Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke says his company will spend $120 million on renovations to BMO Field this summer, the Toronto Sun is reporting.
MLSE recently received unanimous approval from the Exhibition Place board of governors for the expansion of Toronto FC’s home.
Leiweke told the Toronto Sun that the full financial breakdown would involve all of the $120 million that MLSE is contributing as well as $10 million from the municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Leiweke isn’t a fan of taxpayer dollars funding stadiums however, and he’s previously said that the money that the City of Toronto would fork over would be paid back.
“I’m a big believer that the public sector should be worried about transportation, safety and education,” Leiweke told the Sun. “We had no problem with the formula. We wanted to make sure that those who originally funded the stadium are still involved in the stadium.”
As part of the public funding for the expansion of BMO Field, Leiweke said that the City of Toronto requested MLSE to provide a new home for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
“The city came along and told MLSE the conditions of a deal [to expand/renovate BMO] is you providing a permanent home for the Argos,” Leiweke said.
The Argos are looking for a new place to play because their lease agreement with Rogers Centre expires on Dec. 31, 2017. Leiweke and MLSE have reportedly expressed interest in buying the Double-Blue and relocating them to BMO Field, a controversial topic amongst some TFC fans who want to keep BMO Field as a soccer pitch exclusively.
“I think we owe it to the city, we owe it to the Argos to find a permanent solution,” Leiweke said. “As to us buying them, on a stand-alone basis, we have no interest in the Argos, but because of the uniqueness of what we have to go through to get the stadium, we are certainly intertwined.”
Leiweke also explained that the $100-million investment to bring Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley and Julio Cesar to TFC was a major driving force behind BMO’s expansion.
“The link between what we did with TFC from November on and what we’re doing with the stadium is tied hand-in-hand in order to make sure that we have a stadium that is one of the best in the league,” Leiweke said. “At the same time we needed a team that guaranteed the economics of this worked so we can cover it through the private sector.”
In addition to an improved TFC and the Argos, MLSE is also targeting special events to help sustain this expansion, specifically the 2018 Winter Classic.
“We’re going to give [the NHL] a very aggressive pitch and presentation on why for the Maple Leafs’ 100th anniversary, the 2018 Winter Classic would make sense in a renovated BMO Field,” Leiweke said.
“What we envision is a massive winter festival for a week in and around Exhibition Place and Ontario Place with hockey games and youth tournaments and fan festivals and fireworks — a celebration of our country, a celebration of the NHL and a celebration of the Leafs.”
Before all of that can be implemented, however, construction must first take place and Leiweke has said that the renovation will begin on Sept. 1, 2015, with an estimated completion date of May 2016.
The MLSE boss says TFC won’t have to temporarily play at a different venue, despite the construction.
