the argos moved to bmo field in 2016.
the argos moved to bmo field in 2016.
when did the argos move to bmo field?
2016
on may 20, 2015, it was announced that two of the three ownership partners of mlse, bell canada and larry tanenbaum's kilmer group, had acquired an ownership stake in the argos, with the deal to close at the end of the year, and would move the team to bmo field for the 2016 season. the new ownership group for the argos committed $10 million to the conversion costs for bmo field, with mlse matching this to fill the $20 million funding gap. part of the agreement would see two grey cups played at the newly renovated bmo field. the renovations for the argonauts added a state-of-the-art dressing room. in february 2016 it was announced that bmo had extended its naming rights sponsorship agreement for an additional ten years. the renovation ended up costing $150 million in total. at the reopening ceremony it was announced that the province of ontario had contributed $10 million to the financing. after the renovations, the field for configuration for football has only 18 yard end zones (instead of the standard 20 yards) due to space constraints and the necessity of a safety zone for players beyond the field of play.
bmo field
in november 2009, it became public that the toronto argonauts were in discussions with the city of toronto over the possibility of moving from rogers centre to bmo field, potentially as early as the 2010 cfl season. the cfl agreed to study the feasibility of the argos playing at bmo field, which was built too short to fit a full length canadian football field despite the requirement that the stadium be convertible to cfl configuration in the original stadium agreement. according to tom anselmi, former executive vice-president and chief operating officer with mlse, without significant renovations bmo field could only fit a 100-yard field with 15-yard end zones or a 110-yard field with 10-yard end zones, which is 20 yards shorter than the standard 110-yard field and 20-yard end zones. on december 16, 2009, the argonauts officially abandoned the idea, after the cfl concluded that the venue was not suitable for canadian football in its current state.
bmo field