PDA

View Full Version : 2020 Schedule released!



WestStandGeoff
12-19-2019, 12:56 PM
From the team website: 2020 TFC schedule (https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2019/12/19/toronto-fc-announce-2020-mls-regular-season-schedule)

Sadly, no Nashville road trip this year...

https://toronto-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/insertedfiles/Schedule2020_TFC_TW_V2.jpg?dyENgX9o1Fugxk4JTH.TXbh lzIub77ai

RealG-TFC
12-19-2019, 12:57 PM
Miami at the end of April though

Also, assuming Montreal and TFC advance from the QF in the Canada Cup, we could be looking at playing the Impact three times in August.

pdogg
12-19-2019, 01:26 PM
Quick lookover - no more Friday games, no more sunday games. Good.
Missing Canada Day weekend game and May Long Weekend Game. Nostalgic, but I'll live with it.
Almost half the home games before we hit 20 degrees C in June.. ugh

9 games in July & August, but 5 of them on the road? It would have been nice to have

Houston, Atlanta, Portland and NYRedBulls in the season end stretch. If we're in the playoff hunt, these games will be tough.

Edit: May long weekend is earlier this year, and there is a game (May 16)

pfk
12-19-2019, 01:35 PM
No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.

tfcfans
12-19-2019, 01:52 PM
Could have three games against Montreal in like 10 days if they both win their first matchups in the Canadian Championship. Could have games on (approx.) August 12, 19 and 22 against each other - sounds like a recipie for some animosity on the pitch....

pfk
12-19-2019, 01:53 PM
15 Saturday games and 2 Wednesday games at home.

Oldtimer
12-19-2019, 01:54 PM
No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.

They never have games during the air show AFAIK, so September 7 is out.

You'll be pleased to know they reserved the August 22 and August 28 dates at BMO for the Argos (obvious attempt to boost their dismal attendance). :facepalm:

leafsman
12-19-2019, 01:55 PM
Happy to see cold weather months games in the afternoon.

nfitz
12-19-2019, 02:02 PM
Quick lookover - no more Friday games, no more sunday games. Good.And no night games in winter or early spring. With summer games in the evening. Might be the best schedule ever in many ways!


Almost half the home games before we hit 20 degrees C in June.. ughWith the schedule now from the last week in February to first week in October, the middle of the season is the middle of June. Our middle home game (eighth game) is mid-June. It's to be expected really, unless the schedule becomes unbalanced.


9 games in July & August, but 5 of them on the road?Keep in mind that (unless we blow it), we should have four Voyageurs Cups games in July and August as well. Three of which will be in Toronto (though one would be away in Toronto - which will be great!)[/QUOTE]I'd assume there'll be one or two July/August Leagues Cup matches in Toronto too.


No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.I'd guess that the second Leagues Cup match would be 25-27 of August - so there might be one. Though I assume that the first Leagues Cup match (and the July/August Voyageur Cup matches) will be the ones in our season ticket package - so that one will be sold separately.

pfk
12-19-2019, 02:02 PM
They never have games during the air show AFAIK, so September 7 is out.

You'll be pleased to know they reserved the August 22 and August 28 dates at BMO for the Argos (obvious attempt to boost their dismal attendance). :facepalm:

Just for clarification, the CNE is open from August 21 to September 7. These aren't TFC games.

TFC plays at home August 15 (Philly) and then Sept 12 (Atlanta)

The Argos can beg people to go to their games with the promise of deep friend oreo hot dogs. :)

nfitz
12-19-2019, 02:10 PM
They never have games during the air show AFAIK, so September 7 is out. September 7 is part of the FIFA international break. But don't forget Canada is probably playing World Cup qualifiers twice in the 31 August to 8 September 2020 windows (as well as the October and November breaks).

So might end up with two soccer games at BMO during the CNE, as well as 2 Argos game, and still not have any during the air show.

Though I thought there was at least one match on an airshow day sometime in the last 12 years ...

rowjimi
12-19-2019, 02:12 PM
For out of towners this is a great schedule. The last two years have been tough with the Friday night games. Was glad to see this. :)

pprzerac
12-19-2019, 02:35 PM
For out of towners this is a great schedule. The last two years have been tough with the Friday night games. Was glad to see this. :)

This right here, it's a 4 hour drive one way for me. Weekday and Sunday games were rough getting home at 2am and going to work the following morning.

Joe Kool
12-19-2019, 03:29 PM
No LAFC (Bradley Bowl) unless we see them in the playoffs I guess.

Parkdale
12-19-2019, 04:06 PM
I'm liking what I see. It's nice to have a midweek game once in a while... just to shake it up, but too many are a drag.

I'm really starting to miss joes...

stevep
12-19-2019, 04:16 PM
No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.

:cryin::cryin:

Jack
12-19-2019, 05:05 PM
I'm liking what I see. It's nice to have a midweek game once in a while... just to shake it up, but too many are a drag.

I'm really starting to miss joes...

:( I hear you, man

glaze
12-19-2019, 05:23 PM
:cryin::cryin:

Manning asked for 2 Argos games. So only option for us would've been labour day weekend. With air show CNE is a headache that Saturday. Just in terms of traffic, parking, crowds. Etc.

Rocket Robin
12-19-2019, 07:37 PM
No LAFC (Bradley Bowl) unless we see them in the playoffs I guess.

Also no game against FC Dallas nor Minnesota.

The years after that there will be even less games against Western Conference teams.

Heepster
12-19-2019, 07:40 PM
They never have games during the air show AFAIK, so September 7 is out.
September 7 is part of the FIFA international break. But don't forget Canada is probably playing World Cup qualifiers twice in the 31 August to 8 September 2020 windows (as well as the October and November breaks).
So might end up with two soccer games at BMO during the CNE, as well as 2 Argos game, and still not have any during the air show...The air show ends at 3pm. It would have to be an unusually early start time for a game on the Labour Day weekend if it was going to be happening while loud jets were zooming over at low altitude.
https://theex.com/main/entertainment/canadian-international-air-show/air-show

nfitz
12-19-2019, 10:27 PM
The air show ends at 3pm. It would have to be an unusually early start time for a game on the Labour Day weekend if it was going to be happening while loud jets were zooming over at low altitude. I wouldn't think it was a sound issue - especially as you are correct, the air show is quite early. I assumed that it was because those days have the highest CNE attendance, and adding in another 30,000 people at BMO Field is problematic.

OgtheDim
12-19-2019, 11:19 PM
No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.


Yeah, that is my thing and I am going to miss it.

ensco
12-19-2019, 11:39 PM
I think starting with the Quakes on the road is a strange vibe. Opening day should be a conference rival. Or Seattle.

Red CB Toronto
12-20-2019, 12:13 AM
I'm liking what I see. It's nice to have a midweek game once in a while... just to shake it up, but too many are a drag.

I'm really starting to miss joes...

After letting in sink it over the last few days, something really is going to be missing this upcoming season, a huge void of sorts, it will never be the same.

red-o
12-20-2019, 12:51 AM
I think starting with the Quakes on the road is a strange vibe. Opening day should be a conference rival. Or Seattle.
And Seattle starts with Chicago 🥱 trying to shake things up? Nashville/Atlanta Miami/LAFC are most interesting opening games....

Bushmancan
12-20-2019, 02:09 AM
After letting in sink it over the last few days, something really is going to be missing this upcoming season, a huge void of sorts, it will never be the same.

agree, although not a RPB for long been going to Joe’s longer than I can remember. If we can’t find something with Joe and Kim, we need to find a new home ASAP. Maybe that is one of the first priorities of the new executive.

there has to be a good sports pub that wants an extremely loyal base and a place for the RPB to create new memories

just my thoughts.

Miss Jones
12-20-2019, 04:54 AM
It still hasn't sunk in yet. As excited as I am to see the new schedule, some big part is missing. We spent as much time at Joes before the game as we did at the game meeting up with everyone.

Cas87
12-20-2019, 09:19 AM
I'd guess that the second Leagues Cup match would be 25-27 of August - so there might be one. Though I assume that the first Leagues Cup match (and the July/August Voyageur Cup matches) will be the ones in our season ticket package - so that one will be sold separately.

According to everything that has been set the only 'additional' matches in our seasons for 2020 are Canadian championship ones (and looking at the schedule now it obviously means the QF, SF and Final)
I feel like the Leagues Cup will be completely separate (even if we don't get all three CanChamp matches).

Mike_S
12-20-2019, 10:36 AM
I think starting with the Quakes on the road is a strange vibe. Opening day should be a conference rival. Or Seattle.

That's what I thought too. It kind of says that the League doesn't care about putting Toronto, MLS Cup finalist, into a marquee matchup on opening weekend.

And as Joe Kool above mentioned, no LA FC, which I think sucks since they're one of the teams that tries to bring in big names to their squad.

Also, with Friday night games, wasn't that TSN's idea? I guess this means that the experiment didn't work for tv purposes. I personally liked the Friday night games as it was a nice way to start the weekend.

ensco
12-20-2019, 11:00 AM
Actually, it should always be the previous years Cup on opening weekend. It's a short offseason anyway, you pick up the narrative where you left off.

burlington Red
12-20-2019, 11:07 AM
No Friday or Sunday games, I'll take that thank you very much

nfitz
12-20-2019, 12:50 PM
According to everything that has been set the only 'additional' matches in our seasons for 2020 are Canadian championship ones (and looking at the schedule now it obviously means the QF, SF and Final)
I feel like the Leagues Cup will be completely separate (even if we don't get all three CanChamp matches).On one hand, I can't think for a minute that they'd not make one of the 20, the hard-to-sell early summer first Leagues Cup match.

On the other, looking closely at the website ... it does clearly say in the 2020 T&C that "Member will receive 1 CCL match, if Toronto FC qualifies for the CCL, and 2 CC matches. In theevent Toronto FC does not qualify for the CCL,the Member will receive 3 CC matches" - which doesn't seem sensible from a marketing point-of-view, given we probably have to get through Montreal.

So I can see where you are coming from here. Though I'm not 100% convinced they won't try doing this anyway - but I can see why there might be objections.

Oldtimer
12-20-2019, 12:56 PM
On one hand, I can't think for a minute that they'd not make one of the 20, the hard-to-sell early summer first Leagues Cup match.

On the other, looking closely at the website ... it does clearly say in the 2020 T&C that "Member will receive 1 CCL match, if Toronto FC qualifies for the CCL, and 2 CC matches. In theevent Toronto FC does not qualify for the CCL,the Member will receive 3 CC matches" - which doesn't seem sensible from a marketing point-of-view, given we probably have to get through Montreal.

So I can see where you are coming from here. Though I'm not 100% convinced they won't try doing this anyway - but I can see why there might be objections.

You can only piss off the fan base so much, and I think that the frequent Friday and Sunday matches were that, as well as the CCL in the snow. SSH renewals were not where they wanted them to be and they know that they have to be careful.

ensco
12-20-2019, 01:03 PM
The Saturday only thing in summer is interesting. They got a lot of negative feedback on that back in the Beirne/Anselmi days. People with cottages and all that. But maybe the SSH base has changed.

RedsYNWA
12-21-2019, 09:55 PM
No Friday or Sunday games, I'll take that thank you very much

YES Thank the Gods

OgtheDim
12-22-2019, 07:46 AM
The evening games in the summer are going to mean a lot of long shadows on the pitch and people in the east side shading their eyes.

Noticed Decision day is away at NYRB - we better be locked into a top 3 spot before then.

Hamilton_Red
12-22-2019, 01:22 PM
I love the simplicity of this schedule Saturday games every week. That's going to be great for establishing a routine. Those last 4 games though will be very tough...we need to start the season strong and get our momentum early.

JayMolly
12-22-2019, 03:04 PM
No home games for the CNE (Aug 21 to Sep 7, 2020), if that's your thing.

It was our thing. A family tradition. CNE and TFC on the same day.
Not happy about this. Now two trips to the city and double the expenses . . . .

ensco
12-22-2019, 03:40 PM
The evening games in the summer are going to mean a lot of long shadows on the pitch and people in the east side shading their eyes.

Noticed Decision day is away at NYRB - we better be locked into a top 3 spot before then.

Very tough last six games, really. Only one obviously winnable game (Orlando at home).

greekasm
12-23-2019, 12:11 PM
Updating a few tables for 2020. Same number of June-July-August games (7) as last season.


MLS Regular Season

Summer



Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Total

Jun-Jul-Aug
% of total


2007
0
1
3
3
1
3
2
2
15

7
47%


2008
0
2
4
2
1
2
3
1
15

5
33%


2009
0
4
3
3
1
1
1
2
15

5
33%


2010
0
2
2
2
3
3
2
1
15

8
53%


2011
1
4
3
3
1
2
1
2
17

6
35%


2012
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
17

7
41%


2013
2
3
1
2
3
2
3
1
17

7
41%


2014
1
1
3
1
4
2
3
2
17

7
41%


2015
0
0
3
3
1
4
3
3
17

8
47%


2016
0
0
4
1
4
3
3
2
17

8
47%


2017
1
3
3
2
2
2
3
1
17

6
35%


2018
2
2
4
0
2
2
3
2
17

4
24%


2019
2
3
3
2
3
2
1
1
17

7
41%


2020
2
3
3
3
2
2
2
0
17

7
41%



Definitely more weekend (Saturday/Sunday) games (15) than last season (11):


MLS Regular Season

Weekend



Wed
Thurs
Fri
Sat
Sun
Total

Sat-Sun
% of total


2007
2
1

9
3
15

12
80%


2008
1
1

12
1
15

13
87%


2009
2


12
1
15

13
87%


2010

2

12
1
15

13
87%


2011
3


14

17

14
82%


2012
4


13

17

13
76%


2013
2

1
14

17

14
82%


2014
2


14
1
17

15
88%


2015
3


12
2
17

14
82%


2016
3


11
3
17

14
82%


2017
3

5
7
2
17

9
53%


2018
2

4
8
3
17

11
65%


2019
3

3
7
4
17

11
65%


2020
2


15

17

15
88%



In terms of time of day, there is a small shift to games earlier in the day (7 versus 5 last year were before 7pm):



Early Afternoon

Afternoon

Evening



12-2:30
% of total

3-6:30
% of total

7-8
% of total


2007
2
13%

8
53%

5
33%


2008
1
7%

10
67%

4
27%


2009
1
7%

11
73%

3
20%


2010
4
27%

7
47%

4
27%


2011
5
29%

1
6%

11
65%


2012
5
29%

7
41%

5
29%


2013
6
35%

7
41%

4
24%


2014
4
24%

7
41%

6
35%


2015
3
18%

10
59%

4
24%


2016
0
0%

4
24%

13
76%


2017
1
6%

4
24%

12
71%


2018
1
6%

5
29%

11
65%


2019
0
0%

5
29%

12
71%


2020
1
6%

6
35%

10
59%



It's pretty much a consensus that this is an improvement from 2019!

OgtheDim
12-23-2019, 09:12 PM
The thread of tweets following this one is a really good analysis of the MLS schedule for each team (I don't feel comfortable quoting a whole thread of tweets at length & the thread unroll app seems to have shut down)

https://twitter.com/OffsideModeling/status/1209181553126989824

magmadragon
12-23-2019, 10:04 PM
I won't repeat what others have said but here are some other noteworthy things.

May 30 - Champions League Final followed by us hosting Miami.

During Euro - All our games are in the evening so no conflict there.

Assuming we make the Voyageurs Final, we have a road trip to Portland smack in the middle of it. I'll assume Greg will throw this game again (Please don't as odds are we'll need the points during the final stretch).

OgtheDim
12-25-2019, 05:52 PM
Ok, found a thread reader app that takes a twitter thread and makes it into one long form read

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1209181553126989824.html

Read this thread to compare what each team has to go through this season schedule wise.

We have the most Saturday home games of any team in the league.

Hamilton_Red
12-26-2019, 10:58 AM
Ok, found a thread reader app that takes a twitter thread and makes it into one long form read

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1209181553126989824.html

Read this thread to compare what each team has to go through this season schedule wise.

We have the most Saturday home games of any team in the league.


Jeez - that's good stuff.

Whoever managed TFC's scheduling this season needs a big thank you! No games during International games...Saturday games like clockwork. As close to maximum recovery time between games as could be. Just great sensible scheduling. If scheduling has any influence on the outcome of a season - I would not bet against TFC being in the run for the Supporters Shield again this season. (It's what they do when they lose an MLS Cup Final) Looking forward to the season already - just need to get that big DP signed up good and early.

Red4ever
12-29-2019, 05:13 PM
From the team website: 2020 TFC schedule (https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2019/12/19/toronto-fc-announce-2020-mls-regular-season-schedule)

Sadly, no Nashville road trip this year...



I'm glad someone else is bummed out about this.

Nashville is now the premier destination. It's a riot.

Redpunkfiddle
12-30-2019, 09:05 PM
2023 though until we get a Nashville soccer stadium specific experience.

613reppingTFC
01-23-2020, 09:40 AM
Not sure if there will be a separate post for the pre-season games or not but thought I would throw them up here. Does anyone know if they will be streaming anywhere or if we will be able to watch them somehow?

Saturday, February 8 – Colorado Rapids – UC Irvine (TBD)
Wednesday, February 12 – LAFC – Banc of California Stadium (12:00 p.m.)
Saturday, February 15 – LA Galaxy – Dignity Health Sports Park (3:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, February 19 – Chicago Fire FC – UC Irvine (TBD)
Saturday, February 22 – Colorado Rapids – Dignity Health Sports Park (12:00 p.m.)

Oldtimer
01-23-2020, 09:47 AM
Not sure if there will be a separate post for the pre-season games or not but thought I would throw them up here. Does anyone know if they will be streaming anywhere or if we will be able to watch them somehow?

Saturday, February 8 – Colorado Rapids – UC Irvine (TBD)
Wednesday, February 12 – LAFC – Banc of California Stadium (12:00 p.m.)
Saturday, February 15 – LA Galaxy – Dignity Health Sports Park (3:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, February 19 – Chicago Fire FC – UC Irvine (TBD)
Saturday, February 22 – Colorado Rapids – Dignity Health Sports Park (12:00 p.m.)

They are typically not streamed, hence no threads.

OgtheDim
01-23-2020, 10:24 AM
The LAFC & LAG games may be streamed - they are both open to the public.