BMO Field

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BMO Field
Exterior view of the stadium with the main entrance (2009)
Exterior view of the stadium with the main entrance (2009)
Data
place 170 Princes Boulevard Toronto , Ontario M6K 3C3
CanadaCanada
Coordinates 43 ° 37 '59.6 "  N , 79 ° 25' 6.8"  W Coordinates: 43 ° 37 '59.6 "  N , 79 ° 25' 6.8"  W.
owner City of Toronto
operator MLSE Ltd.
start of building March 29, 2006
opening May 12, 2007
First game April 28, 2007
Toronto FC - Kansas City Wizards 0-1
Extensions 2010, 2014–2016
surface Artificial turf (2007-2010)
Natural turf (since 2010)
costs CAD 62.9 million (2006-2007)
CAD 120 million (2014-2016)
architect Brisbin Brooks Beynon Architects
capacity 30,991 seats (soccer)
26,500 seats (Canadian football)
playing area 105 × 68 m
Societies)
Events

The BMO Field is a football stadium in the Canadian city of Toronto , province of Ontario . It was the first football stadium in Canada and was completed in April 2007. The construction costs amounted to 62.9 million CAD . The main user of the facility is Toronto FC , which in 2007 was the first Canadian team to join Major League Soccer (MLS). The BMO Field is now also used for other team sports. The Canadian national soccer teams for men and women as well as the Canadian national rugby union team play their home games here. Since the beginning of the 2016 season, BMO Field has also been home to the local Canadian football team , the Toronto Argonauts .

history

The BMO Field was part of the Canadian Soccer Association's bid to host the 2007 U-20 World Cup . Originally, the stadium was to be built on the grounds of York University . The university should contribute 15 million CAD to the construction costs. In May 2005 the university withdrew from the project. As a result, the old Exhibition Stadium was selected as the new location.

On May 11, 2006, the MLS announced that Toronto FC would be included in the league for the 2007 season. Since the stadium was already under construction at that time, the Toronto location fulfilled an important acceptance criterion for the MLS.

The first game at BMO Field took place on April 28, 2007, when Toronto FC received the Kansas City Wizards . It was lost with 0: 1. On May 12, 2007 the grand opening ceremony took place. The MLS All-Star Game 2008 took place at BMO Field. In addition, the MLS Cup was played in Toronto in 2010 . In 2014, the National Soccer Stadium hosted the Women's U-20 World Cup . The sports center was the venue of the 7-Rugby -Partien the Pan American Games 2015 .

Since September 2014 the stadium has been expanded to 40,000 seats. In addition, the two longitudinal stands (west and east) and the southern rear stand will also be covered. The work was divided into two phases. In May 2015, the first phase was completed with the expansion by 8,400 seats to around 31,000 seats. The cost of the renovation is 80 million euros (120 million CAD) and should be completed in May 2016. On February 21, 2016, as the last major part of the renovation, the roof structure of the south stand (115 × 21 m) weighing 490 tons was lifted into place.

Surname

On August 31, 2006, it was announced that the Bank of Montreal (BMO), the fourth largest bank in Canada, had acquired the naming rights for the stadium for a ten-year period ending in 2017. For this, the financial institution paid ten million Canadian dollars. In February 2016, the Bank of Montreal and Toronto FC agreed to extend the contract for a further ten years until 2027. At official FIFA games, the venue is called the National Soccer Stadium, which is free of advertising .

Financing and administration

The cost of building the BMO Field was 69 million Canadian dollars . The necessary capital came from various sources.

The Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE), which owns Toronto FC, provided $ 8 million plus $ 10 million raised from the sale of the stadium name. The federal government provided the lion's share of the construction costs with $ 27 million. The province of Ontario contributed eight million dollars and the city of Toronto another ten million dollars.

The stadium is owned by the City of Toronto and managed by the MLSE.

Furnishing

The BMO Field had an artificial turf playing field ( FieldTurf ) from its opening until 2010 . This was followed by a playing field made of natural grass .

Most of the seats in the stadium have red seat shells. When the stadium is empty you can see a large maple leaf on the east stand, the word “Toronto” on the west stand and the word “BMO” on the south stand.

gallery

  • The interior of the stadium (2007)

  • BMO Field (2009)

  • East Stand (2012)

  • Rugby Match (2013)

  • The east stand after the renovation (2016)

  • The Sold Out BMO Field (2016)

See also

Web links

Commons : BMO Field  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Work begins on Toronto soccer stadium . March 29, 2006. 
  2. ↑ Toronto: BMO Field ready for re-opening . May 8, 2015. 
  3. ↑ TFC groundskeeper at BMO Field on the hot seat . May 7, 2016. 
  4. ↑ a b bmofield.com: Stadium history (English)
  5. ↑ stadionwelt.de: Pictures of the new roof construction on the BMO Field Article from February 1, 2016
  6. ↑ stadiumdb.com: Toronto: Third roof raised, naming rights signed article from February 23, 2016 (English)
  7. ↑ stadionwelt.de: MLS-Club extends article from February 23, 2016 with Naming-Right-Partner
  8. ↑ stadiumdb.com: construction costs (English)