskimos.

Commonwealth is the last professional football stadium in Canada with a grass field.

Council was told the artificial turf — estimated to cost $2.6 million — could save about $80,000 a year in maintenance costs."

When Commonwealth upgraded its turf for the Women's World Cup the $800K cost was split between the city of Edmonton and the Canada Soccer Association.

[esquire]

What the hell is 80 grand in the context of a 55,000 seat stadium? Charge a 25 cent "groundskeeping surcharge" on every ticket sold and you would more than cover the cost.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by esquire

What the hell is 80 grand in the context of a 55,000 seat stadium? Charge a 25 cent "groundskeeping surcharge" on every ticket sold and you would more than cover the cost.

Agreed. And its fun to see the groundskeepers meticulously maintaining the grass before and after the game at BMO....and at half-time. My concern is how hard football can be on a grass field, particularly in a country with a long winter and short growing season. How is the grass in Green Bay?

[esquire]

At least for football, you never really heard anyone complain about the surface at Commonwealth when it was natural turf. I mean, maybe some people didn't like it for whatever reason, but it's not like it was visibly terrible.

The only kind of surface people complained about routinely in Canada were the classic 70s style knee-destroying astroturf-on-hardtop combinations that lasted in the CFL until about Y2K.

[elly63]

When I said usage I meant community use. Unlike many stadiums in the US, stadiums in Canada are generally publicly owned. They have to be available for community use and not just 10 games and however many practices the Elks would have.

The original BMO could be rented by the public for use, just like when we were kids and would all chip in to buy an hours worth of ice time at the local arena. Because of the heavy maintenance it now undergoes I doubt if that still is the case even though it is owned by the city. It is owned by the city but run by MLSE.

Now, granted, turf technology has changed greatly since I was kid, but I am still old enough to remember the turf field at Frank Clair Stadium or should I say mud field and IIRC Winnipeg wasn't much better.

In Canada, you can't have a pristine field sitting there only for the Elks private domain, it has to be available for everybody. I'm not saying that the Elks don't have a big say in what goes on there but when they are not there I am assuming someone else is or at least that's the way it is done in most cities in Canada.

[esquire]

I'm not sure exactly what went on in Edmonton but I do recall hearing that the grass field limited use for other purposes. But they did certainly have big events in there other than CFL games though, like the occasional concerts, soccer match, etc. It was probably more community use that was limited, but then, they have Clarke Field next door for stuff like that.

I know in Winnipeg a lot of the smaller scale amateur sports were played at the nearby Velodrome (football) and Alexander Park (soccer) before they put down plastic in 1987 IIRC and then they started doing everything at the Stadium.

[Coldrsx]

I could be wrong but real grass was required to be removed for multiple events we hosted which lead to the inevitable removal and replacement.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by elly63

Edmonton has had back to back 45k games which increases exposure and hype. Herdman has explained the whole reason he wanted the job was because he wanted to get the 2022 WC revenues (15 mil or so) because without it, we were going nowhere.

Actually, the game vs Costa Rica drew just under 49,000. The Mexico game should be attended by 51,000+. I had noticed the Mexico game had fewer seats available compared to Costa Rica on Friday, with pretty much the entire North End zone a sellout. Also, more tickets have been sold in the Upper West side.

[EndoftheBeginning]

All this talk about grass pitch reminded me of a good read a couple months ago on the meticulous pitch preparation and near cult-like status of the UK Groundskeeper in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...football-pitch