USL-1 club Montreal announced plans for a $15-million soccer stadium and training complex to be built near Olympic Stadium.
The site became available when the Olympic Installations Board, the agency that runs Olympic Park, offered free land in the park near Olympic Stadium. Saputo Stadium, which could be ready to open by fall 2007, will seat 13,000 fans and can be expanded to up to 18,000 seats.
“It will be a modest stadium,” said Impact president Joey Saputo. “I hope people don’t think it will be like the ones they’re seeing at the World Cup.”
Toronto is building a $62.9-million stadium to be the home of the new MLS team Toronto FC in 2007. The USL’s Vancouver Whitecaps have plans for a 15,000-seat stadium — a $70 million project — to be build over railway tracks that separate Gastown from the city’s waterfront district.