A new-look BMO Field is MLSE President & CEO Tim Leiweke's "baby and he wears his pride on his dusty sleeve" while "pitching in to ensure" it is ready for Toronto FC's home opener on Sunday, according to Neil Davidson of the CP. There is still "plenty to do ahead of the long-awaited home opener," as hundreds of workers are "labouring around the clock" to finish the renovations. Mobile cranes are "attached to the outside," while inside "the pitch looks beautiful and the enlarged stadium seems ready." But there is "carefully controlled mayhem behind the scenes." Leiweke said that it has been a "year-long project that has been squeezed into six months." He said, "You always wish you had a few more days but we'll be ready." While Leiweke "speaks highly of the job PCL Construction is doing, he is not averse to playing the heavy to get things done." He estimates that 10% of the building will "still be a work in progress" when the club hosts the Dynamo on Sunday. But fans "probably won't notice." A new upper tier "looms large on the East Stand, upping stadium capacity by 8,000-plus to 30,665." BMO Field "should be sold out Sunday, with PCL purchasing 1,100 seats in the new tier and giving a pair to every worker who helped build it." Leiweke proudly said that it will be the "largest soccer-specific stadium in North America, bigger than the StubHub Centre in Carson, Calif." Davidson noted BMO Field "can be expanded to 40,000 for a Winter Classic or World Cup" (CP, 5/7).
HIGH FIVE? In Toronto, Kurtis Larson noted MLSE execs believe Sunday could "usher in another new era in MLS -- one that will at some point see MLS clubs finally compete with this continent’s top four leagues." Leiweke said of TFC, "We knew the economics of this stadium would allow us to make our investment in Designated Players work. ... If we aspire to be one of the best leagues in the world, if we aspire to be one of the best clubs in the world, if we aspire to be treated like a major league, then we need to show there’s an economic model that can be phenomenal." He added that this model "could bring in close to" $60M in soccer revenue this season. Meanwhile, Larson noted with football lines "expected to litter the pitch at some point in the near future, TFC supporters are wary of a potential CFL tenant." MLSE Chief Project Development Officer Robert Hunter said that the organization is "already doing testing to determine the best method of removing football lines for MLS games." Hunter said, "We’re testing it at the Kia Training Ground now. It would be a steam cleaning system to remove the lines." Larson noted outside of Toronto, the "lack of attention to TFC’s stadium re-opening league-wide is astounding." Leiweke: “What we keep preaching to the league is that this is not about a renovation, it’s about a revolution. We gotta prove to people that we can go get (expensive players) and pay for it. Nobody thinks we can do that. The lack of attention and buzz this is getting is pretty amazing" (TORONTO SUN, 5/7).
STILL WORK TO BE DONE: In Toronto, Bruce Arthur notes as his time in charge of MLSE "dwindles, Leiweke is making a show of not slowing down." While he says that he is "not thinking too much about legacy, he lists off the BMO expansion, which he calls the old version a high school football field; the Raptors practice facility and D-League team, which is coming; Drake’s new club and the new scoreboard" which are coming to the Air Canada Centre; the NBA All-Star Game in '16 and the World Cup of Hockey this year. Arthur notes there are "plans for Ontario Place, too, which remain in the pipeline" (TORONTO STAR, 5/8).
