TORONTO

Cricket anyone?

Councillor Adam Vaughan said he wants a national cricket stadium in Toronto's downtown.

Vaughan's idea comes as City Hall prepares to debate the expansion of BMO Field to add 10,000 seats and possibly accommodate football.

"While everyone is focused on football and soccer and the synergies that might arrive at BMO Field courtesy of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, what I hear and what I've been working towards, what I'm focused on is cricket," Vaughan said Friday. "No one is talking about that but we're looking to promote a national cricket stadium."

Vaughan said cricket is an "emerging market" in this part of the world.

"There some real opportunities here to expand our sports capacity," he said.

The Trinity-Spadina (Ward 20) councillor said he's not opposed to the BMO Field expansion but it is "only one of several opportunities to expand sports capacity in the city."

"We're looking at several different opportunities (for location)," Vaughan said about the cricket stadium. "One of the challenges we have is the limited amount of green space and the limited amount of flat space in the downtown core. The Port Lands is an opportunity, we've been looking at Coronation Park as a possibility and we've been looking at sites at Ontario Place as well. We think there is a real opportunity here."

Vaughan argued that putting the cricket stadium downtown made sense because of the existing transit infrastructure.