Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston is reporting that the Winter Classic is going to come across the border to Toronto in 2017.
The planned location for it would be BMO field, with extensive renovations to outdoor facility taking place. MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke has been in talks with Municipal, Provincial and Federal Officials to make this happen and they all appear on board.
This dovetails nicely into the Maple Leafs 100th anniversary season.
The cost for expanding the woefully small stadium, would be twice it’s $60,000,000 initial build price, said Leiweke.
“It’s big money, huge money,” Said Lewieke
“It fits a lot of needs,” he said. “It renovates it for TFC, it certainly renovates it for the Pan Am Games, it renovates it for rugby. The Grey Cup would be phenomenal in an outdoor setting in Toronto on the lake, but (the Winter Classic is) clearly one of the things we put on the wishlist.”
“The city, the province and the feds have all told us it’s important to them from an economic stimulus standpoint because we see what it’s doing to the economy in Detroit now – imagine what would happen in Toronto.”
More here: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/24-7/winter-classic-could-be-coming-to-toronto/
