they got the management rights for the stadium. MLSE committed to purchase a MLS soccer team to play in the stadium. The remaining funds came from MLSE, which paid $10 million for the naming rights of the stadium for the duration of the 20-year management agreement, which they later resold to the Bank of Montreal (BMO) for $27 million over the first 10 years. The proposal approved by the City of Toronto was for a stadium that was "capable of a conversion to a football format." The Argonauts attempted to join the project at the last minute, but MLSE, citing budget and time limitations, constructed the stadium such that it could not fit a CFL field without demolition and reconstruction of the end zone stands. The field of play dimensions are wide × long, meeting FIFA standards. The stadium features seats which are entirely red with the exception of a design on each of the main stands. On the east side, the design is a large maple leaf while on the lower west stand the design spells out "TORONTO", and has a portion of the Toronto FC logo. The south stand has "BMO" spelled out. On May 11, 2006, Major League Soccer announced that Toronto FC would join the league as its 13th (and first Canada-based) team in 2007, with BMO Field serving as its home. Renovations BMO Field originally used FieldTurf rather than a natural grass pitch, which attracted some criticism. A temporary grass turf was laid in August 2009 for a friendly against Real Madrid. Prior to the 2010 season Toronto City Council approved MLSE's request to convert the stadium to natural grass. MLSE paid the $3.5 million for the conversion, and promised to cover all additional costs to maintain the surface. A variety of Kentucky Bluegrass was installed in the spring of 2010, along with a state of the art drainage system and heating system in the field. MLSE spent a further $2 million to expand the north end by 1,400 seats for the 2010 season. As part of the deal to convert the field to natural grass, MLSE spent $1.2 million adding a winter bubble to Lamport Stadium and $800,000 building a new artificial turf field to replace the community use hours lost at BMO. By the end of the 2010 renovation, the total cost came to $5.5 million CAD. In November 2009, it became public