TORONTO

Politics has thrown plans to expand BMO Field to potentially host the Argonauts into a tailspin.

When the Toronto Sun sat down with Tim Leiweke in Seattle ahead of Toronto FC’s season opener in March, the MLSE head honcho seemed confident things were on track.

At the time, the commitment from MLSE was the full cost — $120 million — with the city, province and federal governments each contributing $10 million. The city, if it signs off, was expected to be paid back over 20 years, with interest. The province and feds, as Leiweke told me, were set to benefit from tax revenue.

According to a report in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail, however, the feds aren’t interested in funding a pro sports venue, meaning MLSE has plans to move forward with soccer-only renovations in September.

And this is where it gets messy. Earlier this year, the city was only interested in offering funds provided MLSE helped resolve the situation surrounding the Argos, who will be kicked out of Rogers Centre in a few years. As for the feds, their additional funding originally had nothing to do with MLSE potentially owning the Argos, or the CFL coming to BMO.

“The feds are giving us the resources to (temporarily) expand to 40,000 for our Grey Cup bids and Winter Classic bids,” Leiweke told me. “That also means BMO will be eligible to be used as part of the Canadian Soccer Association’s World Cup bid in 2026.”

It all seems like political grandstanding at this point, especially when you consider MLSE had plans to basically fund the entire project. For TFC fans ecstatic the Argos might not be coming to BMO after all, this might not be over yet.