Renditions of BMO Field expansion for the 2026 World Cup.

[TOcanadafan]

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

Its not aesthetically good.  Moreso given that it covers three sides only.   That looks very strange in an aerial view.  Imaging someone from the other side of the world looking at this for the first time.  They're gonna think its an unfinished stadium

 

 

 

Two things that were destroyed with the expansion and Argos moving in… the wonderful view of the CN Tower / city from the west stands, and the great sightlines from the South stands (which were my reasonably priced seasons tickets until the a$$hole Argos forced me elsewhere). 
I know it won’t happen now, but tear it all down and rebuild.

[Bdog]

I do think BMO Field looks pretty nice at night, it seems like my favourite games I've gone to there have all been night/evening games. That being said, the area is kind of an eyesore. Actually, downtown Toronto in general is ugly to me.

7 hours ago, Nello said:

 

 

I've never been there but Germany's cities all look pretty nice to me aesthetically from what I've seen. It's probably because they have more trees/interesting architecture/no constant construction everywhere. 

[SpursFlu]

Sometimes it's best to just skip the renderings and just hope nobody asks

[RS]

14 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If they need to be able to have a longer setting for CFL, you adjust on one end only, not both. Does that decenter the centre seats (typical argument against having a temp stand only on one end)?

I guess it might. But it is not significant.

That's already the case now.

[YorkRegionFan]

16 hours ago, SoccMan said:

So no word if these renovations will be temporary or permanent. 

Saw this from the RPB forum.  According to the application at city hall, it is temporary seating (page 17)

Toronto's Bid to Participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026

[YorkRegionFan]

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Edited June 20, 2022 by YorkRegionFan
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[YorkRegionFan]

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Edited June 20, 2022 by YorkRegionFan
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[Califax]

I remember hating the south awning when it went up. It doesn't hold sound in. 

The best thing they could do is expand the south, put an actual roof on, and put temporary stuff in the north.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Califax

[Kadenge]

39 minutes ago, YorkRegionFan said:

Saw this from the RPB forum.  According to the application at city hall, it is temporary seating (page 17)

Toronto's Bid to Participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026

If true this is short sighted and would be a waste of good money.  I get we need to increase capacity to host the WC games but why not use some of the funds to  put in  permanent seating?

[Free kick]

The CFL rules (as far as field dimensions) are the root of the problem.   The CFL field is 110 yards between the goal lines but the bigger problem is the 20 yard deep end zones.    Does the game really need a 20 yard endzone? I really don't see why they do.    The NFL goes to the other extreme with only 10 yard end zones and this is stupid as well because it makes it really hard(er) to score a TD when the ball is spotted inside the 5 yard line.  The right compromise (for the benefit of both leagues) would be 15 yards.  

In short,  with the CFL,  you have an extra 10 yards (110 yard field of play) and that extra 10 yrds in each endzone  for a total 30 extra yards.   No wonder you cant use CFL stadiums for the World Cup but there are relatively fewer issue with NFL stadium.  If you could ever install seats for soccer behind the end zones in CFL stadia,  they would be terrible seats not worth buying because they are so far from the action.   And that's also why you have that bush league looking panorama of open space and houses & neighborhoods in CFL venues.  

Because of the 12th man, its understandable as to why you need a wider field for the CFL.  But the 30 yards of extra length contributes nothing of value to the CFL game.  In fact it only hinders it from both an entertainment and a practical (ie.: stadium usage) perspective.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Free kick

[Kadenge]

BMO could still put more perm seating in the south end though?

[Free kick]

23 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

BMO could still put more perm seating in the south end though?

Yes, but its in the north end where you really need to put permanent seating in my opinion.  Need to close out that wasted space and view of the food building.

 

PS.:  I saw somewhere that the south end seats 8K.  If you could permanently install an identical and asymmetrical stand(s) in the north end,  you would have right there a 38-40K facility.   And it wouldn't look so bad.  

Edited June 20, 2022 by Free kick

[Joe MacCarthy]

55 minutes ago, Free kick said:

The CFL rules (as far as field dimensions) are the root of the problem.   The CFL field is 110 yards between the goal lines but the bigger problem is the 20 yard deep end zones.    Does the game really need a 20 yard endzone? I really don't see why they do.    The NFL goes to the other extreme with only 10 yard end zones and this is stupid as well because it makes it really hard(er) to score a TD when the ball is spotted inside the 5 yard line.  The right compromise (for the benefit of both leagues) would be 15 yards.  

In short,  with the CFL,  you have an extra 10 yards (110 yard field of play) and that extra 10 yrds in each endzone  for a total 30 extra yards.   No wonder you cant use CFL stadiums for the World Cup but there are relatively fewer issue with NFL stadium.  If you could ever install seats for soccer behind the end zones in CFL stadia,  they would be terrible seats not worth buying because they are so far from the action.   And that's also why you have that bush league looking panorama of open space and houses & neighborhoods in CFL venues.  

Because of the 12th man, its understandable as to why you need a wider field for the CFL.  But the 30 yards of extra length contributes nothing of value to the CFL game.  In fact it only hinders it from both an entertainment and a practical (ie.: stadium usage) perspective.

I know the TFC zealots have hated the Argos and advocated for their death since they moved there (nice way to treat a historic fellow civic and Canadian franchise) but they keep forgetting two things.  One, it is a civic stadium not TFC's stadium that it was meant to be multipurpose from the start and two the length of the end zone is part of what makes the CFL what it is.  The shorter the endzone the fewer plays can be run shortening the playbood considerably.  I've sit here and read the usual TFC zealots blaming the Argos for everything but Covid (so far) it's getting tiring.  It's not your stadium, live with it.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Joe MacCarthy

[Free kick]

33 minutes ago, Joe MacCarthy said:

I know the TFC zealots have hated the Argos and advocated for their death since they moved there (nice way to treat a historic fellow civic and Canadian franchise) but they keep forgetting two things.  One, it is a civic stadium not TFC's stadium that it was meant to be multipurpose from the start and two the length of the end zone is part of what makes the CFL what it is.  The long endzones help make the CFL what it is.  The shorter the endzone the fewer plays can be run shortening the playbood considerably.  I've sit here and read the usual TFC zealots blaming the Argos for everything but Covid (so far) it's getting tiring.  It's not your stadium, live with it.

Not sure what you are talking about.  Did you even read the post you are commenting on?  

Edited June 20, 2022 by Free kick

[red card]

The renders are missing the new video board. In many other stadia of this type, the video boards are usually placed to close off the corners. Or team offices are build to in the corners.

Since Toronto is missing the middle in housing due to outdated zoning, corners can be closed off with mid-rise rental buildings.

[RJB]

I was at BMO for the Canada Jamaica game and I thought it was great. It looked good, had good sightlines, and sounded great too. 

I thought the little roof above the Voyageurs (south stand?) was cute, but seemed pretty pointless to me.  One would think a proper endzone stand would fit in the aesthetic of the park and would look good. This temporary one seems like a missed opportunity to improve the stadium.

Edited June 22, 2022 by RJB

[vancanman]

My take on BMO, as someone who's only seen it on TV or in photos:

South end stand:  Always looks great...until the camera pans upward towards that thing that's in the way, where a roof should be (if there were a permanent second tier). How many rows does that cover, three?  Why is it the same height as the CN Tower?   I can't imagine how this thing was designed, then approved, and then built.  There was no one in authority along the way who thought this was a huge waste of time and money?  

East side stand:  Fortunately, the best-looking stand is the one that faces the camera, although the roof supports are so weird-looking, and don't seem too have much to do with the stand itself.  

North end stand:  There used to be a quirky little stand there until the throwballers moved in.  What's there now looks like the bleachers in a neighbourhood park.  This end looks more like a fruit stand than a grand stand.

West side stand:  The roof looks as if they opened the box from Ikea, put it together, then stapled it to the stand and hoped no one noticed they'd ordered the wrong size.  

Summary:  

Roof:  From what I've seen, other than the east stand, and possibly the middle of the last row of the west stand where that thing sticks out from the broadcast booth, not a penny of the money they spent on roofs seems to have amounted to anything.  

Mickey Mouse:  The trendoid coffee bar-style tables with those cornball stools.  Either sit in the stands with normal people, or piss off.

Corners:  I much prefer traditional straight stands with individual personalities over modern, round toilet bowls like the Emirates, the Etihad and any other stadium named after Middle Eastern airlines, so I don't have any problems with the corners.  In fact, the empty corners are probably the best bits of the whole stadium.

Overall:  As someone pointed out earlier, from the air, it looks as if it's not finished, under construction or just a shitty design.  I'll never understand why it's impossible to build a stadium with four covered stands in Canada.  

[costarg]

2 hours ago, vancanman said:

My take on BMO, as someone who's only seen it on TV or in photos:

South end stand:  Always looks great...until the camera pans upward towards that thing that's in the way, where a roof should be (if there were a permanent second tier). How many rows does that cover, three?  Why is it the same height as the CN Tower?   I can't imagine how this thing was designed, then approved, and then built.  There was no one in authority along the way who thought this was a huge waste of time and money?  

East side stand:  Fortunately, the best-looking stand is the one that faces the camera, although the roof supports are so weird-looking, and don't seem too have much to do with the stand itself.  

North end stand:  There used to be a quirky little stand there until the throwballers moved in.  What's there now looks like the bleachers in a neighbourhood park.  This end looks more like a fruit stand than a grand stand.

West side stand:  The roof looks as if they opened the box from Ikea, put it together, then stapled it to the stand and hoped no one noticed they'd ordered the wrong size.  

Summary:  

Roof:  From what I've seen, other than the east stand, and possibly the middle of the last row of the west stand where that thing sticks out from the broadcast booth, not a penny of the money they spent on roofs seems to have amounted to anything.  

Mickey Mouse:  The trendoid coffee bar-style tables with those cornball stools.  Either sit in the stands with normal people, or piss off.

Corners:  I much prefer traditional straight stands with individual personalities over modern, round toilet bowls like the Emirates, the Etihad and any other stadium named after Middle Eastern airlines, so I don't have any problems with the corners.  In fact, the empty corners are probably the best bits of the whole stadium.

Overall:  As someone pointed out earlier, from the air, it looks as if it's not finished, under construction or just a shitty design.  I'll never understand why it's impossible to build a stadium with four covered stands in Canada.  

This is all so accurate that I can't tell if you studied BMO field for years with a team of experts and just released the findings or if the issues are just that blatantly obvious it took you 3 minutes to put together.  Either way, great work. 

[PopePouri]

My bigger disappointment is no renovations of the west stand. I think everything else looks fine. They could have added another concourse, additional restrooms, more boxes and suites. At least make it mirror the east stand a bit.

[Free kick]

To put into context.  Unlike Stade Saputo, BMO field looks expandable and you can add temp seating.   I am not sure how you do that here with SS without some major tear down and rebuild.  

Also, I noted earlier that BMO looks unfinished due to its lack of symmetry when viewed from aerial photos.  Well, we have that lack of symmetry here as well with the grandstand covers .  Why do we our designers hate symmetry?  

 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Free kick

[costarg]

3 minutes ago, Free kick said:

To put into context.  Unlike Stade Saputo, BMO field looks expandable and you can add temp seating.   I am not sure how you do that here with SS without some major tear down and rebuild.  

Also, I noted earlier that BMO looks unfinished due to its lack of symmetry when viewed from aerial photos.  Well, we have that lack of symmetry here as well with the grandstand covers .  When do we our designers hate symmetry?  

 

 

Stade Saputo wasn't the designers fault, they had to leave that gap to respect zoning and viewing angles for the Olympic tower and the village. 

Saputo's biggest mistake and surely regret was spending that money on land that isn't his and being handcuffed by incompetent governments.  He had faith that the government would come around and see the benefit, instead they've done the opposite, and refuse to help in any way.  He's paying millions in property tax for land he doesn't own and a stadium that will be very difficult to renovate and/or expand.

[Shway]

5 minutes ago, Free kick said:

To put into context.  Unlike Stade Saputo, BMO field looks expandable and you can add temp seating.   I am not sure how you do that here with SS without some major tear down and rebuild.  

Also, I noted earlier that BMO looks unfinished due to its lack of symmetry when viewed from aerial photos.  Well, we have that lack of symmetry here as well with the grandstand covers .  When do we our designers hate symmetry?  

 

 

I don’t see how you see that. Saputo looks best for expansion.

I’m no engineer or construction work but it looks like they can preserve the roof, and take it off,  and could add a second tier of seats.

In saying all of this, I’m actually surprised MTL wasn’t selected…I was hoping that Olympic stadium would get the refurbish it deserves so that we could at least have a future larger stadium on the East side.

[EJsens1]

18 minutes ago, Shway said:

In saying all of this, I’m actually surprised MTL wasn’t selected…I was hoping that Olympic stadium would get the refurbish it deserves so that we could at least have a future larger stadium on the East side.

To refurbish that building you’d need a more permanent tenant, as in the Expos. If they were to get a team (l’ll believe when I see it), I suspect they’d want a more downtown stadium, as much fun as visiting Pie X station is. I agree that expanding Saputo would be better.

[Free kick]

32 minutes ago, Shway said:

I don’t see how you see that. Saputo looks best for expansion.

I’m no engineer or construction work but it looks like they can preserve the roof, and take it off,  and could add a second tier of seats.

In saying all of this, I’m actually surprised MTL wasn’t selected…I was hoping that Olympic stadium would get the refurbish it deserves so that we could at least have a future larger stadium on the East side.

I dont't know.  You mean like Ikea?   Unscrew a few bolts and out pops the roof.   I am no engineer either, so you might be right but i would think you have to tear down the roof and build the grandstands, then add a new roof. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Free kick

[red card]

This account likes to rate stadium locations. He gives most of the World Cup stadiums an F since nearly all the American stadiums aren't close to anything and not accessible by transit. Harsh on BMO since it is walkable to Liberty Village.

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by red card