Guerre de surface au Stade Molson

[Daniel]

http://www.tsn.ca/news_stories/36328.html

Als, McGill at odds over turf lines

The Canadian Press

4/3/2003

MONTREAL (CP) - The Montreal Alouettes and McGill University are at odds over having permanent football lines built into the new playing surface at Molson Stadium.

The university, which owns the 88-year-old stadium, wants the field left blank so it can gain certification from soccer's world governing body FIFA as a venue for international matches, possibly including the 2007 women's World Cup.

The Grey Cup champion Alouettes, whose success moved three levels of government to put more than $12 million into renovating the stadium, believe fixed football lines are cleaner. They also don't want the hassle of painting them in for each game.

"We hope to come up with a solution that makes everybody happy," McGill athletic director Bob Dubeau said Thursday.

A winner will be announced Friday from among five construction companies that bid on replacing the rounded, rock-hard artificial turf at Molson Stadium with one of the softer new brands.

The bids include synthetic grass surfaces made by Montreal-based FieldTurf, the American product Astroplay and OmniGrass made by Sportexe of Fonthill, Ont.

Als president Skip Prince said the bidding was based on having a lined field and that they made allowances to make sure the dimensions allowed for other events.

However, he added that it would be easier and less expensive to convert the field for soccer than to have a blank field on which football lines and sponsor logos would have to be repainted over and over.

Dubeau said the university and the Canadian Football League club will have a week or so to agree on whether to have lines on the field so that preparatory work and installation can begin. The Als play their first home game July 12 against British Columbia.

FIFA prohibits extra lines or advertising on its pitches, while the Alouettes require yard markings and to have their field plastered with sponsors logos.

There are only six FIFA-approved fields with artificial turf in North America, including Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa.

The Canadian Soccer Association and Sport Canada have sent letters to McGill supporting its wish to keep the field blank. The CSA sees the stadium as a venue for World Cup qualifying matches and other events.

On Wednesday, the CSA submitted its bid for Canada to play host to the 2007 women's World Cup. It needs venues beside the grass field at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and would like one to be Molson Stadium.

"But if gridiron football lines are manufactured into the pitch, we can't begin to seek certification," said CSA chief operating officer Kevan Pipe.

Dubeau said another FIFA-approved site with a FieldTurf pitch, Seahawks Stadium in Seattle, paints on football lines and logos for its NFL club.

"I believe they have a method in place that allows for line changes to be done fairly quickly, so we'll look at that closely," said Dubeau. "We'll see if that can be done here so the people from the Alouettes can sleep peacefully the night before a game."

An alternative would be to build in permanent soccer lines, which because of its wider field would fall outside the football sidelines. The goal lines at each end would be same for both sports.

The university sees having an adaptable field as a means to attract more rent-paying events. They also hope to attract the Montreal Impact of soccer's A-League, although the Impact have expressed no interest in moving from their grass field at the Claude Robillard Centre.

McGill also agreed to open up the stadium to more public events when the federal, provincial and municipal governments put up money under the federal infrastructures program to renovate the stadium.

The work currently underway will provide new washrooms and dressing rooms, a new press box and better lighting in the quaint but crumbling facility on the side of Mount Royal.

Seating capacity is to rise by about 200 to 20,200 this season. There are plans for further expansion to 24,000.

The money came mostly from lobbying efforts by the hugely popular Alouettes, who have had 35 consecutive soldout games. The Alouettes have also put several hundred thousand dollars into sprucing up the venue since they moved from the domed Olympic Stadium in 1999.

Dubeau is confident agreement can be reached with the football club.

"There's no question the Alouettes played a major part in lobbying for the money," he said. "They've been a partner with us on the design and all the renovation projects.

"But it's not their stadium. It belongs to the university and we have the final say in what happens. But we work with them on a consensus basis."

© The Canadian Press, 2003