Hard hats and orange cones have been a frequent sight at B.C. Place for well over a yr amid a flurry of construction.
Now, with a month to go before the FIFA World Cup involves Vancouver, the stadium’s facelift — including the installation of a grass playing surface — is almost complete.
“I’m very happy to share that final touches are being accomplished on our stadium upgrades and renovations, and that we proceed to stay on time and on budget,” Chris May, the stadium’s general manager, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The World Cup kicks off in Mexico City and Guadalajara on June 11.
This yr’s tournament shall be the largest ever, with 48 nations collaborating. A complete of 104 games shall be played in 16 host cities across Canada, america and Mexico.
Seven shall be staged at B.C. Place, starting with a group-stage battle between Australia and Turkey on June 13.
Canada kicks off its schedule June 12 against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto before heading to Vancouver for its two remaining group stage games.
BMO Field, which shall be renamed Toronto Stadium in the course of the tournament, had a successful dress rehearsal Saturday when Inter Miami beat Toronto FC 4-2 in Major League Soccer play.
Some 17,000 grandstand seats were used for the primary time as a record crowd of 44,828 took within the motion. The addition of the additional sections was required to lift BMO Field past the 40,000 minimum capability required by FIFA.
Six World Cup games shall be played on the lakefront stadium, which has undergone a $146-million renovation. Town paid for $123 million of the upgrades, while Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment — which manages the city-owned facility — put in $23 million.
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Work was still underway at B.C. Place on Friday, with blacked-out fences shielding onlookers from much of the activity. Peeking through the constructing’s vast windows, people donning hard hats and fluorescent vests could possibly be seen walking the concourse.
Outside, large metal barriers were being erected around two parking lots across the road.
Last June, the B.C. government pegged the provincial cost of hosting at between $532 million and $624 million, including a $196-million upgrade of the 55,000-seat stadium.
First opened in 1983, B.C. Place isn’t any stranger to major events. The opening and shutting ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics were held there, and the venue played host to the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
Taylor Swift also played the ultimate three shows of her Eras Tour there in December 2024.
In recent months, three latest elevators have been added, a brand new scoreboard has been installed, and locker rooms have been upgraded. And a short lived grass playing surface is replacing the venue’s artificial turf.
Trey Rogers and his team from Michigan State University and the University of Tennessee were tasked with determining how you can grow grass contained in the stadium — and on the 15 other venues that can host World Cup games this summer.
Vancouver’s field is looking good, said the turfgrass expert.
“I feel the entire thing is in implausible shape,” he said. “It is extremely apparent to me that the residents of Vancouver are really into telling the world, ‘Let’s show them what we are able to construct.’ And each indication leads me to consider that it’s going to achieve success.”
Rogers and his team first began talking concerning the World Cup playing surfaces back in 2020, and have since overcome a wide range of challenges of their bid to create similar playing experiences across all 16 different venues.
Getting some products and parts into the Mexican host cities took more time than expected. Most of the American buildings, generally used for football as a substitute of soccer, needed to undergo infrastructure changes, including the removal of 10 rows of seats on the stadium in Kansas City.
Five of the venues are in warm climates and can use Bermuda grass. The opposite 11 — including the domed stadiums reminiscent of B.C. Place — require a special species, a combination of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass.
Ample research went into determining exactly how much of every would produce the perfect, most durable playing surface, Rogers said.
“Certainly one of the scholars, her job was to find out what the ratio needed to be, and this was a part of her PhD dissertation, to provide you with that ratio,” he explained. “And it ended up being an 84 per cent Kentucky Bluegrass, 16 per cent perennial ryegrass, seeded at that rate
“And the entire idea behind it was that we could get something up fast, rooted quickly, but would develop a really strong base.”
The turf team — composed of professors, research assistants, graduate students and even Rogers’ son — gave instructions to sod farms across North America that grew the grass on plastic trays.
Vancouver’s grass comes from Bos Sod within the nearby Fraser Valley and is being installed right into a 14-inch-deep surface where the roots can take hold.
Grow lights shall be used to maintain it alive throughout the tournament — a stark departure from when Rogers worked on the sphere for Detroit’s Pontiac Superdome on the 1994 World Cup.
Back then, the grass was “a totally functioning plant essentially in a pot,” but “quite staggering” technological advances over the past 32 years allow for a more natural environment this time around, Rogers said.
“These indoor systems, I feel we’re in good condition. I feel that our research has provided them with some good data,” he said. “The lighting systems that they’ve are a cutting-edge.
“And we’re going to offer a world-class playing surface, but it surely’s not something that’s just going to recuperate and higher and higher. I feel we’re going to attempt to stay at a certain level the entire time.”