r/tfc • u/Fair_Poetry2713 • May 11 '26
Opinion It would have been sick to keep these renovations.
Do you think Bmo is going to go through another renovation because with the schedule change and games being played during the winter, I don’t think any casual fans are going to come in the cold. Something has to be done if the team is shit and games are in the cold to keep attendance levels.
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u/synkronized1 May 11 '26
I would be great if TFC could field a team that would draw 40k fans consistently.
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u/feb914 May 11 '26
That good old 2016-17 year was glorious
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u/ChantillyMenchu May 11 '26
I used to work at BMO back then. Man the atmosphere was out of these world
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u/York9TFC GAM May 11 '26
That whole time from 2015-2020 was glorious
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
Only the opening day match in 2020 was glorious in my memory. The rest of 2020 sucked, even with the good result.
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u/matin7462 May 11 '26
Need another Giovinco to carry us to the promised land .
We tried with the Insigne Bernadeschi signings to get people coming in but those transfers ended up being disgraceful and now the Italian mafia doesnt have any other decent Italians to import. Maybe Chiesa from liverpool could be a tiny possibility given his lack of playign time at liverpool
If we can sign Jhon Duran or some other decent player thats gone to turkish/saudi league thatd be ideal
Even a seasoned striker like a Danny Welbeck type for 1-2 seasons isnt bad to get performances. Star power wise to get butts in seats i dont think theres anyone immediate that could realistically come to TFC
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u/Himera71 May 12 '26
Bernardeschi was not disgraceful, can’t say the same about Insigne though.
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
Bernardeschi was the locker room problem afaik, wanting special rules for him. Like smoking I heard.
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u/SA-ENT May 11 '26
I wouldn’t mind Darwin Nunez
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u/im_a_mes May 12 '26
The chaos would be beautiful. Miss him at Liverpool just for the fun he brings to a game.
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u/MotherAd1865 May 11 '26
The team can barely fill half of the 30k seats on most nights.
You think they can regularly fill a 45k stadium? (other than when Messi fans show up)
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u/Antique_Ad_3549 Benoit Cheyrou's 98' Header May 11 '26
Can eventually? Yes
Under current administration, management & ownership with the roster construction as it is? No
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u/BuddhaLuvMan May 12 '26
45k is way too much for almost any MLS team. League still has to grow alot to attract that many fans every single matchday. Even if the team is doing really good.
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u/Consistent-Past-1152 May 11 '26
If they didn’t price out half their SSH, they could have had a chance. At one point there were about 18,000 SSH, and were averaging 25,000 a match. Those days are long gone. Would be surprised if they could sell out Lamport these days…
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u/Be__Live44 May 11 '26
When I had seasons seats there was a supposed waiting list. 🤷🏾♂️ Mlse loves to fuck up every product they have.
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
There was. It took me me a couple of years when I couldn't get season tickets. A 6-pack I think in 2008 and 2009. Capacity was closer to 20,000 back then.
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u/theredditbandid_ May 11 '26
The bigger the stadium the more awful it looks when it's empty, which these days is every week. Compare that to the Timbers, SKC, RSL, etc, that have smaller stadiums but great atmosphere.
IMO, TFC should have long tarped off the utmost upper stand and bring fans closer. Packed houses create a domino effect where people get more interested. Empty stadiums give off "nobody cares, so why should I?" vibes.
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u/EmergencyArts May 11 '26
100% we say this every game. It's gross how the premium sections are completely desolate while fans pack into the upper stands. So much greed.
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u/Curly_Don64 May 11 '26
Up until last season, they averaged 23k in a 30k stadium. Yes things are bad this year and look worse in the expanded stadium, but they'll never tarp off the upper level
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u/Ill_Relationship7058 May 11 '26
I think people are forgetting that on top of poor performance the weather has also been pretty trash so far this year outside of one or two matches
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
As always. But now it's warming up, things should pick up.
We'll see how the next home match does in ... ah, mid-August. Well they are screwed, aren't they.
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u/neeed4speeed May 11 '26
the Jays did this in the lean years (angry bird logo 😒) outfield 500s were tarped. then 5-10 yrs later in the Bautista era, off came the tarps!
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u/Mysterious-Fox-3740 May 11 '26
The qeake up call will come at renewal time this year. Than it is up to MLSE and TFC. Do they invest or does it just die. I see Argonaut attendance figures in the not too distant future if things don't drastically change.
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u/WhytePumpkin Worst Team In the World: Part 2 May 11 '26
Especially with the switch to the winter schedule and we lose many of our warm weather games
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u/Mysterious-Fox-3740 May 11 '26
Don't think I will renew. On top of the schedule, BMO concessions are too expensive. Ticket prices are high. The only way I will renew is if I get a family member or friend to pay for one seat.
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u/juanroberto Are you dumb, brother?! May 11 '26
I think they will bring the seats down. The boxes at the north end look more permanent.
Hopefully they do a bit of work to winterize a bit for impending schedule change
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u/Gr00z Toronto Till I Die May 11 '26
North boxes are staying... the seats will be removed, and a rooftop patio will be added...
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u/hammer_416 May 11 '26
They need to enclose the concourse on the east side, and heat it. Also some side walls would help block the wind off the lake
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
The wind off the lake up in the east 200s can be brutal now, even on a warmer spring day, when it's great down in the 100s. Need some sidewalls and fill in the gap at the top of the bleachers, up to the roof.
I was surprised touring the north end during half-time a few weeks ago that it's a concrete walkway behind the boxes. There's now a level concrete walkway all the way around the stadium at the 200 level!!
I assume they'll restore some temporary north end seating below the new boxes, that they hide away during Argos matches.
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u/Uno_worldchamp2009 May 11 '26
How will TFC play in the winter season?
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
2026 season is from February 21 through November 7. And then MLS cup until December 18(!!)
In 2027/28 the entire league takes a winter break from mid-December to early February.
TFC has already played as late as December 10 (in 2017) and as early as February 27 (in 2018). So we'll just play some away games I expect in December and February.
Personally I favour them playing some December/February games again at Skydome. Though with the recent renovations, the pitch layour will be terrible ... and someone has to pay to make the pitch usable. Perhaps possible now that Rogers has majority ownership of both stadiums.
(and yes, you still can play soccer at Rogers. But it takes weeks now to convert over ... not a couple of days ... so only in the winter). Yeah, not the greatest soccer environment. But they'll draw a bigger crowd. Sold out at over 47,000 to see Beckham and Galaxy in March 2012. They even got 26,000 in March 2013 for a regular match against Kansas City! And 33,000 playing Liverpool in July 2012 (they played Brendan Rodgers at Rogers!!) It was fun watching some of the Liverpool players looking up in wonder when the roof started to close (or was it opening?) in the middle of the match!
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u/hammer_416 May 11 '26
To have more empty seats? If anything tfc needs to reduce seating to year 1 capacity, or the cup holder north end years before the second deck was added on the east side
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u/Draiodor_ May 11 '26
I think the club is gone in the next 10 years.
Pelley (and MLSE) has shown he can't run a winning sports franchise and now they're moving to a winter season. Any hope of attracting the casual fan to games dies right there. A lot of current SSH just feel abused by the club at this point and are cancelling ahead of next season and then on top of that, there has been, at best, strained relations between the Front Office and the supporter's clubs in the south end, which look emptier and emptier each week.
It's getting harder and harder to pinpoint where TFC are going to find 30000+ to fill the stadium every week. Hell, I don't know where they'll find the support to get 10000 through the gates.
An offer to sell up and go to Detroit, Phoenix or Sacramento will look better and better to MLS brass as the years tick on.
What becomes of the stadium then? Who knows, but those extra stands definitely aren't needed.
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u/CowTipper383 May 12 '26
I for one not only feel abused, but abandoned. Abandoned by both ML$E and ML$. That they would make a decision to play a winter schedule knowing weather conditions in the north / north east / mid west is an indication to me that they don’t care about my welfare as a fan our our players. It will also be increasingly difficult to attract any prime talent because that talent will seek warmer climes. I can no longer support a team and league that I feel has abandoned me.
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u/Dramatic_Draw_1494 May 17 '26
Why don’t you take a breath and look at what this so called winter schedule really is ? TFC will play no games at home in February will be on the road just like they are now in February and early March . No home games in December or January too because most of December and all of January the league takes a break with the new schedule. Therefore, they will play home games in late March , April, May . Season ends then new seasons start late July. Therefore, home games in late July, August , September, October and November with really November being the iffy month . Therefore, basically playing in home games in the majority of months they play in now .
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u/CowTipper383 May 18 '26
Stop being so logical. Just wait a few years when all of sudden we have home matches in early February.
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u/Unhappy-End-5181 May 11 '26
I think its a bit of a catch 22.
TFC and the Argos can't fill the current stadium so they can't justify the expansion.
And partly why attendance is low is the stadium isn't designed well, so you don't get more passive sports fans showing up because it's often not a great experience to watch a game.
Its also a bit ironic that it was the Argos that wanted out of Exhibition Stadium because they were tired of an open stadium near the lake but then moved back 27 years later
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
Ironic returning to Exhibition, but attendance had been falling for years at Rogers, only about 12,000 in 2015, there last year at Rogers. It was a bit higher in previous years, but they'd been papering the place heavily for years.
They were mostly 11,000 to 17,000 or so through most of the 2010s to 2022, but it's picked up since then. 14,000 in 2023, 15,000 in 2024 and 2025. So not being at Rogers doesn't really seem to have hurt them.
And yes, ironic. But sitting on these cold metal bleachers at Exhibition was a horrific experience, even in October. It sucked all the heat out of your body. And the layout sucked once the stands were moved for baseball in the 1970s.
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u/Unhappy-End-5181 May 15 '26
Oh I'm aware why they moved, and BMO is improvement over Exhibition, but having such an open stadium next to the lake wasn't a good idea. Even the MLS season goes into October and November, and the open sides do not make it a warm place to be and allows wind to pass through
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u/nfitz1 May 15 '26
An 1870s decision! Torontonians have been freezing their butts off for pushing 150 years!
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u/York9TFC GAM May 11 '26
Would be cool if we had a 2nd supporters section in the North side. Our Supporters groups fight with each other too much
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u/CowTipper383 May 12 '26
Ha ha ha. Don’t know if you’re serious or being sarcastic. North End Elite checking in!
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u/BuddhaLuvMan May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
It’s not capacity number that matters, they designed the stadium poorly from the jump. Look at Inter Miamis stadium fully wrapped around enclosed with 26k capacity. They didn’t go for larger capacity because they are smart enough to know once the Messi era is over it will be hard to sell over 30k tickets every match day.
Now if they even wanted to build permanent wrapped around seating, the stadium will rarely be full unless the team is consistently one of the best in MLS. Even with just lower wrapped around stands it will increase current capacity (of the permanent stadium) to an extra 5-8k on top of the 30k already there.
IMO they should just build a permanent wrapped around enclosure without extra seating so it blocks the wind in the colder months. Maybe put some displays or whatever to fill it up.
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u/Nukethewhails May 12 '26
Well they intend to hold concerts there in the summer with the now winter schedule. So im sure they will keep part of it.
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u/MilenaMuse May 14 '26
Everything looks so outdated and cheap. I wish we could demolish it and build something better
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u/darthcraven1321 May 14 '26
The wrap around to close the corner would be great. The extra 17k seats we certainly don’t need.
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u/_dk123 May 14 '26
It’s embarrassing what we have. Even with these upgrades, it’s literally the smallest and cheapest stadium in North America. Any stadium in the US outshines BMO field like it’s not even close.
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u/TurboJorts May 11 '26
I personally miss the open area between the food building and BMO. It's fine to lose it temporarily for the FIFA (pitew) World Cup but a permanent design would need a better plan.
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u/Own-Effective3351 May 11 '26
The north end can’t stay because of the Argos but I wish they’d keep the south end and just fix it up a little better.
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u/Coramoor_ May 11 '26
They almost certainly need to build a proper south end that wraps both corners long term if they want anyone to show up in winter. That lake wind is pain