{"id":559292,"date":"2026-03-25T07:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559292\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:57:09","slug":"city-of-toronto-mlse-unveil-fifa-world-cup-stadium-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559292\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Toronto, MLSE unveil FIFA World Cup stadium upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup rapidly approaching, the city of Toronto and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced<\/a> on Tuesday that all major upgrades to BMO Field have been completed.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Stadium at Exhibition Place, commonly known as BMO Field, is set to host six World Cup matches, both group-stage and knockout-round games.<\/p>\n

Phase 2 of the construction project included temporary seating expansion, increasing the total seating capacity of the venue to 45,000. It also included new pitch, dugout and player areas, and additional hospitality spaces.<\/p>\n

Four LED boards at each corner of the stadium, an upgraded control room, an isolated sound booth, 32 new suites along with 4,000 hospitality seats, upgraded arena audio and Wi-Fi and 140-180 menus used across the space were among the upgrades at the facility normally known as BMO Field.<\/p>\n

Ten-thousand of the new temporary seats are on the north end, with the other 7,000 on the south end.<\/p>\n

Although the additional seating will be removed after the tournament, many of the infrastructure upgrades will remain as permanent enhancements.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompleting these upgrades is an exciting milestone for our city. Fans,\u00a0residents\u00a0and visitors will share an incredible experience right here in our communities,” Toronto mayor Olivia Chow said in a statement. “The\u00a0whole world\u00a0will experience Toronto as the safe,\u00a0affordable\u00a0and caring city that it is. This is about more than the matches. It is about bringing people together, celebrating our diversity and\u00a0showcasing\u00a0the strength and spirit of our communities while creating lasting benefits for Toronto long after the final whistle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Toronto City Council approved a total of $157.9 million in funding across both phases of construction \u2014 $132.9 covered by the city and $25 million from MLSE.<\/p>\n

Phase 1 upgrades were completed in 2025, which focused on infrastructure improvements such as new broadcast capabilities, lighting and audio, and improved fan amenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith anticipation building in our city for FIFA World Cup 2026, we are proud to unveil, together with the City of Toronto, a world-class stadium to welcome the global game while providing fans with an unparalleled experience,” MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“We are grateful to Toronto fans for their patience as construction took place over the past year and we are looking forward to the tournament leaving a meaningful legacy with\u00a0a number of\u00a0permanent stadium improvements that will positively transform the fan experience for years to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The World Cup will begin on June 11 and run until July 19.<\/p>\n

Canada’s group-stage game on June 12 will be the country’s first-ever men’s FIFA World Cup match on home soil to feature the senior national team.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with files from the Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 FIFA World Cup rapidly approaching, the city of Toronto and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-559292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}