Players of the Montreal Impact soccer team practice in their new home, the Saputo Stadium, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Montreal.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
To regular mortals, it just looks like a nice new field.
When Roch Poulin gazes out at the fresh expanse of dwarf Kentucky bluegrass at the newly refurbished Saputo Stadium – John Updike's "lyric little bandbox" line springs to mind – he sees truckloads of earth and waist-high rolls of heavy, 42-inch wide turf.
And he sees just under two weeks of round-the-clock toil.
"First we scraped out the 4,500 cubic metres of earth, and then we brought in 4,500 of screened, filtered earth. That was June 1, then it was time for the sod, which we finished on the morning of the fourth," said Poulin, who, since then, has overseen the frantic grooming effort to prepare the most crucial bit of new equipment at the Montreal Impact's brand-spanking new park. "It was a lot of work."
This past Wednesday was the first day where hard hats weren't required for visitors to the site. Paving crews and landscapers were working furiously.
"It's ready, it's done, all that's left is a little bit of finishing work. I like to say it's like a dinner party, we're at the stage of lining up the plates," said Impact executive vice-president Richard Legendre, who supervised the expansion of what is now a 20,300-seat venue.
Now, if they could only sell the joint out for opening night. As of mid-week, there were 3,000 tickets left.
"People assume it's sold out, it must be the effect of the 58,000 or the 60,000 [at the Olympic Stadium earlier in the season], but it isn't, not yet," Legendre said.
The original Saputo Stadium was built in 2008, but it has undergone a dramatic facelift and a 7,300-seat expansion: stands now ring the field, and each of the four sides has an awning (other than the north end, which will be finished later this summer).
Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush, one of a handful of players with the team last year during its final season in the North American Soccer League, was wide eyed at the changes.
"When I was walking down into the stadium, it felt completely different, especially on [the south] side, now it's closed in, it feels a lot tighter, a lot more intimate," Bush said. "Last year I thought it was a nice stadium still, but now I think they've really taken it to another level."
Part of the players' excitement stems from having a place to occupy permanently.
"It's nice to finally have a home stadium. I've heard some of my buddies in Kansas City talk about theirs, or some of my buddies in Houston, it's nice to finally have a place that we can call ours, some place we can settle in," said fullback Zarek Valentin, who spent last season with Chivas USA. "I'm just buzzing with excitement."
Because of Major League Soccer's three-week international break, the Impact's arrival in its permanent home has the feel of a season opener – despite the fact the team has already played 13 games in its inaugural campaign.
Canada's third and most recent MLS entry will play five of its next seven games at home, and they'll need to pick up points in all of them if they are to catch the Chicago Fire, six points up, for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"It's an important stretch for us, we have a lot of home games, we need a lot of fans to come out and support us for our upcoming games so we have a good energy here and it's an intimidating place for teams to come and play," Impact coach Jesse Marsch said.
In the meantime, Marsch said he likes what he sees from his team's new digs.
"I think it has the potential to be one of the premier venues in the league, and once we fill this up with passionate fans, our team will be very lucky to play in here," he said. "The stands are close to the field as anywhere in the league, it will have an awning and the noise will stay inside, it's a big field …it has all the makings of a fantastic site."