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Report: Argos could be left out of BMO Field renovation thanks to federal reluctance
The Toronto Argonauts could wind up being left out of BMO Field—again. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's long-running plan to renovate Toronto FC's soccer stadium and make it suitable for Canadian football as well cleared plenty of hurdles, including the Exhibition Place board, city council's executive committee and city council itself, but it appears to have fallen at the last hurdle. Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday that the federal government won't kick in its expected share, causing MLSE to lower its proposal and do the renovation for soccer only, backing off of its plannedpurchase of the Argos as well:
MLSE had planned a phased, two-year renovation costing $120-million. They had hoped for financial help from all levels of government. That was to include a $10-million loan from the city, and $10-million grants from each of the provincial and federal governments.
As part of that agreement, room would be made to accommodate the larger dimensions of the CFL playing surface, as well as a promise to buy the flagging football team.
However, long after public announcements were made, Ottawa has yet to sign off on its part of the expenditure. Their apparent problem – the optics of funding sports stadiums.
MLSE provided several fig leaves to give the government cover – including parceling the money into grants for expected big events like the Winter Classic and the Grey Cup, planned for BMO Field.
MLSE argued that the construction taxes alone – an anticipated $18-million – made the deal watertight politically. The feds thought otherwise, and continued to delay.
As Ottawa dithered, MLSE lost patience. They will now go ahead without the federal money and, as a direct result, without the Argos.
That's similar to the other stadium defeats the Argos have suffered over the years. The CFL team initially partnered with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the University of Toronto and federal and provincial governments for a shared soccer/football stadium when it was first discussed in 2004, but that deal fell apart, and BMO Field was built as a soccer-specific stadium out at Exhibition Place instead, leaving the Argos out in the cold. They then tried to partner with York University, but that also didn't work. This latest deal at BMO always had its problems, especially from the significant opposition from soccer fans worried about the turf issues (likely with cause), but it looked like it was going to succeed despite that. Now, that's all in question again, as is the even larger problem of Argonauts' ownership.
There still is a chance this could be rethought, of course, as a deal here makes plenty of sense for all sides concerned (well, except the soccer fans). The Argos have a definite exit date of 2017 at the Rogers Centre thanks to the Blue Jays' plans to put in real grass, and getting out of there even sooner is desirable for them thanks to that stadium's scheduling issues and subpar status as a football venue. The BMO plan would give them a much better long-term facility with no investment on their part; it also would provide them with a natural owner in MLSE, and one that could help grow their brand with effective cross-sport promotions and such. This makes sense for MLSE, too, especially considering their reported interest in acquiring a NFL team for Toronto; owning the Argos as well would make that incursion much more palatable to the NFL, CFL, Canadian fans and Canadian politicians.
Having all of that disappear over an extra $10 million seems foolish, and it's notable that Kelly's article includes the detail that the walked-back renovations could still be modified for Canadian football at a future date. Thus, this may not be dead yet. At the moment, though, it looks like the Argos are on the outside looking in of yet another stadium project, and that raises significant questions about what's next for the team.
