Toronto FC has just sent out a press release with news that they’ve already surpassed the 35,000 mark ahead of the Reds’ CONCACAF Champions League match against the LA Galaxy on March 7th:
Toronto FC announced Friday that an additional 1,000 tickets have been released for sale for its CONCACAF Champions League Quarter-Final match against the LA Galaxy at Rogers Centre. The new seats are located in the 200 Level at the North End of the Rogers Centre and are priced at $25.00. The lower bowl has sold out, however tickets as low as $12 remain in the upper bowl. As of Friday morning ticket sales had passed 35,000, with the total soccer capacity for the match being 45,000.
First, let’s dispense with the annoying caveats. Yes, the tickets are cheap. Cheaper-than-CHL-hockey cheap. Yes, the LA Galaxy boast Landavid Beckovan.
But this game isn’t just a record-breaker for Toronto FC. It’s a milestone for a club that many thought would be lucky to get 10,000 a game in its first season. A club that many thought would need quick success to convince the “sophisticated” (I loathe that odious descriptor myself) Toronto soccer fan-base to keep coming. There was a time several decades ago when a foreign team like Juventus could attract fans in these numbers in Toronto.
March 7th will be provide one touchstone moment of many in this relative golden age of Canadian football, but its importance goes beyond the numbers or what it will mean for TFC’s CCL or the 2012 MLS season. Rather, history will be made for you won’t read, see or hear about.
You won’t, for instance, read about how soccer is a “multicultural sport.” You won’t hear about whether professional club soccer will ever “make it” in this country. You won’t see some fifty-something in a tie on network television, the kind of guy who hasn’t gotten out of his car in the commute from the suburbs in over twenty years, talking down to you about Canadians “don’t like” soccer despite youth registration numbers that eclipse hockey’s.
In other words, it will be sports business as usual. The arrival of Montreal Impact in MLS has merely sealed the deal. While there is a lot of work to be done—with reforming the national association, with youth development, with improving the national team—culturally, the war is over. Soccer won, and it’s here to stay. Forever.
respect to you guys for bringing up the ticket prices on the podcast the other day. as soon as i heard KJ say it was $15 for seats in the 500 section i went on ticketmaster and scored 4 of them. my buddies and i are all pumped for this match, mostly because of the novelty of it being in the skydome and it being a “champions league” game. we were all there when the ufc made their first trip to TO and IMO theres just some aura about putting a sporting event in that colosseum of a stadium. that being said, had these tickets been north of $20 for the 500 level i would not have paid.
“You won’t, for instance, read about how soccer is a “multicultural sport.” – I’ll take you up on that one, and if said reference pops up do I get to pick the topic of your post as in your weekend scavenger hunts?
Sure. Every post I write has a hidden WFSH Easter Egg.
I find myself in total agreement w/ you for once. The old guard in the mainstream sports media need to accept that soccer is no longer a niche sport which is largely supported by those new to Canada, that it itself is now mainstream.
For once? I’ll take it!
The old guard like Bob McClown …
Yeah, right on brother or sister, this will be THE EVENT of the year! Any Toronto Media or others that ignores soccer/football in this city after this game will do so at their peril. You have duly been warned.
Even if the game sells out, this won’t be the biggest event in Toronto this calendar year.
Heck, UFC packed 55,000 people into Rogers Centre at insane ticket prices (a $12 million live gate) last year – if they wanted to, they could probably do so again. The Bills will probably have more people there for their regular-season game (albeit largely papered). The Jays will beat the attendance for the home opener. And I’m betting about 50-60,000 Ontarians will be making the drive over to Ann Arbour for the Winter Classic next January.
I don’t think the MLS is going away anytime soon (although I still think its weakness in major US sporting markets is a major issue – as well as the caveat that any of the Canadian teams being unsuccessful hurts the league), but being realistic about its place on the pecking order in this town is something fans need to keep in mind.
I worry that these ticket sales aren’t really genuine. Rather that these have all been bought up by scalpers thinking they can turn a profit with the cheap prices. I”ll be very happy if I’m wrong though. I’ve got tickets of my own for the game and am excited.
Given the stubhub numbers (546 tickets available) I don’t think that’s much to worry about.