FIFA Tours TO Stadium/Construction Details

[Grizzly]

FIFA inspectors tour Toronto
By NEIL DAVIDSON


TORONTO (CP) - Count FIFA vice-president Jack Warner among the fans of Toronto's new soccer stadium.

"I am amazed and thrilled," Warner said Wednesday after touring the BMO Field construction site. "I get goose pimples looking at this. When I left here (in April), it was a bare piece of land and now I see a facility that's almost 60 per cent completed. ... For me, it's a dream come true."

Warner and other members of a FIFA inspection team have spent the last week checking out the venues for next year's world under-20 soccer championship. Their trip has taken them from Victoria to Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, where they will wrap up Thursday with a news conference.

"What you'll see today is a stadium that is about 55 to let's call it 58 per cent complete," Bob Hunter, executive vice-president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, told the FIFA delegation as they bused to the stadium from their downtown hotel.

"We like to say on time and on budget," he added. "The reality is we're actually in pretty good shape."

MLSE owns Toronto FC, the Major League Soccer expansion team set to kick off next year, and will manage the stadium.

Construction has been helped by favourable weather, Hunter said, although a recent wet spell means the project is just on time rather than ahead of schedule.

Some 200 to 250 workers are on site daily, with a completion date of May 1, two months ahead of the opening kickoff of the under-20 tournament.

The plan is to host several MLS games before the FIFA event.

The $62.9-million Toronto stadium is already looking good, however.

The east and south stands are pretty much complete on the outside, with red seats in place and workers concentrating on such fixing as washrooms and concessions.

The two-tiered west stand is still under construction but the basic facade is in place.

The east stand has white seats in the middle in the shape of a giant maple leaf. The west seats will spell out Toronto in big letters on the bottom level and the club logo on the top level.

It should make for a spectacular sight for planes flying above.

There will be 7,000 seats in the east stand, 2,500 to 3,000 seats in the south and 10,000 in the west, which will also house the press box and 30 suites. The west grandstand will also contain the training and locker-room facilities.

The north end of the field will be a plaza for concessions with a giant video scoreboard.

The stadium field is currently a pile of dirt, but the artificial FieldTurf surface is slated for delivery Nov. 1 with installation starting Nov. 7.

"We want to have the FieldTurf done before the real cold weather arrives the 1st of December," Hunter told the FIFA delegates.

The delegation then donned boots, hard hats and protective eye gear to tour the construction site, a stone's throw from the downtown waterfront.

For Kevan Pipe, chief operating officer of the Canadian Soccer Association, the stadium visit was special.

Pipe saw two other stadium projects - at the University of Toronto and York University - wither on the vine after doing a lot of heavy lifting to help secure the necessary government funding.

"I do feel a sense of pride here today," he said. "To actually see it come to reality. ... the fans in this greater metropolitan region are in for a real treat with this jewel of a facility."

There have been issues elsewhere, but Pipe says they are being solved one by one.

Montreal games have been shifted to Olympic Stadium from Molson Stadium. A decision still has to be made on whether a new FieldTurf surface will be temporary or permanent inside the dome.

For Warner, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, Olympic Stadium brings back happy memories of countryman Hasely Crawford winning the 100-metre Olympic gold.

Warner plans to invite Crawford to lead the teams out next July in Montreal "as an appreciation for his achievement."

In Victoria, the venue has gone from the university stadium to Royal Athletic Park.

"I was very, very impressed by Ottawa," Warner said, citing a new playing surface and the enthusiasm of the mayor.

The Toronto stadium, said Warner, is "the icing on the cake."

A supervisor for contractor PCL Construction Group was asked whether there will be a lucky loonie hidden somewhere in the soccer-specific stadium.

"Probably not," he said with a smile.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Warner plans to invite Crawford to lead the teams out next July in Montreal "as an appreciation for his achievement."

Jack Warner, ladies and gentlemen!

[Soccer Hack]

quote:Warner plans to invite Crawford to lead the teams out next July in Montreal "as an appreciation for his achievement."

I know I shouldn't be shocked, but what the hell does a T&T sprinter have to do with U20 soccer?!? How can this clown justify doing that?!