I made an error...
2018 at the latest
http://www.thestar.com/sports/bluej..._rogers_centre_by_2018_at_latest_griffin.html
Grass at Rogers Centre by 2018 at latest: Griffin
Finally, an Argo bounce that could possibly benefit both sides.
On Friday, the Blue Jays and Argonauts announced an amicable licence agreement that guarantees the CFL team will be out of the Rogers Centre as tenants by the end of the 2017 season — at the very latest. If, in the meantime, the Argos find ever another suitable stadium during the next four seasons, they can terminate the RC lease at any time. Bonus!
The biggest advantage for the Jays is that with a firm departure date in place for the CFL to leave, it allows plans to proceed for a much-needed installation of a grass playing surface, by opening day 2018. The Jays, in the past, have cited the need to convert to football configuration as the biggest reason for continuing with an artificial surface, one of just two in major-league baseball, along with the Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The tomb-like Trop doesn’t have a retractable roof.
The biggest advantage for the Argos will be that this gives them impetus to search for a new home away from the cavernous Rogers Centre where attendance and interest have been waning. It worked for the Als when they moved from Olympic Stadium to a smaller venue on McGill’s campus.
“The length of the deal allows the Argonauts a reasonable period of time to pursue other stadium options while allowing us sufficient time to plan the logistics of various stadium improvements,” Jays president and CEO Paul Beeston said. “Including the installation of a grass playing surface for baseball at Rogers Centre.”
Recently, talented Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes, who has had a playing career filled with leg issues and is under contract for a guaranteed $86 million (U.S.) through 2017, spoke out in thrilled support of a rumoured change to a grass playing surface at the Rogers Centre. It should be noted Reyes’ ankle injury this year happened in Kansas City while running on dirt in a stadium with natural grass.
So, the most important question for the Blue Jays moving forward now changes from “Santana, Cano, Saltalamacchia or Garza?” to “Kentucky Bluegrass, Bermuda or Rye?”
The Argos explored expansion of the football stadium at York University in 2005. That fell through. They had previously talked about Varsity Stadium on the U of T campus, back in 2000. That did not proceed. They played an exhibition game vs. the Alouettes in June 2013 at the new 5,000-seat stadium on the University of Toronto campus and Mayor Rob Ford has recently led the charge, vowing to find a new home for the city’s football team, suggesting the usual suspects, plus BMO Field and unconstructed facilities at Downsview or Woodbine. Thus far, those discussions have amounted to nothing. The Als found new life once they moved out of Olympic Stadium.
With a definitive time frame for leaving the Rogers Centre, it allows any number of positive things to happen for all parties. The most likely scenario is that the Argos could be sold and BMO Field at the Exhibition grounds could be converted to accommodate both the Toronto FC soccer team and the Argos. That speculation necessarily involves re-configuration for CFL end zones without losing the intimacy demanded by soccer fans. It has not been discouraged by MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke.
Of course, for this to take place, for the Argos to become co-tenants at BMO Field, it leads to the obvious and logical conclusion that the best-case scenario for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment would be to simply purchase the CFL entry as another sports property.
And that timing fits in perfectly with the recent news that Senator David Braley, owner of both the B.C. Lions and the Argos, would like to sell both teams by the end of 2016.
So how would having grass work at the retractable-roofed Rogers Centre? Would it be tough to keep alive? A call was put in to long-time baseball executive Mike Swanson, currently with the Kansas City Royals, but an original member of the Diamondbacks front office.
The Snakes began play in Phoenix at Chase Field, a stadium with a natural surface that also has the ability to pull back the roof and expose the grass to the elements. Of course the weather is different, in the hot, dry Arizona desert but the concept of keeping it green would be the same.
“A lot of water, which means a huge sprinkler system must be part of the plans and yes, we used what looked like stadium lights to artificially “sun” the area behind home plate and in each outfield corner,” Swanson said in an email. “The rest of the field received ample sunshine. Basically in the summer months, we’d have the lid opened from first thing in the morning until around 3:00 p.m. and then close it to cool the building before making the determination as to whether to play indoors or outdoors that night.”
Fans of the Jays and Argos should feel good about Friday’s announcement. The built-in incentive to move on, generated by the four-year set-in-stone agreement means the Argos will be energized to finding a more intimate home that will positively change their perception and popularity. And the Jays will be playing on grass, the way the game was always meant to be played.
