BMO Field facts for kids

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BMO Field

BMO Field in May 2016
BMO Field Location in Toronto Show map of Toronto BMO Field Location in Ontario Show map of Ontario BMO Field Location in Canada Show map of Canada
Address	170 Princes' Boulevard
Location	Toronto, Ontario
Coordinates	43°37′58″N 79°25′07″W / 43.63278°N 79.41861°W / 43.63278; -79.41861
Public transit	Exhibition  509  Harbourfront  511  Bathurst  29  TTC buses
Owner	City of Toronto
Operator	Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Capacity	25,000 (football) 30,000 (soccer) (expandable to 40,000)
Record attendance	40,148 (NHL Centennial Classic)
Field size	105 × 68 metres (115 x 74 yards) (soccer) 134 × 59 metres (146 x 65 yards) (Canadian football)
Surface	FieldTurf (2007–2009) Kentucky bluegrass (2010–2019) Hybrid grass (2019–present)
Construction
Broke ground	March 29, 2006
Opened	April 28, 2007
Expanded	2010 2014–16
Construction cost	Can$62.9 million ($79.9 million in 2021 dollars ) Can$120 million (2014–2016 renovation)
Architect	Brisbin Brooks Beynon Architects (BBB Architects), Gensler (expansion)
Project manager	PMX, Inc.
Structural engineer	Halcrow Yolles
Services engineer	The Mitchell Partnership Inc.
General contractor	PCL Construction
Tenants
Toronto FC (MLS) (2007–present) Canada men's national soccer team (2007–present) Toronto Nationals (MLL) (2009) Toronto Argonauts (CFL) (2016–present) Toronto FC II (USL) (2018)

BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home stadium of MLS team Toronto FC and the CFL team Toronto Argonauts. It was built on the site of the former Exhibition Stadium. The stadium was first opened in 2007. BMO Field hosted matches during the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The stadium has also hosted rugby union matches.

Construction

BMO Field is the fifth stadium to be built at its exact location at Exhibition Place. The most recent was Exhibition Stadium, which was demolished in 1999.

On May 11, 2006, Major League Soccer announced that Toronto FC would join the league as its 13th (and first Canada-based) team in 2007, with BMO Field being its own stadium.

Recent developments

In August 2017, Toronto FC II, which normally hosted their games at the Ontario Soccer Centre, announced that it would move its home games to BMO Field and Lamport Stadium, starting with the 2018 season. The team moved their home games to BMO Training Ground for the 2019 season, after they dropped to the USL League One.

According to the United Bid Book, BMO Field is listed as a stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

History

Soccer

Toronto FC crowned as the MLS' 2017 Eastern Conference champions at BMO Field.

Toronto FC played their first game at BMO Field on April 28, 2007. The grand opening celebration took place on May 12, 2007.

The 2008 MLS All-Star Game was held at BMO Field on July 24, 2008 versus Premier League team West Ham United.

BMO Field has hosted several MLS Cup matches, and was the first stadium outside of the United States to host the event in 2010, when the Colorado Rapids won 2-1 against FC Dallas. The first MLS home playoff game held at BMO Field saw Toronto FC defeat the Philadelphia Union 3–1 on October 26, 2016. BMO Field hosted the MLS Cup again in 2016, as Toronto FC won the MLS Eastern Championship and hosted the Seattle Sounders in the final. Seattle won the match 5–4 on penalties, after a goalless draw after extra time.

On December 9, 2017, BMO Field hosted its second consecutive MLS Cup in 2017. The match was a rematch between Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders, who played each other in the 2016 MLS Cup. Toronto FC won 2–0, and became the first MLS team to complete a domestic treble, and was the first Canadian team to win the MLS Cup.

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

A game between the New Zealand, and Portugal U-20 soccer teams at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

BMO Field hosted the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, the first major tournament held at the stadium. The stadium saw the Canadian Under-20 squad once. The stadium also saw six knockout stage games including the Final; which was won by Argentina. Due to FIFA sponsorship regulations, the venue was referred to as the "National Soccer Stadium" during the event.

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Attendance
July 1, 2007	Canada	0–3	Chile	Group A	20,195
July 2, 2007	Portugal	2–0	New Zealand	Group C	19,526
	Gambia	0–3	Mexico
July 5, 2007	New Zealand	0–1	Gambia
	Mexico	2–1	Portugal
July 8, 2007	Chile	0–0	Austria	Group A
July 11, 2007	United States	2–1 (AET)	Uruguay	Round of 16
July 12, 2007	Argentina	3–1	Poland
July 14, 2007	Austria	2–1	United States	Quarterfinal
July 19, 2007	Chile	0–3	Argentina	Semifinal
July 22, 2007	Chile	1–0	Austria	3rd Place Match
	Czech Republic	1–2	Argentina	Final	19,526

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

BMO Field hosted the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Canada played in Toronto for the first two match days, with Korea DPR, Finland, and Ghana in their group. National Soccer Stadium also hosted a quarterfinal match on August 16.

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Attendance
August 5, 2014	Canada	0–1	Ghana	Group A	20,195
	Finland	1–2	North Korea
August 8, 2014	Canada	3–2	Finland
	Ghana	0–3	North Korea
August 13, 2014	South Korea	2–1	Mexico	Group C
	Costa Rica	0–3	New Zealand	Group D
August 16, 2014	North Korea	1–1 (3–1 on penalties)	United States	Quarterfinal

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Attendance
July 14, 2015	Jamaica	1–0	El Salvador	Group B	16,674
	Canada	0–0	Costa Rica

Canadian football

The Argonauts moved to the renovated BMO Field, starting with the 2016 season. On October 1, 2015, BMO Field was awarded the rights to host the 104th Grey Cup, which was played on November 27, 2016. On June 11, 2016, the Argonauts played their first game at the stadium, a preseason (exhibition) game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Argos won that game 25–16. On June 23, the Argos played their first regular season game at BMO Field, where they lost 42–20 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Hockey

On January 1, 2017, BMO Field hosted an NHL outdoor game, the NHL Centennial Classic, in honour of the Toronto Maple Leafs' and the NHL's centennial seasons. The Leafs hosted the Detroit Red Wings, in a rematch of the 2014 NHL Winter Classic, which was held three years before. The venue was referred to as "Exhibition Stadium" for its duration, as Scotiabank (a direct competitor to BMO), was title sponsor of the event.

Concerts

As of 6 October 2020, the only music concert at BMO Field was performed by the progressive rock group Genesis on September 7, 2007.

Milestones

View of the stadium immediately after the Toronto FC scored their first goal in club history on June 12, 2007.

The first goal at BMO Field was scored by Eddie Johnson for the Kansas City Wizards in a 1–0 Major League Soccer win over home side Toronto FC in the stadium opener on April 28, 2007. The first Toronto FC goal at the stadium was Danny Dichio's first-half strike against Chicago Fire on May 12, 2007 (also his club's first MLS goal).

The first goal at BMO Field scored by a Canadian came at the official opening on May 11, 2007, in a U-20 friendly between Canada and Argentina. David Edgar scored a penalty in a 2–1 defeat for Canada, just four minutes after Gómez had scored the first international goal at the stadium.

Costa Rica's Víctor Núñez scored the first senior international goal in a 1–1 friendly draw with hosts Canada on September 12, 2007, shortly before Dwayne De Rosario scored Canada's first senior goal at the stadium.

The first Toronto FC goal scored by a Canadian at BMO Field was in a June 25, 2007 friendly against Aston Villa of the English Premier League. Andrea Lombardo scored an equalizer at BMO Field's south end to make it 2–2 before Aston Villa ran out 4–2 winners. The first league goal at BMO Field scored by a Canadian came when Miguel Cañizalez scored for Toronto FC in the second minute of their 2–1 defeat to the Columbus Crew on September 22, 2007, snapping an 824-minute MLS goalless streak.

The first Toronto FC MLS playoff goal was scored at BMO Field in the 15th minute by Sebastian Giovinco on October 26, 2016 in front of 21,759. In the same game, the first Toronto FC playoff goal scored by a Canadian was by Jonathan Osorio in the 48th minute; the final score was 3–1 over the Philadelphia Union.

In Canadian football, the first CFL points scored at BMO Field was a Toronto Argonauts completed touchdown pass caught by Vidal Hazelton, thrown by Logan Kilgore, in a June 11, 2016 exhibition Argos win; final score 25–16. The first CFL regular season points scored at the stadium was a conceded safety touch of 2 points by Canadian Argos kicker/punter Lirim Hajrullahu in a 20–42 loss on June 23. The first regular season points scored by the Argos at BMO Field was a successful field goal kicked by Hajrullahu in the same game. On July 25, the Argonauts won their first regular season game at their new home, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 30–17.

Attendance records

The largest attendance for any event at the stadium was on January 1, 2017, when the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Centennial Classic in front of 40,148 people. The largest attendance for a Major League Soccer game was on December 10, 2016, when Toronto FC hosted the Seattle Sounders FC in the 2016 MLS Cup Final in front of 36,045. The largest attendance for a Canadian Football League game was the 104th Grey Cup played before 33,421 on November 27, 2016.

MLS

CFL

Notes: ¹ 104th Grey Cup game between the Ottawa Redblacks and Calgary Stampeders.

Rugby

The largest crowd for rugby at BMO Field and in Canada occurred when the Canada national rugby union team hosted the New Zealand Māori All Blacks before 22,566 people on November 3, 2013. The Maori All Blacks won the match 40–15.

Related pages

• List of Canadian Football League stadiums
• List of Major League Soccer stadiums
• List of soccer stadiums in Canada
• Venues of the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games

Images for kids

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  Stands at BMO Field several weeks after it opened in 2007. The stadium was initially built with only 25,000 seats.

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  BMO Field in November 2010, several months after it switched from FieldTurf to natural grass.

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  BMO Field in June 2016, shortly after expansions to raise the stadium's seating capacity was completed.

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  BMO Field set up for Canadian football during the 104th Grey Cup

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  The stadium's pitch set up for a rugby game in June 2013.

See also

In Spanish: BMO Field para niños