Where would you rather see a MLS team in Canada

A team in Montreal would absolutely rock. My second choice would be Vancouver. I've always had my doubts about Tononto but that seems to be where the current action is.

 

Toronto is by far the only choice.

 

Let's not go there and start up a divisive east vs west flamewar. All three cities could work no problemo.

 

I would love nothing more than VCR MTL and Toronto in MLS. It would be great for Soccer in North America . However since I live in Toronto, they are my first choice. It has nothing to do with east west rivalry.

 

If only 1 Canadian city is to be allowed in MLS is what I ment to say.

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

I'd like to see an MLS team in Toronto, because its close to me. But Montreal is the city that deserves a team the most. They have the highest attendence in Canada and the USL-1, plus they have a new stadium on the way.

 

Montreals attendance is laughable. Ever check out the price of tickets and the amount they give away? Would they draw the same in MLS if they had to start paying proper ticket prices to pay for the bigger payroll? Would they draw well if they started losing?

I think it's pretty funny people looking at the attendance figures without looking into how they draw those crowds. Comparing a winning team with cheap tickets and huge giveaways drawing well in USL-1 and a team that won't be winning all it's games in MLS with more expensive tickets is like comparing apples and oranges. Montreals owner knows this and has stated he has no interest in joining MLS.

Vancouver however is about to announce a new stadium to be built and they mentioned in the paper last week a plan to be in MLS within 5 years.

 

Laughable comment. You make it sound like the tickeks in Montreal are free. A season ticket package in VCR for comprable seats is 39 dollars more for the whole year. Give it a rest.

 

I can see this thread starting to get a little edgy... so boys keep it civil and show some proof to back up your claims. I'll now get out of the line of fire.

 

http://www.montrealimpact.com/ticketsEN.htm
http://whitecapsfc.com/tickets/season/

 

Get your facts straight.

A season ticket for someone under 18 in Montreal (a youth pass) is $20 FOR THE WHOLE SEASON. They get 12 home games for that $20 (they play 2 other home games elsewhere) so that works out to $1.67 a game. Thats pretty close to being free! Vancouvers cheapest ticket is $14 a game, and there are no discounts for kids.

Montreal has two grandstands. Most of one side are gold tickets. Single game is $15, a season ticket is $200 Vancouvers single game tickets in the same comparible area is $22, season tickets are $289. Montreal also has a whole grandstand of general admission seating. Thats just $10 a game ($5 for kids under 18) for seats that have the same vantage and quality as Vancouvers $22 seats. Kids have to pay $22 for the same seats in Vancouver.

As for free tickets, I've heard many fans from other cities comment on the availabilty of free tickets outside the stadium. I'll let you check that out.

But most telling about crowd sizes and how it would change in MLS (because they'd have to start getting real money to pay for the cost increases) is the fact that just a few years ago, in 2000 and 2001 they averaged just 2,338 per game and 2,103 per game respectively. Ticket prices dropping and a winning team are the cause for the huge increase. Say what you like about Vancouver only getting 5,000 per game but that number rarely fluctuates very much win or lose, since the clubs first season in 1987. Unfortunately Vancouver can't have the occasional big crowd to up their attendance numbers with a stadium capacity of under 6,000.

 

Damn, I was getting the facts before you posted. You see it's one thing for someone just to post links, it might help if the guy actually read the sites he was linking to.

 

Toronto, only because its our largest city which would be capable of housing an MLS team not neccessarily based on fan support.

 

What's funny is how everyone thinks Montreal gives away 6000 tickets a game. I wouldn't be surprised if that number is closer to 2-3000 thousand which would still obliterate any other city's attendance minus Rochester.

 

I was listening to yesterdays Montreal game. 33 minutes in the commentators were going on how fans were still streaming into the building. Of course they were, the freebies were still being handed out until they decided to take the attendance count.

Thes same "fans" were also the ones the announcers mentioned were leaving early in the 80th minute.

Maybe they'd still obliterate other cities attendance but not if their ticket prices were the same as other cities. Like I said, check out their average attendance before freebies and low ticket prices. That's the difference.

 

I am starting to believe Vancouver could average around 15k per game with a nice SSS, a good location, and playing in the top-flight, and keeping much of the Whitecaps organization who are entrenched in the community part of the equation. Of course it would help if there were rivalries like Seattle, Portland and maybe another Canadian team. I listened to the game on the radio last night and they said there were 5,900 at Swangard. The crowd sounded great, especially toward the end of the game. The Whitecaps have a strong history. They drew well in the NASL days and many people my age have fond memories of going to Empire stadium to watch games. As someone mentioned earlier, attendance has been consistently above 5K. I was impressed by the sales and marketing efforts prior to the season. They called several times and offered a great variety of options. The media is paying more attention to the Whitecaps and isn't entirely hostile toward soccer. Another wild card here is that the regional sports channels in Canada are desparate for programming once hockey season ends. An MLS franchise would probably pick up a contract here quite easily and garner more exposure. The sports market isn't as crowded as many US cities (it's more like SLC) since there is only one major league team in town now. There are a lot of positives here and I am starting to change my mind. The biggest negative I see is that Vancouver might be a difficult city to get a lot of corporate support. On the other hand, there is a wealthy entrepreneur who currently owns the Whitecaps and has an affinity for soccer.

 

Krammerhead and I often disagree but I have to give the Dude his props on this one. No one is saying that the Impact isn't a fascinating story or that they are not a great club. I myself am saving up my pennies and hoping to take my wife and kid to Montreal next year to see an Impact game. The fact that at this point I think that the attendance numbers are incredibly deceiving doesn't affect my excitement about going there. It just means I'm a bit more realistic and less awed when I see the Impact attendance figures. If there s going to be a valid discussion regarding putting any franchise there, MLS or any professional soccer franchise there, it can't really be an honest, comprehensive discussion without raising the issue.

Down in Puerto Rico, team management gave away a lot of free tickets to see the Puerto Rico Islanders last season, the teams first in the A-League. This season, the attendance figures are much more accurate because people aren't getting the freebies like last year. Not surprisingly, some of those people came to EXPECT free tickets. So the fact that the club's attendance has actually improved a bit, doesn't really indicate how well the team is in fact drawing compared to last year.

I don't think Krammerhead's hating on Montreal. I think he is just saying that the numbers are a bit deceiving.

 

12885 fans at game pretty impressive.

Fans in park paid or free generate revenue, slaes of food drink ect help teams bottom line, I think Kramer cant stand the fact the Impact have a better squad than the caps.

 

Have to agree that getting almost 13,000 to actually show up reasonably consistently for USL-1 is impressive. If the Lynx or Sounders simply opened up the doors for free next week how many would be there? It takes a few seasons with a winning team on the field for that sort of strategy to work. Saputo's plan is probably to get people in the habit then slowly wind down on the freebies to build up club revenues.

 

We really do eat our young in Canada when it comes to soccer, don't we?

Freebie and low ticket prices or not, Montreal is filling their stadium. Vancouver has a great history, a stable fan base and is easily one of the 2 or 3 best soccer markets north of the Rio Grande because unlike pretty much anywhere else, soccer is a real part of the sports culture. Both would be strong canidates for anorth american league. Hopefully the demographics and dynamics of the Toronto soccer scene have change over the last decade plus and we can have three strong franchises in MLS if that is the way the soccer ball ultimately bounces. But I am more certain of Vancouver and Montreal.

 

Its called Marketing a point Kramerhead cant grasp.

13k worth of people also drink and eat that puts revenue in the teams pockets.