MONTREAL — The Montreal Impact won’t be starting their inaugural Major League Soccer campaign on home turf.
The Canadian soccer club, set to join Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS next season, announced Sunday that the expansion of Saputo Stadium has been delayed.
The Impact have $23 million in government funding to complete the project, but were unable to find a suitable builder.
Originally scheduled to be completed next spring, the project now won’t be finished until the summer of 2012.
That means the Impact will have to play some of their first games in North American’s top league, including the team’s home opener, at cavernous Olympic Stadium.
“The cost was globally too high,” Montreal Impact President Joey Saputo said in a statement. “It is not a question for us to exceed the total public money awarded for the expansion project.
“We have worked hard over the last few weeks with the different people involved to find solutions to expand our stadium to 20,000 seats, under a roof, while respecting the initial budget.”
A second bidding process for the stadium’s expansion will be undertaken next month. Saputo Stadium’s current capacity is 13,000.
“We had the option to start the season on the road or to look for an alternative,” Saputo added. “We prefer to play a few matches at Olympic Stadium. We want all games to be an event, especially our first game in MLS in Montreal.”