A fun article by Ben although I consider our top rivalry to be a natural. Canada's #1 city vs. USA's #1 city. It's Toronto and New York. Second to New York, Washingon. Third would be Frank Yallop's Los Angeles. Fourth, Chicago Fire. Torontonians like big city rivalries. Columbus will never mean much to me. It's sort of like when the CSL Blizzard played Kitchener. No magic. I would guess that matches against Columbus and Salt Lake will the least in demand tickets this first season. B
The Revs. It's your first eastern conference game and one of the roadtrippable games. The Revs also currently have no real arch rival. In NY they're behind DC on the rivalry scale and in DC they're behind NY, LA and likely Chicago on the rivalry scale, but in NE those teams plus Chicago come near tops, so if they get a truly recipricated rivalry I can see them getting into it. Add in the fact that a number of their fans already hate you because of the Reis-Eskandarian fued. (fyi- Eskandarian's concussion occured with a collision with NE goal-keeper Matt Reis (or as he's known in NE 'God') in June '05. In "06 Eskandarian had an interview with the WaPost where he stated that Reis was "Dead to me" because of the lack of a in person apology over the incident. Both of the teams fan groups jumped on it and it was a major factor in the minor rivalry between NE and DC that partially carries over to Toronto with the trade.) That one is almost equal to the Dallas-Whoever currently employs Dema Kovalenko bad blood. So be prepared for NE fans to make some noise on this one, which is a place to start. Given the situation, NE is by far the most probable team to emerge as a rival.
Plus they're all dirty Red Sawks fans. If there's one thing I hate more than a Bruins fan, it's a Red Sawks fan.
Just because Toronto has no nearby teams, other Canadian or expansion brethren, etc., doesn't mean it'll be tough to form a rivalry. Sometimes animosities take time to develop. The article mentioned the Raging Rhinos, and this is a club that considers Montreal its archrival. Geography doesn't even have to relate to it. Look at the Buffalo Bills. For decades the team their fans got stoked the most for wasn't anyone nearby, but it was Miami. (Seems to be veering toward New England the last few years, but even so.)
Unless you have a true geographic rival, like say Houston & Dallas or Chivas & LAG, then you never really know how it's going to shake out. It will take time for TO to become competative enough to knock teams out of the MLS Cup & CCC, and that's where good rivalries are really born. Then as they beat/get beaten by a Chicago or DC several years in a row, a real rivalry will be born. Until then, they'll be Columbus with out a real "rival".
Unless Detroit or Rochester enter the league in the near future the Chicago Fire will be our Rivals. Both cities have a lot in common really bad NHL teams, really bad baseball teams,mediocre basketball teams, 1 has a chapionship calibre lacrosse team one has a expansion team. Football (NFL STYLE), the Bears are decent,,,,the Argos are To's other professional joke. So it should make a good rivalry!!!
Has anyone considered the possibility of Philly as a rival if they get a team? It's looking like Detroit's not going to get one, and the owners of the Rhinos in Rochester look like they were unwilling to pay the expansion fee. But I've done a little looking over the Philly candidate forum. It's amazing the amount of progress the fans have done even without a team yet. The supporters group has a name (the Sons of Ben... Franklin, that is) and a preliminary logo which looks incredibly cool and ties into Philly-related stuff nicely. Also, Philly has a longtime tradition as a soccer hotbed in the US (at least as close to a soccer hotbed in the US as you get). If I was choosing the 3 expansion cities that are supposed to be coming in soon, Philly would make my list. I even voted on their team colors poll. If we can't get a rivalry going with an existing team, a new club coming in may do the job.
why don't we just keep the rival selection process easy here. I say we put all the team names in a hat and whichever one gets pulled out of the hat will be our rival. To foster the rivalry we can beat up a few blokes from the team's travelling supporters when they come up here for the first game, and get a little brew-hawhaw going, then go down there and repeat it again. That is without a doubt the most effective way to start a rivalry. Or another easy way to start a rivalry is to get some Russian billionaire to buy the team and just buy all the good players from the other MLS teams. Everyone will want a crack at us then.
i say that L.A. our are rivlas cause they got beckham just joking! i'd consider New york and new england and maybe even chicago as rivals