at the stadium in 1970, Calgary Stampeders coach Jim Duncan described the condition of the natural-grass surface as "a disgrace." In January 1972, Metropolitan Toronto Council voted 15–9 to spend $625,000 to install artificial turf. The vote passed despite five councillors changing their vote to oppose the motion, because the cost had increased from a previous estimate of $400,000. Two months later, contracts totalling were approved to install the AstroTurf, with work to be completed by June, in time for the start of the Toronto Argonauts' 1972 season. Reconfiguration for baseball In 1974, in a bid to acquire a Major League Baseball team, the city voted to reconfigure the stadium to make it compatible for baseball, leading to the arrival of Major League Baseball in Toronto in 1977 in the form of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays after a failed attempt to lure the San Francisco Giants to the city. Originally planned to cost before growing to ($ in dollars), the renovations, which were funded by the city and province, added seating opposite to the covered grandstand on the first base side and curving around to the third base side. Football capacity was increased from 33,150 before the renovations to 41,890 initially, then finally to 54,741 after work was completed. Although the stadium was expanded to accommodate baseball, the new seats were first used for football and allowed the 64th Grey Cup in November 1976 to be watched by a then-Grey Cup record crowd of 53,467. For baseball, the stadium originally seated 38,522, however by the Blue Jays' second season this increased to 43,739, although, only about 33,000 seats were usually made available (see below). Even in its new, expanded form, Exhibition Stadium was problematic for hosting both baseball and football. Blue Jays' President Paul Beeston noted Exhibition Stadium "wasn't just the worst stadium in baseball, it was the worst stadium in sports." Baseball problems Like most multi-purpose stadiums, the lower boxes were set further back than comparable seats at baseball-only stadiums to accommodate the wider football field. Compared to U.S. stadiums, this was magnified by the fact Canadian football fields are almost 34% larger than American football fields. Many of the seats down the right-field line and in right-centre were extremely far from the infield; they actually faced each other rather than the action. Some seats were as far as from home plate — the greatest such distance of