Toronto MLS

[Neil]

Well, lets just remember what everyone was saying about Salt Lake City before things went live. I'm not passing judgement till I see their 2006 average attendance.

[SoccerPrime]

I should have been more clear.
My remark was towards the Toronto Star's "editorial view" of the upcoming MLS team.

In fact, its rather humorous that the Star thinks packing in 15,000 on a cold November weekday to see the B teams in considered a failure.

The fact is, if an MLS team pulls in 15,000 a game, that is actually considered a success.

[AreliusIII]

Soccer boosters say Maple Leaf Sports can make a pro team work in the city. But some wonder whether fans will unite behind a local franchise

By PETER MALLETT

Saturday, November 12, 2005 Page M5

On a blustery Sunday afternoon on College Street, the fans at the Cervejaria Downtown soccer pub are living vicariously through their football heroes. Their eyes glued to a large-screen TV broadcasting the SuperLiga -- Portugal's first-division league -- via satellite, the mood shifts dramatically with each pass, foul and shot on goal. As Rio Ave scores first on the crowd favourite, Benfica Lisbon, an anxious hush falls over the bar.

"Soccer at this level is enthralling," explains Cervejaria owner and lifelong soccer fan Lou Alves. "It is more than a game for us -- it is a way of life."

It is enclaves such as this in Little Portugal, Little Italy and other neighbourhoods across Toronto that have turned each World Cup into a citywide block party. Thousands of Greek fans poured onto the Danforth when the Greek national team won the European Cup last summer.

And, with the recent approval of a new $72-million, 22,000-seat soccer stadium to be built at Exhibition Place, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment hopes that this fervent fan base will support Canada's first Major League Soccer team. This week, the top soccer league in the United States is expected to award the owners of the Maple Leafs and the Raptors with a Toronto franchise that would begin playing in 2007.

"The way the Italians and Portuguese love their hockey in Toronto -- these people love and adore soccer even more," says Alex Franco, who hosts regular soccer broadcasts on the multicultural radio station CIRV-FM.

Scarborough-born Dwayne DeRosario, the star midfielder for the MLS's San Jose Earthquakes, not only thinks that a Toronto MLS team will succeed, but believes it will be a boon for Canada's national team, which hasn't qualified for the World Cup tournament since 1986. "I am sure that if we get a facility built and an MLS team, we are going to make the next World Cup," he says.

But the history of professional soccer in Toronto is littered with the graves of teams -- from the Toronto City of the sixties and the Toronto Metros of the seventies to the Toronto Blizzard of the eighties -- that have failed to cash in on the city's enthusiasm for the sport.

In 1961, Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League president Harold Ballard told The Globe and Mail that he felt that "over the next five years, soccer will become the major summer sport in Canada." After a brief heyday, the ECPSL folded in 1966.

Steve Stavro was the owner of the ECPSL's flagship team, Toronto City, which imported such English legends as Sir Stanley Matthews, Tommy Younger and Johnny Haynes. The team averaged just under 7,000 fans a game during its four years in the league. Mr. Stavro remembers it as a golden age for professional soccer in the city, and he remains a believer.

"[Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment] won't make money overnight, but there is interest in the game," he says. "There are a lot of young people from many different countries in the city today, and they all have an appreciation for the game. If it is priced right, marketed properly -- with all the fans in Toronto, I think a team deserves another shot."

Clive Toye has heard all of the arguments about pro soccer in Toronto before. Now an adviser to FIFA, soccer's governing body, Mr. Toye rescued the North American Soccer League from total collapse in 1969, signed the legendary Pelé to a then-record $7-million contract with the New York Cosmos in 1975 and kept the Toronto Blizzard afloat as its club president from 1979 to 1984.

He thinks an MLS team can succeed in Toronto, but he says its owners will have their work cut out for them. "They will need to be everywhere -- every youth tournament, awards dinner, prize giving and social club, Cup final and season opener -- and be as much a part of the Ontario soccer scene as it is possible to be. And having done all that, do it again."

Dale Barnes is more skeptical. As the first commissioner of the Canadian Soccer League in 1987, he remembers putting up his own money to keep the ill-fated league afloat in its early days. The league was so desperate for a television deal that it signed a lifetime contract with TSN before collapsing with debt in 1992. Like other fans of the game, Mr. Barnes is frustrated with pro soccer's miserable past in Toronto. "They are going to have to run it like a pro outfit," he says. In particular, he's not convinced that fans from the various soccer-mad neighbourhoods will come out unless they see their communities represented on the field.

Toronto's current professional team, the Toronto Lynx of the United Soccer Leagues, hasn't been able to capitalize on the city's soccer fever. Owner Bruno Hartrell estimates he has lost more than $5-million since he took over full ownership of the team in 2000. Hoping to secure a lease at the new stadium, his team has played largely unnoticed by soccer fans and media at the 3,000-seat Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke, averaging around 2,000 spectators a game.

But during halftime of the SuperLiga game at Cervejaria Downtown, the Benfica fans -- and prospective Toronto Major League Soccer fans -- say they'll be swayed by only one thing: whether the team is any good.

"One thing is for sure: [MLS] is not a top international league," Gabe Real says. "It is second division and you can't really compare it to top-flight soccer in Spain, Brazil or England."

But given the success of the U.S. World Cup team (which draws many of its stars from the MLS) and the many notable players who have come from MLS teams, fellow soccer fan Albino Silva says he'll have a look.

"If there is a quality team and a well-presented product, I will go and buy tickets," Mr. Silva says. Then he quickly glances back at the TV to make sure the second half hasn't begun.

[Jim Umber]

Originally Posted by Aero

I just want to be clear. I have no problem with a new team in Toronto. I just don't think that MLS should rewrite the rulebook to get them. It almost comes across as desperate.

"We'll do anything to get you to buy a team, including rewriting the rulebook just for you if you'll invest in our league."

I think in the long run that kind of attitude will be bad for the league. They can't go around giving in to the demands of anyone that has enough money to invest in the league.

Toronto = good. Changing the rules = bad.

The point is, that it isn't a change in the rules. Our teams are supposed to play domestic players, except for a few internationals. Their team has the same rules. It's just that, for them OUR players are internationals, and for us THEIR players are internationals. The same rule applies to both.

I really agree that, for league purposes, Canada and the US should be considered one, with both countries teams pulling from the combined pool. It doesn't diminish our pool of players. It expands it to include Canadians as domestics. But THAT would require a rule change.

[SoccerPrime]

Toronto can build a stadium and has a very powerful new owner/investor in Maple Leafs Sports.

Thats the ONLY reason MLS is going to Canada. If Cleveland, Reno or Tulsa had those factors, we might be talking about them (and of course Cleveland and Tulsa DID have investment groups at the Board of Governors meeting...).

[Rover]

I still don't like the Toronto move at this point, just like I wasn't in favor of the cheetos experiment. But the MLS leadership is driven by motivations different from mine and in their view these are good moves. Purely from a bottom-line sense, they will likely be right.

But I still don't favor these moves. Pro soccer is still at an early stage of development in the USA and I'd prefer we focus our league on our own domestic development of players, clubs, coaches, and fanbase. Bring in players from around the world, but understand that MLS is tied to the American game.

MLS has chosen to go a different route so I'll hope for the best. Sooner or later we would have moved to a more international setup. I just think it's too early in the growth of the game in the USA.

The league will find a way to make the "rules" fit for what they're trying to accomplish. That's what they've done since the league began.

[SoccerPrime]

Interesting factiod:
http://dunord.blogspot.com/
*Toronto is the newest MLS team (lucky 13) and will begin play in 07. Their team nationality will be Canadian, (as opposed to all the other MLS teams who are obviously American), but they will have 3 extra International spots on their roster that can only be used on American players. (So they will have 7 in total, instead of the ususal 4.)

[SoccerPrime]

Here are some pictures posted on BS. Construction has begun!

[BetterThanChivas]

Originally Posted by SoccerPrime

Here are some pictures posted on BS. Construction has begun!

Speaking of which, when will RSL construction begin?

[SoccerPrime]

Originally Posted by BetterThanChivas

Speaking of which, when will RSL construction begin?

Can I give there ever allusive MLS "60-90 days" answer?