Planet Soccer

Toronto sports fans a fickle bunch?? Winning team? Quality product? They support the leafs, don't they? Who wrote this garbage?

I hope that SportsNet, TSN, CBC or the Score work out a contract with the Toronto FC to broadcast the games nation wide. This would allow soccer fans and the younger generation outside of the GTA to view the MLS.

Toronto fans only support winning teams... are you sure about that???
The Premiership is the best, but MLS is better than Serie A (empty Stadiums, boring style) and maybe on par with 75% of La Liga. It's a good product...

Not sure where you get Toronto only supports winners... typical Toronto media attitude. Trying to tell us how we feel about everything. Let's see. We've have supported the Raptors, Argos, Leafs and Jays during losing seasons. I'm not one to ring TFC up as a total success but they have certainly proved most doubters wrong and in fact surpassed many milestones set by previous teams in the MLS. Give them a little respect.

I see two major logic flaws with this article. It seems that John's problem is with a fellow sports journalist who has thumbed his nose at his peers. The supporters are optimistic, but we're not going to rub anyone's face in the news. The supporters are rightfully thrilled to get such positive news on ticket sales, but we're not getting ahead of ourselves... we know we still have a season record of 0-0-0 and things still need to be proved on the pitch.

"Toronto sports fans are a fickle bunch..." General 'sports fans' might be a fickle bunch, but fans of the beautiful game are far from fickle. They have loyalties that span generations and hemispheres! Soccer fans have been here for years, and are here to stay. We're not just 'Toronto Sports Fans'.... WE'RE TORONTO FC FANS!!!!!

this article assumes that people could reasonably tell the difference between Premiership play and MLS play. I doubt it.
If triple A baseball wasn't called "minor league baseball" the average fan wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't top quality.
now, if MLS was the quality of the local men's league, I think fans could tell.
A big thing that will help TFC is the local connection. once they develop an affection for the team it'll be stronger than a connection to some team 1000 miles away.

MLS might not be as good as some of the European leagues, but it's hardly worthless. MLS has come a long way from its first season, and the fact that it has sent several veterans onto the power European leagues says a lot. As for Toronto sports fans being so fickle, they've been awfully loyal to the Leafs, and I don't see the Blue Jays going the way of the Expos anytime soon.

When you say ..."supporters of the beautiful game in this country have to have reasonable expectations because too many leagues and teams have faltered in Canada over the past three decades"...you must be talking about the fans that are permanently club-tied to team and "won't" give TFC a chance. They're a lost cause, and are irrelevant. If you're talking about the 1st Generation fans that only care about the beautiful game every 4 years, again, another lost demo that MLSE won't bother with. Your story was prompted by comments by "one notable Toronto-based TV broadcaster". Not much weight, but then, you're just one notable on-line soccer expert.

MLS might not be as good as some of the European leagues, but it's hardly worthless. MLS has come a long way from its first season, and the fact that it has sent several veterans onto the power European leagues says a lot. As for Toronto sports fans being so fickle, they've been awfully loyal to the Leafs, and I don't see the Blue Jays going the way of the Expos anytime soon.

Better than Serie A or on par with La Liga? How? In that they wear uniforms, have referees and play with a round ball? That's about the only parallels. Better? No chance. Probably never.

Just because the MLS is not the best league in the world does not mean the game itself won't be accepted by Torontonians. The CFL is not the best (American-styled) football league either, and yet Canadians love to go to the games and support their teams.

MLS is not the best, but surely not the worst either. The attention TFC has received by fans is unique to the MLS, and certainly unique to football in Canadian history. You'll see something special. Just wait and see. But open your eyes first!

Ha!There is a difference between football (soccer) fans and sports like hockey and basketball. The supporters are dedicated enough to sit through rainy days and cold days, winning or losing. There are so many people in Toronto that come from a international background that understand that aspect which is part of the reason they love the Beautiful game in the first place.

Just because every other team in Toronto sucks doesn't mean you have to expect the same with Toronto FC. This will be Toronto's most popular sport with the right media coverage. That's your job and shooting down the fans isn't going to help you win any fans.

"Toronto sports fans are a fickle bunch – they’ll only support a winning team and will only attend games if it’s a first-rate quality product."

The Leafs haven't had a winning product since I've been alive, yet they've sold-out every game since their last Stanley Cup win 50 million years ago. The Jays still sell more tickets than more than half of the other teams in MLB and the Argos do fine for a CFL team in an NFL loving city.

CBC Online would do well to recruit people who know footy (soccer) inside & out. This writer 'claims' to know the game, but has proven time & time again that he doesn't.

Where's CBC Radio's Shawn Brockelhurst (spelling?) or Matt Galloway? They know their soccer.

A.D.

Getting a Canadian team in the MLS is long overdue, but I agree with Molinaro that all Canadians who support the team must be patient and hope the team can be very competitive in its first few years and then build on that. Of course I also strongly believe the fans can't have unrealistic expectations (i.e. a championship in its first year) and MLSE should provide outlets so fans outside Toronto can view the team and its progress. We're rooting for you Toronto FC and especially for it developing more interest across our nation.

I'm so sick of hearing the argument that 'teams have tried and failed in the past' to gain the interest of Torontonians. Let me tell you why now is different:

1) A Real Stadium -- BMO Field is the only true soccer stadium this city has ever seen; ergo, it will be the best soccer viewing experience this city has ever had, which will of course only reflect well on the team.

2) The NASL Was Phony -- The old NASL believed that North Americans couldn't handle 'real' soccer rules like offsides and clocks that counted up, so they created their own brand of soccer with an offside line and clocks that counted down (among other things). MLS followed this formula for a while until they realized that true soccer fans wanted the game to be played the true way, so as of 2002 they decided to strictly adhere to FIFA guidelines. This brings true soccer fans into the fold.

3) The Internet -- Do I even need to explain how important the internet has become in marketing a sports franchise and allowing its supporters to meet each other, discuss the team and grow anticipation for each match? This didn't exist when the NASL was around.

My basic point is that the experience of the NASL is completely and utterly irrelevant today. We know MLS isn't the EPL or Serie A etc, and we couldn't care less. MLS is highly underrated as a league, and as soon as the media here in Toronto see that week in/week out this summer their perception of the league and of TFC is going to shift dramatically so that they are finally in line with that of the team's already ardent supporters.

By any stretch of the imagination TFC IS already an unqualified success off the field. And I can guarantee you its performance on the field in the first season isn't going to matter -- we're going to support this team no matter what, because it's the first true soccer club we've ever had.

James17930
Red Patch Boys

MLS is better than Serie A? Please leave soccer comments to educated fans my friend Dan. The writer hit the spot in calling out the golf/snowboard guy who pretends to be a soccer guy, merely for a cheque. The only thing worse than the basketball guys running the soccer show are the bandwagon hoppers who board the train to make a few bucks of us die-hard soccer freaks. I hope this team works out so that more international squads can come here and show the ignorant North American sport fan what real 'football' is all about.

You’re absolutely right John. MLS is no where near the most of the leagues in Europe.

Likewise North American soccer columnists pale in comparison to their European counterparts.

How exactly are Toronto sports fans a fickle bunch when they'll easily shell out hundreds of dollars to see the Leafs play mediocre hockey and NOT make it to the playoffs for yet another year.

The facts are simple: People in Toronto want to watch top-quality soccer and as much as the hockey-oriented media wants to admit it, we have a very competitive squad thus far and the right managment team to steer us right.

As a season's ticket holder (and I bought them well before the announcement of Beckham's arrival), I hope to see decent soccer, and, will admit, that I'm a little wary about the quality of the product. As a long-time fan of European soccer (especially La Liga) I am worried that my expectations won't be met, but hope that that will be made up for, simply by having a home town team to cheer for.
It isn't a success - yet - for we must acknowledge that many of those season's tickets sold because of the LA Galaxy game, and those same people, their kids sated by seeing Beckham, won't be return ticket holders.
We will see if this thing is for real once the initial honeymoon is over, and once the fans are sick of losing (which should be expected for atleast two seasons). Then, and only then will we be able to truly gauge the impact TFC has made.

P.S. Toronto fans may only want top level sports, but winning teams? I'm sorry, Mr. Molinaro, but as a Leafs fan, I deserve a winning soccer team! Go FC!

"Toronto sports fans are a fickle bunch – they’ll only support a winning team and will only attend games if it’s a first-rate quality product."

Are you seriouos??? Look at the Leafs!! Going on 40 years and counting since they have won. This guy has no clue what he's talking about. I am not a leaf fan myself but I just went to Montreal to see Montreal (My favorite team) play Toronto and there are some crazy fans that drove the 6 hours to see them play.

Looks like someone got out of the wrong side of their bed this morning - why not write about the success instead? Selling 14,000 season tickets for a team that hasn't kicked a ball in anger yet is phenominal. As for past soccer "failures", it was the leagues that failed not Toronto. Regarding TO sports fans being fickle, has this writer ever seen the attendance for the Leafs and the quality of that product?

It's sad to see the CBC promote such an uninformed and negative opinion. Hopefully simply knocking down something that thousands of Canadian fans are so passionate about isn't an opinion supported by the network. To the Editor - get rid of this "soccer expert," he hasn't a clue.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! Don't get ahead of yourself Dan, MLS better then Seria A , I think you been taking too many puffs of that wacky tabacky. MLS is just a retirement league for the veterans and a junior league for the beginners. Don't diss my seria A , Italian soccer is sick but it never lost the passion of play on the field.

At least the FC Toronto will have a better fan base then the Lynx in the A-League.
I aint a A-League fan or MLS

As a season-ticker for Toronto F.C. and a lifelong football supporter, I must confess that I am indeed one of the fickle fans of whom Mr. Molinaro writes about. While I have never disserted my team during a relegation season, I do expect “first-rate” journalism and the “quality product” that we have grown accustomed to from highly regarded media institutions such as the CBC. Yet, Mr. Molinaro, a so-called football pundit, repeatedly misses the mark and only furthers the anti-football sentiment shared by so many Toronto journalists.

Well written, John. I'm sure a few of the overzealous fanboys will be up in arms that you dare suggest their precious child is not perfect already, but suspect it's been a while since reality stared them so boldly in the face.

While there is no doubt that class of the football world lies in leagues such as the EPL, La Liga, etc, the fact of the matter is that support for football extends around the world. While the MLS can only dream of the kind of talent that exists in those leagues, there is undoubtedly a quality of football within this league. Besides this, I think many people will appreciate the fact that we now have a "legitimate" (no disrespect intended to the Lynx or other lower division teams) football team in Toronto, and the season tickets prove that support for a local team is htere without a ball even needing to be kicked. Canada may not have the professional heritage of an England or an Italy, but with such strong support, it is not neccessary for a good product to appear in the next few years. As a season ticket holder, I can't wait for kickoff, and I'm sure 19,999 others agree with me.

This article shows the classlessness of the author, he hides behind vagary and does so without shame. He provides no proof of anything he says.

He shows nowhere that the MLS product "pales in comparison to the English Premiership, Serie A and La Liga" versus the top teams ABSOLUTLY the MLS falls short, but I think that the top MLS squads, (which TFC is not one ... YET) would be decent middle of the road squads in all of these leagues. I do believe in the friendlies that have been played the MLS has some wins.

He then goes on about the fans Fickleness, without any proof, Apart from Minor league Hockey, I have seen The Rock flourish, The Jays are steady, the Argo's do a good business for the league they are in, the raptors who have given thier fan base more reasons to quit on the team than reasons to watch still Do a fairly decent business. I have been to a few marlie games and attendance seems to grow a little each time, but it is nothing to jump for joy about, and the Majors seem to have slight issues.

It is very obvious from this article that The author is one of those "Soccer-haters" and is simply choking on his crow. But it is hard to swallow anything with your own foot jammed so deeply in there.

The quality difference with the big European teams will have no effect on TFC's popularity. If that was true, teams in smaller Euopean markets (such as the Netherlands and Portugal) wouldn't sell any tickets either. What will matter is if TFC will be able to compete with the other teams in the MLS. 14,000 tickets sold means that there is a good base, TFC will have to ensure it captures these people as hard-core fans.

The bottomline is that they have sold out in five months (I am pretty sure that is a league record). Will TFC become the quickest club in the league to become profitable? (only two or three of the teams are profitable and the league is a decade old and has lost 300 million US)
If the Canadian networks play all of the games and include good quality commentating than the sport will grow and Montreal and Vancouver will have big beautiful stadiums as well.

The author of this article should have written about the overwhelming interest to this expansion club relative to the non-existent support for some of the MLS clubs down south. I would agree with some of the other posts that the CBC should be looking for someone with a little more quality to write about this sport.

There is a whole lot of distance between, "the soccer haters were wrong" and, "the team is a completely unqualified success." As it happens, those who claimed that the team would fail to draw fans WERE proven wrong, and SHOULD eat crow.

Those who think that TFC are suddenly as big as the Leafs and will automatically sell out their games henceforth and forevermore are also wrong, but it's usually the soccer haters who make the illogical leap of requiring any claim to success to mean absolute perfection, just to have something negative to say by creating an easy, if dishonest, rebuttal.

You can be all "glass half-empty" if you want to, but the fact remains, TFC has been a spectacular success before kicking a ball in anger, and the fact that they aren't the biggest team in the whole wide world doesn't change that. If you really want MLS to succeed in Toronto, as you claim, needlessly minimizing the impact of selling 14,000 season tickets is a funny way to demonstrate it.

Whew!
Can you spell N-E-G-A-T-I-V-I-T-Y? Maybe I can't either.

Let's see; the leafs sell out and haven't been to a Final in 40 years. But hockey is King.

The Soccer team sells out without playing a game and it's "well lets see how they play"

Soccer will never be the king of North America, it's foreign and we all know how much North Americans love foreigners.

It's got a good little nitch and take it from a Hockey fan in the USA, "being popular" and "being good" are two different things.

I have ESPN, they show college wrestling, dog shows, lawn mower races and strongest men competitions(the "strongest" competitions draw crowds of about 28 people to the actual event)but they are more popular down here than hockey or soccer.

The Toronto FC story is good news, heck its great news.You question getting excited too early? You have no problem getting negative too early though.

No wonder Dave Keon is so damn happy!

It's really not that big a limb to go out on to proclaim TFC a success already--six months from now, you'll be late to the party.

In addition to the season ticket count having been capped off at *double* what MLS had considered fairly successful before, Mo Johnston has put a team out there that barring disaster will not stink up the joint like the last round of expansion teams (who still, by the way, drew strongly their second seasons, because fact is, the bar for expansion teams in most fans' minds is fairly low).

There are a surprising number of proven commodities or at least odds-on bets on this "expansion" roster. With Casey, O'Brien, Robinson, Welsh, Brennan, Eskandarian, Cancela, and now Mulrooney, you guys are bound to score some goals. The only suspicion is whether the defense is really up to snuff. And if it isn't, Tradin' Mo probably isn't done building.

John Molinaro doesn't seem to want to come to terms with "The Beckham Effect". Where Beckham goes, the fans follow, the money follows, and THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE GAME FOLLOW. When Becks was with Man U. they became the best known football team with the most money and the best players in the world. When he went to Real Madrid, the same happened. When Becks comes to North America, it will have GREATER CUMULATIVE EFFECT than his previous two career stops COMBINED.

No ifs, ands, or buts. Beckham is bigger than the game, and will be so until the day he retires. At least.

Some of you guys are funny. MLS isn't as good as the top of EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga. Realistically, it's probably mid-Coca Cola Championship to the bottom 2 or 3 of the Prem. I mean, no one can tell me that DC, Chicago or Houston couldn't beat Watford or West Ham pretty regularly.
TFC is a qualified success. They need to continue this sort of support for years to come to be considered an unqualified success.
MLS has a real chance to be big. More kids in the US play youth soccer than any other sport in any other country. The top 3 grossing sports leagues in the WORLD are in the US/Canada. We have the money and the marketing panache to make big things happen. We merely need to get more of the kids who have to give up soccer for other sports to stay in the fold.
Soccer is truly an alternative as you don't have to be 6 foot 2 and 220 pounds like you have to be in the NFL, MLB or NHL. There is an untapped talent pool out there waiting to erupt. When it does, I'll be happy to say that I was there on the ground floor.
Congrats on a great start TFC.

Toronto is a success and that drives the Toronto media crazy simply because they are
hockey people and not sports people. Thw world loves it football (soccer) hockey doesn't even register with most sports fans around the world and even in the US, only Canada likes hockey and the media can't except that. Soccer rules and Toronto Fc will win a championship before Toronto's other losers , leafs , raptors, jays and argos
win another one. Rock fans get left out cause the team is in the winning catagory.

'Success' comes on many levels. The initial comment was regarding financial success = sales far exceeding expectations. Your comments are about success in the game on the field. They are very different things. Can't you both be right without you insulting the people of Tornto?

The sticky point seems to be this comment

"Toronto sports fans are a fickle bunch – they’ll only support a winning team and will only attend games if it’s a first-rate quality product"

As a Toronto native I find this comment insulting on two fronts 1) we would not support a team that doesn't win? Are you kidding? Who did the research on this?
2)You expect a little more research from a "journalist" especially if they going to write explosive statemensts like "What Foolishness!"

The fact is that over the last ten years MLS has becomne a solid, if lower level league, The quality of the soccer has improved and even though there is very little flash ( here comes Beckham)they have resisted, up until now, the big bang. Why?

Because it will never be an NFL, which is what the old NASL thought it would become, before going bankrupt.

Good job Toronto! You deserve better journalism.

Despite what the typical Euro-snob football fans on this blog say MLS isn't that bad a league. As papa bear indicated, quality of the MLS probably comes in somewhere in the Championship but is certainly well off any of the top leagues in Europe.
That does not suggest it isn't good football. The Euro-snob contingent will always have that centric, ignorant attitude towards football in North American because many of them are from or are influenced by the pedigree of people that still think England is the greatest football nation in the world (despite not having won anything in 40 years).

The early indications are that TO is going to support this team and I hope it flourishes. (I only wish they'd put cover on the BMO stands to get real atmosphere). The league is run quite well and has taken a modest and responsible approach to growing the league while avoiding the side-show antics of NASL thirty years ago. Good on the people of TO and TFC fans for being so supportive early on. Lord knows the people of TO deserve a winner.

Sorry Rob, you're completely wrong about "The Beckham Effect" on Manchester United and Real Madrid. These are storied clubs with a rich history that predates Beckham by decades. Beckham sold some shirts for them in Asia and got a few casual fans on board, but in the modern game, guys like Cantona, Keane, Zidane, Figo and Raul have had _way_ more of an impact on United and Real than Becks ever did.

Regarding finances, Manchester United became a financial juggernaut when they became a PLC and turned that profit into success on the pitch - before Beckham. Real Madrid have shady dealings with the Spanish government.

What his effect on the MLS will be remains to be seen, but if you think that he's going to put make MLS teams as popular as Manchester United or Real Madrid - or attract top flight players in their prime, you are living in a dream world.

The fact is that Manchester United only became the richest football club in the world AFTER David Beckham had played with them for a few years. Real Madrid surpassed Manchester United AFTER Beckham transferred there. You say Beckham "sold a few jerseys"? C'mon. He earned double his transfer fee in increased jersey sales alone after just one year with Real.

Los Angeles and the MLS will be all of what happened in Manchester and Real, multiplied by a factor of 10. The best teams in the world are already lining up to play the Galaxy, and several of the best players in the world are talking about following Beckham to America. Ruud Van Nistelrooj and Owen Hargreaves most recently.

Posh has her own reality show lined up and that will bring the game and the Beckhams into nearly every household in America. Soccer will be cool and all the sports fans tired of the steroid tainted, recreational drug abusing, borderline criminal image of so many current American high profile athetes will embrace it with a passion.

Dan from Toronto is clueless!! we all know that the MLS isn't even at par with Australian league, let alone the best league's in the world. Toronto FC will be a flop because most Canadians will be watching MLS for the first time and they will realize that it is sub-par soccer. Toronto's success will depend on, like John said, "if they can produce a winning team" and it will not. It will be a flash in the pan. Just like Beckhams remaining career.

I fail to see how the reporter connects the title of his article to its content? "Toronto FC fans getting ahead of themselves" - cryptic? It seems to me that a lot of Toronto FC fans have done a great job of preparing themselves. Is John talking about a broadcaster who talked about some sort of success? We can only guess that John thought we'd figure out what he believed the broadcaster meant by success. A very loose article.

JUST LIKE TO SAY GOOD LUCK TO THE TORONTO FC,
IF MOJO MANAGES THE TEAM AS GOOD AS HE WAS A PLAYER THEN U SHOULD HAVE A PROMISING SEASON.
ALL THE TORONTO SPORTS FANS SHOULD GET BEHIND THIS VENTURE WHAT WITH MAURICE IN CHARGE AS 1ST TEAM COACH HIS TACTICS WILL BE ON ATTACKING SOCCER THE WAY HE PLAYED IT AT CLUB AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEE THE TEAM PLAY NEXT TIME AM IN TOWN,TO ALL EXILE SCOTS SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TEAM U KNOW ITS RIGHT

Soccer can be successful in north america if we get good marketing.There are so many europeans here that long for a sport that they grew up playing.Here in detroit ,our local tv sports anchors do not have a clue about the greatest game in the world.The mls will get better and there are so many kids playing the game now it is starting to eclipse baseball.A sport in which you do not have to be seven foot tall or be jacked up on steroids is what this country needs.Girls can play as well as boys,you have Sinclair who is a great soccer star and an example for young girls to emulate.Lets get behind the game and enjoy it.

Dan how can you possibly compare MLS to Series A or la liga? It's not even close. I'll agree that the few (1 or 2) elite clubs in MLS to compete with some of the sketchy clubs at the very bottom of the table but that's about it.

MLS quality will get better over time, if they can keep fan support. I'll be impressed if they can keep the season ticket base next year at par with where it is now. If you look at some of the teams in Europe who compete with limited financial resources I don't see why MLS can't find one or two clubs who will be able to have similar success maybe about 10 years down the road.

The author is right to qualify the success soccer is having to a certain degree, especially considering TFC hasn't even played a home game yet. But I don't agree with many of the points in the article.

Toronto sports fans are a fickle bunch – they’ll only support a winning team and will only attend games if it’s a first-rate quality product.

How are the leafs doing right now, and when was the cup here last? I know that the leafs haven't any trouble selling tickets, no matter their record. Give the FC the chance to be excited about their ticket sales and if they don't bring fans after a year then we can re-print this article with my apologies.

Thank you,

Ryan Stewart

I think this "reporter" has to be more positive rather than throw negative , false reports on this city's fans. The fans of toronto are and always will be some of the most passionate fans in any game. Now although thats is rarely shown in hockey because of the corporate, to lazy to stand up guy and cheer up for the team that doent show the real fan. Go TFC

MLS is far superior to serie a in italy, it fatser, more exciting and guess what no fans violence and bribe taking!!!!Serie a could only dream of being this good. As far as the Toronto fans only care about winning. it's true as far as beseball is concerned, the Jays attendance has dropped way off since the world series days, the leafs and raptors have a loyal following just like Toronto fc will.
Oh forgot the rock also a ggod fans base.

This article seems to have made many people upset. Hold on a moment and let's reflect on the situation. Toronto has never been overly supportive of soccer/football in Canada; that distinction belongs to Vancouver and Montreal. Toronto has always drawn less than either Vancouver or Montreal whether in the NASL, Canadian Soccer League, or USL. As the article notes, Toronto is putting the horse before the cart; the fact is that, outside of Vancouver and Montreal, there is no proven long-term support for soccer in Canada, much less Toronto. While Toronto FC will certainly find initial success at the gate, the true test will come several years down the road, when the initial euphoria of this "new beginning" and the hype over Beckham, which is largely why there is so much excitement and interest in Toronto, has died down. Before getting overly exciting, FC fans need a reality check and be reminded not only of all the historical failures of soccer in the City but also of all the MLS teams that have folded since the League's inception; teams that, like FC, began with high hopes for a long, successful life. There is nothing that makes this newest attempt by FC to establish soccer in Toronto any more special than those that have previously failed. Furthermore, if soccer doesn't make in-roads into the US sports landscape, the MLS itself may fold.
On another note, it is ridiculous to suggest that MLS is better than any league in Europe, particularly major leagues like the EPL or Serie A. MLS is a second-tier league. That is not to say that the players are not talented or the game is not entertaining, but both of these aspects are not at the same level as their top European counterparts. Many of the fans that have responded to this article bash Serie A. Well, FYI. Serie A has one of the highest average attendance of any soccer league in the world, it has the second most Champions League titles, and it has developed the style and talent that earned Italy 4 world cups.

It`s funny how you say the MLS is a league that is not as good as Europe...the funny thing is the MLS All-Star team beat chelsea last summer, a team that spent over 350 million dollars... & another thing Italy the World Cup Champions didn`t beat Italy in their group game...MLS is good damn football...

I think the guys were harshly under rated because of the first 4 games. They allowed themselves the first four games getting into the groove of playing as a team. Now they’ve found their rhythm and they’re going to make everyone saying they can’t win for one excuse or another eat every last word. I’ve seen some football games but I’ve never seen a team that was so united carry out plays with precision dedication and passion, it was by far the most amazing game I’ve ever seen. The literally fought up to the very last seconds; into TFC franchise history and into the hearts of Torontonians and Canada in general, earning the right and respect to call themselves TORONTO FC. Guys you have Toronto behind you and we see great thing for this season. On behalf of your loyal fans welcome to Toronto!

Sure, Toronto fans support the Leafs. Not sure why, as they are hopeless, but that's beside the point. Hockey is Canada's sport, and it is so by a long shot. Toronto is one of the oldest and most storied franchises. The Leafs are really the only heart and soul sports team for the city, and it should come as no surprise. The Jays and the Raptors suffer badly from poor attendance when the teams are doing poorly. The Jays have won back to back World Series, but in the season's since those glory days, attendance has slowly declined as the team has drifted farther and farther from their winning ways. The Raptors are the same. And both those teams are from established, well respected North American sports. They, along with football and hockey, are by far the biggest team sports on the continent, and yet they still can't draw unless the teams win. So yes, Toronto fans are fickle supporters.

We have waited a long time for real (live) football to arrive in Toronto (GTA). It may not be the best in the world, but it certainly beats watching game highlights from overseas on the weekend! Finally, we have a professional sport that I can take my sons to enjoy without breaking the bank. I have refused to spend hundreds of dollars on the Leaf’s dump-and-chase “house league” rubbish. I don’t want to expose my kids to 40 years of humiliation. Yet, Toronto’s pathetic lemming–like fans (mostly suits) continue to support this garbage. Toronto sports fans are far far far from fickle!! MLB and NBA, CFL and NLL have their supporters and these teams will likely continue to flourish to some extent. (No other city in Canada has so many professional franchises that continue to draw average or above average attendance within their respective leagues.) But lets be clear, Torontonians are craving football. You don’t sell 14,000 seasons tickets because people are just interested. Toronto FC merchandise is moving of the shelves at 3 times the level other MLS expansion teams. BMO field is excellent and there is a genuine atmosphere that you can feel during game play, unlike the manufactured environments in Toronto’s other sports venues. Toronto has grown more and more diverse over the past decade and immigrants to this great city have increased demand for the “beautiful game” within their communities and among native Torontonians. There really is something different going on with the arrival of Toronto FC. We have great deal to be positive about. My only regret is failing to purchase season’s tickets this year – I am on a waiting list for 2008 season!!

So far, Toronto has the loudest and proudest supporters in the MLS, an outpouring of support and we're hardly contending for top spot. Toronto fans aren't used to being the best in any respect in top flight competetion, Raptors, Leafs, Blue Jays. Though slightly shifting the spotlight away from Hockey may be a long way away, a pro soccer team in town is a godsend to our soccer program. This gets people interested in a Canadian soccer team, not just the dreams of one day playing for Man U, Barcelona or Inter Milan. Maybe the next generation of Canadian footballers can truly say that they grew up watching Toronto FC and it was there dream to play for them. While I think there will be a minimal amount of converts from the loyal Canadian fans of overseas football, this will give the new generation of young Canadians something to call there own. Because no matter how hard you followed Chelsea through to there FA Cup victory, there was no party down on Yonge Street. While many complain of the bad quality and lackluster gameplay in the MLS, I'd much rather go down to BMO field alongside 20,000+ screaming fans than sit in a pub with a couple friends and watch Roma vs Empoli anyday.

As a dire fan of 'football', I can see where the writer is coming from. I have and always will be a Milanista, AC Milan will always be my number one team. That beeing said I still opted in for season ticket at BMO, which I did not get, I will attend as many games as I can, and as will all my friends. It's not the team that fans go to support it's a culture, a lifestyle, and your city.
There are teams in third world countries that have bush league tallent, and draw huge crowds. People are passionate about their lives and for alot of Canadians, it has been bread into our culture since we were children. This is the closest thing I have to watching and experiencing a Serie A, or Premiereship match live every week and people will do anything to see that their passion survives and pass it on to their children who will hate NY'ers coming into BMO field, and generations to come.