World cup

[Scooter McCray]

Potential competitive advantage, IF the team can survive the gigantic road trip in the meantime without being 1-and-5 or something like that. But definitely not a commercial advantage. Football works best when fans go roughly every second week to the stadium. Asking them to show up five or six weeks in a row is a big ask.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the Argos will not only lose their home field for many weeks, they will undoubtedly also lose access to their entire facility. I'm sure the Argo locker room will be used for the World Cup, and probably even Lamport. The more I think about it, the more I expect we will have a season similar to Hamilton's in 2013, i.e. much of it to be played in Guelph or somewhere like that. Grrr.

Maybe Rogers would be kind enough to let the Argos use Skydome for that summer. They are a part owner and have always helped the Argos out in the past.

[shayman]

The original bid said that 7 group matches, 2 round of 32 and one round of 16 match would take place in both Canada and Mexico, but I think the current format is up in the air since FIFA has changed format from sixteen groups of 3 to twelve groups of 4.

So BMO could still be on the hook for a later round of 32 or round of 16 match in addition to the first round ones.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

This whole tournament is nothing more than a desperate bid, by one of the most corrupt sports organizations in the world, to get Americans to watch soccer and nothing more. When it is all said and done, Canada will be an afterthought and more money will be lost than gained.

It sounds like Canada is just going to end up with all the games the US won't want to host anyway.

True.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

It's not only the time of the 2026 CFL schedule that worries me.... as I am sure there will be a long construction schedule in which I am sure they will not have any fans being able to attend the stadium. We may be out of luck the latter part of 2025. If the World Cup ends in July, we will be okay after that. I am thinking that would be a good year to host the Grey Cup with all those extra seats. I am pretty sure those seats will only be temporary, this being Canada, and nothing in this country gets enough support to warrant a 45,000 seat stadium. Maybe only Blue Jays on opening Day.

They will use the expanded seating for an NFL International Series game.

[paulwoods13]

The original bid said that 7 group matches, 2 round of 32 and one round of 16 match would take place in both Canada and Mexico, but I think the current format is up in the air since FIFA has changed format from sixteen groups of 3 to twelve groups of 4.

So BMO could still be on the hook for a later round of 32 or round of 16 match in addition to the first round ones.

Before the tournament was expanded to 104 games, the plan was 60 in U.S. and 10 each in Mexico and Canada. Undoubtedly a few of the extra 24 matches (say 4-6) will be added to the junior partner countries. How many will be late in the tournament is a guessing game but I think it's fairly safe that Canada won't have the fifth match for any team, but probably will have a few post-first-round matches.
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[Smallz38]

Remember when the whole point of building BMO field was so that we wouldn't have another 40-50k seat stadium since we had the Skydome? I really hope we don't have a repeat of 2015, or can at least work something out ahead of time to play somewhere close like at U of T, instead of having home games in Alberta, Ottawa, and Hamilton. I doubt it's physically possible but at this point we'd have to propose something crazy like expanding Lamport to accommodate 20-30,000 fans.

I know I'm preaching to the choir but this is just beyond frustrating that we get treated with so much disrespect despite being one of the oldest and most successful sports franchises in the city. Just another piece of adversity to overcome, like we always do!

[ArgoGabe22]

There is no way BMO Field is ready to host a World Cup game. It’s in such a bad area that the GO Train tunnel was severely backed up. And I feel if you’re familiar with the area, then any travelling fans are in for a real surprise how complicated it is to get into BMO Field. And good luck driving in.

[Will]

There is no way BMO Field is ready to host a World Cup game. It’s in such a bad area that the GO Train tunnel was severely backed up. And I feel if you’re familiar with the area, then any travelling fans are in for a real surprise how complicated it is to get into BMO Field. And good luck driving in.

Another pedestrian bridge or tunnel is needed for Liberty Village.

[shayman]

Plans for a 2nd tunnel at the west end of Exhibition GO have been on the books for years and there's some kind of pedestrian bridge under construction now - let's hope with the Ontario Line construction ramping up, they can make something happen, because it sure felt dangerously crowded in that tunnel last night. (Imagine how much worse it could have been if it was half full of angry Hamilton fans.)

[paulwoods13]

The Exhibition station is a complete disaster at the moment, in part because of construction of the expanded station. I'd like to think the new one will make access to and from BMO by foot or rail a lot easier, but I do not have a lot of faith in the powers that be having designed this all correctly. In the meantime, using the station (especially post-game) is going to be a major ordeal.

[Will]

Plans for a 2nd tunnel at the west end of Exhibition GO have been on the books for years and there's some kind of pedestrian bridge under construction now - let's hope with the Ontario Line construction ramping up, they can make something happen, because it sure felt dangerously crowded in that tunnel last night. (Imagine how much worse it could have been if it was half full of angry Hamilton fans.)

Some people I know (to get to the bar in Liberty) went up Dufferin. Extra time, but avoids the crowds.

[ArgoGabe22]

Some people I know (to get to the bar in Liberty) went up Dufferin. Extra time, but avoids the crowds.

I second this. Dufferin is the way.

[shayman]

The preliminary 2026 schedule has been released and I'm happy to see it might not be as disruptive to the CFL as I'd feared. BMO Field will have games from June 12 thru July 2, and games in Vancouver June 13 thru July 7. (Toronto gets one game involving Canada, Vancouver 2.)

Let's hope the Argos can get the stadium back promptly once the preliminary round is over and it won't be too bad.

[paulwoods13]

I'm guessing Argos will want to host Grey Cup in the (temporarily, I hope) expanded 45k stadium.

[Mocha]

The preliminary 2026 schedule has been released and I'm happy to see it might not be as disruptive to the CFL as I'd feared. BMO Field will have games from June 12 thru July 2, and games in Vancouver June 13 thru July 7. (Toronto gets one game involving Canada, Vancouver 2.)

Let's hope the Argos can get the stadium back promptly once the preliminary round is over and it won't be too bad.

Hmm.....would a July 4th or 5th home opener be possible? Likely have to wait one more week, but we'll see.

[ArgoZ]

Hmm.....would a July 4th or 5th home opener be possible? Likely have to wait one more week, but we'll see.

With the temporary seats completely filling up the North end zone, I doubt it.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

. Also it will cost the taxpayers $25 million to add 18,000 additional seats to BMO stadium for the World Cup games. Taxpayers are also on the hook for cost over-runs and lack of revenue. Obviously they are hoping for a huge return on investment with crowds flowing to the city and games etc. but you have to wonder if the costs will outweigh any financial benefits to the city / province.

The NFL will award an International Series game to Toronto for 2026 and they will play it in the October/November time frame.
The enhanced stadium will allow the city to profit from game. Bell paid top dollar for the broadcast rights contract to the NFL
in 2022. They want to get a return on their investment.