TORONTO — Two days before Toronto FC's home opener Saturday against the Chicago Fire, BMO Field was very much a work in progress.
Construction workers continued work on upgrading the stadium ahead of the 2025 World Cup, renovating suites and building frames for the four new video screens that will eventually adorn each corner.
Another new addition was a giant metal statue of a hawk, now standing guard atop the south stand.
The hawk has been part of the MLS club since its 2007 inception, introduced to keep the seagulls away from its lakeside home. The original hawk was named Bitchy the Harris Hawk, with fans electing to stick with Bitchy despite a "Name the Hawk" promotion.
Under MLSE boss Keith Pelley, the hawk has become larger-than-life, thanks to the new 11-foot-high, 800-pound statue and accompanying slogan "Hunt for Glory."
Robert Heggie was looking down not up Thursday, however. The director of grounds at MLSE and his staff have been hard at work preparing the playing surface for Saturday's opener and beyond.
The initial prognosis was positive when the tarp was first removed.
"Not as bright green as usual, but it didn't look terrible," said Heggie, a former Sports Turf Canada's sports turf manager of the year.
On Thursday, that had improved to "looking good."
In winter, the grass goes dormant. Heggie's job is to revive it — usually ahead of Mother Nature's schedule.
A series of three snowstorms that dumped more than 50 centimetres on the city last month forced Heggie to slow down those efforts somewhat.
"Three weeks ago, four weeks ago, the long-term outlook wasn't good. At one point this weekend's game was supposed to be negative-three, negative-four (Celsius)," he said. "Now it's 14 (C) with half-an-inch of rain, so it's changed quite a bit.
"We have to work in the now, and three weeks ago — four weeks ago — when that storm came, the now was, 'Let's remove the snow using plows this time,' which was a tremendous amount of work."
With the forecast offering little prospect of the snow melting at the time, the snow was removed manually "very slowly."
"It was me and a tractor (with a special blade)," said Heggie.
It took a week, so as not to damage the grass.
The good news was that construction on the stadium pushed back the home opener to the fourth game of the season, giving Heggie more time to prepare.
The forecast for Saturday is 12 C with a 30 per cent chance of precipitation.
While BMO Field has an underground heating system, it can be a "double-edged sword," says Heggie,
"It can make all your grass bright green but can also create the disease pressure that causes headaches for many weeks, not just the first week," Heggie explained.
Local regulations restrict the fungicides Heggie can use on the field. And a combination of water and heat can open the door to disease
The last game at the stadium was Nov. 19 when Canada blanked Suriname 3-0 in the second leg of their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal.
Heggie and his staff then went into action, removing the organic "gunk" that accumulates over time in the hybrid grass surface. BMO Field has featured a hybrid pitch since 2019, with green polyethylene fibres inserted into the ground and binding with the natural grass.
The hybrid surface delivers a firmer, truer and more consistent playing surface.
The grass was covered in December with the tarp staying on until Monday — a week or so after the underground heating was tuned on.
A thinner tarp, applied due to a downturn in temperature Wednesday, was removed Thursday afternoon. The tarp will go back on after the game with grow lights also coming into play to help the grass, with the next home game not until March 29 when Vancouver comes to town.
The next home game after that is April 12. "So lots of growing time coming up," said Heggie.
Heggie and his crew are looking forward to more afternoon games this season. While it means starting at 5 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., they get to go home earlier and Heggie believes the afternoon kickoffs are more family-friendly for fans.
Heggie and groundskeepers from other 2026 World Cup stadiums have been meeting twice a year with Toronto considered one of the tournament's leading lights when it comes to the playing surface.
That's because he has seen pretty much everything and has a well-stocked groundskeeping arsenal.
Still BMO Field will be getting a new field after this season.
The World Cup drove the need for new technology allowing for the use of shorter artificial fibres reinforcing the natural grass, given the number of indoor stadiums employing temporary grass surfaces for the 2026 tournament — many of which couldn't handle longer artificial fibres,
The shallower profile means Heggie will be able to resod and restitch the field in seven to eight days — once the special machine needed arrives. It will also allow him to repair the damage done by the CFL teams on the sideline.
He hopes he will be able to redo the field midway through the Toronto Argonauts season each year, improving the surface as TFC hits the business end of the MLS campaign.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press