Dave Sandford
Toronto FC won't have their usual home-field advantage of 21,000 at BMO Field cheering them on against the Los Angeles Galaxy on March 7.
Instead they'll be hoping to have 40,000-plus in attendance at Rogers Centre for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final, with the second leg to be played in Carson, Calif., one week later.
Spurred on by the complications of winterizing their normal home field, the team has taken the decision to move the game indoors and play it on artificial turf. The move was likely partly inspired by the success the Montreal Impact had at the same stage of the tournament in 2009, when 55,571 crammed into Montreal's Olympic Stadium to witness a 2-0 first-leg victory over Mexico's Santos Laguna.
TFC will be hoping to go one better that the Impact, though, as a 5-2 defeat in the return leg three years ago put an end to their tournament run.
"A lot of thought went into selecting the home site for this very important match," said Toronto FC Senior Director of Business Operations, Paul Beirne. "While we would have loved to host our quarterfinal match at our home, BMO Field, ultimately the decision came down to our ability to deliver a safe and enjoyable event in a venue that could withstand the unpredictability of March's weather conditions.
"We felt that BMO Field's infrastructure in its present state combined with the exposure to the winter conditions would not deliver on this experience."
Paul Attfield