Luke Wileman reports Turf Removal Starts At BMO Field New coach, new grass, different result for TFC in 2010? Late note: The CFL Argos are once again talking about playing at BMO. Uh Oh.

How did you feel about MLS Cup being played on turf?

Best of luck to Ben Olsen.

----------------------Coming soon to a BMO Field near you

This time you have to think it's for real. The Toronto Argonauts owners are aggressively petitioning The City of Toronto and the CFL to move the team to BMO Field. When this has been rumoured in the past it was always ignored as hot air from the Argos' camp but this time politicians are weighing in and it's bad news for Toronto FC supporters.

As expected, the Exhibition Place board approved MLSE's proposal to expand the north end of BMO Field by 1200 or so seats. The plan will now proceed to Toronto City Council in the New Year for a final checkmark which will probably be met with little resistance. A short while ago this would have been joyous news for TFC fans.

Big Story
There's been an awful lot of questionable rhetoric already spat out by the leading figures of both sides of the dispute between MLS and the players over their new labour agreement, and finally we have a journalist with the patience and ability to parse through it well: Kyle McCarthy has a must-read look at the claims made about MLS's compliance (or not) with FIFA's regulations on player contracts.

Politics and football have long been uncomfortable but necessary bedfellows. Throughout the last 100 years of history, "the world's game" has been used as a propaganda tool, a way of placating restless populations and a powerful ally to political ambition. In turn, football clubs have often used these intimate connections to further their own ambitions and indeed their fortunes.

The long-awaited and costly removal of BMO Field's dreaded FieldTurf playing surface began on Friday to the delight of Toronto FC fans, but their exuberance was almost immediately tempered by a report suggesting that the city's Canadian Football League franchise - the Argonauts - again have an eye on moving their home games to the stadium in the not-too-distant future.

The off season is fully under way and it's time for Mo Johnston to start eyeing up players for the 2010 version of TFC. It's not as easy as watching Scottish First Division highlights on YouTube and pointing or taking an annual vacation... I mean scouting trip, to Brazil. No, Mo has to sell BMO Field to potential players - but not to fear, the wily Scot has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Reading through the submissions these past two weeks, stories of waiting for years for a club to arrive in your hometown a decade too late, seeing your club switch stadiums only for the supporter culture to die off, wondering what Don Garber has up his sleeve regarding the league's growth in the next five to ten to twenty years; you get the impression that, ultimately, the future of MLS is out of our control.

----------------------Football only. No football allowed.
Just when the Argos looked like they were about to cross into a new BMO Field end zone, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment called an audible. Announcements have arisen today that an immediate North End expansion to BMO Field in a football (FIFA not CFL) configuration has been proposed to the City Of Toronto.

That's not to say it can't happen, I'm just going to bet the farm it won't.
First, on the Canadian Football League. It has come a long way in the past ten years or so, emerging from a relative dark age of bankruptcy and ill-advised American expansion. It is our most important all-Canadian professional league, making the Grey Cup among the most important domestic trophies in Canadian sport, and it will be here for years to come.

----------------------------Why is this man smiling?
The Argos-to-BMO Field story is truly becoming an annoyance. Just when fans of either TFC or indeed the Argos think they know which way the wind is blowing, something shifts. Everyday that goes by seems to generate a new rumour and a resolution seems distant.

The fears of many Toronto FC supporters were eased today as reports then confirmation arrived announcing that the Toronto Argonauts can and will not move to BMO Field in 2010. What started out as loud whispers from the CFL Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas was later confirmed by the Argos themselves.

There are reports that TFC's midfielder Amado Guevara has signed for two years with Motagua in Honduras.
Ben Rycroft has the details here at Metro.
I was a big fan of Guevara's skill, guts and guile. He had ball skills galore, was always willing to drive forward with the ball in search of holes in the defense.

Dear Santa,
We are a football team from Toronto, Canada and this year we were very good boys. We may not be the best team around but we try not to get too many red cards and we often let other teams win so they will feel good about themselves. Our dad Mo says we are a great bunch of boys even if our new Uncle Preki doesn't seem to like all of us.