CN is expanding its presence in The Forks.

The Festival Stage and Field is now known as the CN Stage and Field. The official announcement was made this morning.

"We're really excited to partner with The Forks. CN has a long history here at The Forks and to bring it into the present we have almost 40 trains going through the downtown Winnipeg every day. Really, for us, this is about supporting the communities where our 2,000 employees in Winnipeg live and work. This is a great meeting place and we know The Forks has such a great history of putting on amazing programming and events, and we wanted to be a part of that," says Kate Fenske, media relations for CN.

The sponsorship is for $750,000 over seven years.

Chelsea Thomson, marketing and communications manager at The Forks, says the sponsorship allows for more programming.

"We're hoping that that means more free programming year-round, not just stage performances which typically take place in the summer," says Thomson. She says it could also mean rehabilitation of the field.

New signage for the stage is yet to come.