TORONTO - Toronto FC will decide soon whether their CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final match will be played under the roof at Rogers Centre next March.
"We'll probably be making a decision very, very soon," Earl Cochrane, director of team and player operations, said Wednesday. "Hopefully by the time of the draw (Nov. 8) but certainly in and around there."
Toronto earned the right to host the first leg of the two-game Champions League quarter-final by finishing second in Group C of the round-robin portion of the tournament.
BMO Field on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds is TFC's home field, but the Champions League match on March 6, 7 or 8 against the team it draws presents a special opportunity.
"We're looking at both options," Cochrane said at a media briefing when asked if the game would be played at BMO Field or Rogers Centre. "The challenges here are obvious."
Weather could be a factor for the game played in Toronto, which will be against either the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS or Santos Laguna or defending champion Monterrey, both from Mexico. Those teams finished first in their respective groups.
"The field is the least of our worries," Cochrane said. "We can get the field up and running and ready to play and it would be in great shape. It's all of the other stuff in and around.
"It's the stands, making sure they're safe, plumbing, rest rooms, amenities, even the scanners for the ticket takers don't operate really, really well depending on the temperature. So, weigh that versus being in an indoor building and it's an easy one. But then you've the challenges of a different venue."
He said those challenges included obligations to partners and sponsors at BMO Field.
Rogers Centre, home of Major League Baseball's Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League's Argonauts, has artificial turf and Cochrane said importing a grass field is being discussed should the game be played indoors.
The playing surface at Rogers Centre has been checked and Cochrane said that for soccer "it's okay, it's not great."
"What they can do to groom it to get it up to the level that we're looking for is debatable," he said.
When BMO Field still had artificial turf in 2009, a grass field was brought in for an exhibition game against Real Madrid. But that game was in summer so finding grass was easy.
"The challenge we have with natural surfaces is where do we get it from, how long does it take to get up here?" Cochrane said. "When we did the Madrid game, it was a local supplier. We could go get grass down the road, it's a hard thing to do in March."
The Montreal Impact, who will be joining MLS next season, drew a crowd of 55,571 to Olympic Stadium for a 2-0 in a CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final victory over Santos Laguna in February of 2009. The Impact were in the United Soccer Leagues at the time.
"That was spectacular," Cochrane said.
If Toronto draws a Mexican team, it was suggested to head coach and technical director Aron Winter that it might be an advantage for the home team to play outdoors at BMO Field.
"That's also something to think about it," Winter said. "But we have to be honest. That period in March you never know how the forecast is going to be. And here, maybe the pitch is good enough to play but when it's snowing very hard and you don't have a crowd and that's not very nice."
His preference, he said is to play on a normal pitch on natural grass. "But it depends," he said. "It is a special game and a lot of people want to watch it. If it is necessary to play in the game (at Rogers Centre) then we should do it."
Winter said he had no preferences about which team he would like to draw for the quarter-finals but suggested the Galaxy might have more fan appeal with well-known players like David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.
The Galaxy would be on similar footing to TFC, just starting their regular season, while the Mexican clubs would be already into their campaigns and presumably more game fit.
"When you are playing the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League all the opponents are strong," he said. "The Mexican teams have done it very well, if you watch the whole history."
Mexican teams have won the championship 27 teams. Costa Rica is second with six. Two MLS teams have won once each, D.C. United and the Galaxy.
"(The opponent) doesn't matter for me," Winter said, "But for the crowd it should be nice to have L.A., they have big names and they're starting the same period in the pre-season like we are doing.
"But it doesn't matter because if you want to go further on I think you have to beat everybody."
Notes: The Seattle Sounders are the other MLS team in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals. ... Cruz Azul and America of Mexico have each won the CONCACAF club competition five times. ... Toronto FC begins training in Toronto in January and then will go to Orlando. ... Winter said he will have his team train on whatever surface the quarter-final will be played in the days ahead of the match.
