Re: Re: Toronto? Actually, there were very good NASL franchises in Vancouver (20-30,000 per game), Montreal (20-30,000 per game until someone was stupid enough to turn it into Team Canada-- not good to do in French-speaking Quebec) and Toronto (generally about 15,000 per game)... also had franchises in Calgary and Edmonton (unsuccessful, but not disasters, either)... Soccer Bowl '83 in Vancouver had over 50,000 fans at BC Place Stadium... Tulsa Roughnecks beat the Toronto Blizzard 2-0. Here's a good story for present day state of Canadian soccer... http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/story/10264241856493.shtml?sport=soccer&STORY_OID=10264241856493
Re: Re: Re: Toronto? well i'm talking about the current numbers.... but i liked your post...... i tend to avoid some times the attendances in the NASL times....because they don't reflect anything about now....
Their is good reasons that you won't see an MLS franchise in TO. 1) No suitable stadium in the city. 2) Too much of a reliance on ethnic supporters (Reason why National team games are being played out west). 3) Sports market is way too saturated. 4) Media doesn't give a damn about soccer (What elseis new). 5) The CSA won't allow it unless they get some huge concesssions from owners, MLS and the USSF. Edmonton sounds like a better choice than TO.
Would there also be a situation like there is in the NHL with player salaries being payed in Canadian dollars instead of American and exchange rates, inflation, etc? I'm not sure it would be as great as a concern as the NHL because the league sets the salaries in MLS and the top pay in only in the $200K's. But still, it could be a problem in the future.
The dollar is a lot better than other world currencies. It's competing against sports giants in TO that will be the problem.
not sure if youre on point with some of that stuff, true toronto has no suitable stadium, but we got an NBA franchise under the intention we would eventually build a more suitable place, so building a soccer stadium doesnt preclude getting the team. csa is a bit weak in the knees sometimes, if the mls comes in which it should, and has the money to back up what they are saying including domestic investments and support, it will happen and the csa will be relegated to bench status until they get their act together. toronto is not saturated, its a city of over 3 million, 3rd biggest city in canada/usa, 3rd biggest market money wise too, if chicago can handle hockey,basketball,soccer, football and baseball, toronto can too. it may just take time. saying it relies on ethnic support is like saying basketball relies on black people to populate the league. man, losts of people like soccer, ethnic and non ethnic, if you build interest slowly lots of people will come out. everyone is all skeptical about it being in canada, face it, this world is expanding borders, and becoming globalized, a team being in toronto wouldnt cause the problems people imagine, the nhl has been doing it for how long? it may not be ideal as players would rather play in warmer weather but i dont see palm trees in chicago either. heres to toronto getting an mls team!!!
