TFC to start the season at the skydome....
http://www.wakingthered.com/2012/11/...eneral-managerOn less Payne related notes it was confirmed in the followup to the presser that the club will open the season at the Rogers Centre due to the early March start in 2013
There you have it!
I wonder what they are going to do about the season tickets for this one.
Ninja edit: i didnt see a thread about this, but if there is one, mods please merge or delete or whatever is necessary.
Seeing as Payne is a pro-SGs type of guy it wouldn't surprise me if the SSHs of the South End get midfield, ground level seating like the DC supporters get for us and also for the TV and atmosphere. This is the one time they could do it and get away with it.
I wonder if they're planning to limit capacity like they do in Vancouver or try to sell 50,000 tickets. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if we are playing against Montreal in Rogers Centre. Also, price of these tickets should be interesting to see. lol
If for nothing else, this is good news because we likely won't have to watch the team play their first 3-4 games on the road. It would be awesome if we had a home game on 'First Kick'/opening night.
Not a big fan. Skydome isn't good for football.
Originally Posted by Yagbod
I'm pretty sure first kick/opening night has already been decided to be in Montreal vs TFC....
i would love this, whenever i see their games on TV it looks like the entire place is rocking.
I have a 175 foot banner in my house that wants to return
here is a thought, TFC is sending 15000 seat to tfc fans for olympic stadium, this could be the reverse of that, every impact SSH gets a free ticket to toronto
So what does this mean exactly for us going back to Olympic Stadium in Montreal?
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
I know the Dome game is probably due to the early date but I'm concerned how a 19K turnout would look in there.
I do not believe this will effect our trip back to La Belle Province. Looks like we will have ourselves a good ol' fashion dome and dome series though.
To fill the Skydome, the tickets would have to be like 5 bucks
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
I wonder if this would help with the horrible acoustics of the Skydome. As loud as everyone was last March, it spread thin around the stadium.
Also, issues of selling enough tickets would be a concern.
I like it. Should be a good day out, open the floodgates!
Skydome sucks for soccer in my opinion. I never wanted to go back there for a game and watch them play on plastic again. I was hoping it was just a slip up when Tom was speaking. When he said hopefully another 50,000 in Rogers Centre again I thought he was thinking we were playing a CCL game again and made a mistake which wouldn't have surprised me. Please let this not be true.
can't be anything else. if they are giving us 15k seats in Montreal we have to be doing the same here.
right on Pat, that bitch is huge. awesome work by all. can't wait to see it again!
I'll be pumped if this is true.
Those early games at BMO are killer. I had a fun time at the LA game, although there will be no way to get a number anywhere close to what Becks brought in..
I think it would work quite honestly. If the lockout continues the only sports in town will be those amazing Raptors. They close off the 500 level gives you 30k to fill. So you take 15k SSH, 5-10k walk up crowd and 5k L'Impact fans giving you 30k. Maybe I'm being too optomistic.
We had this discussion ad nauseam last year. They can't play in March at BMO because the services aren't winterized (ie the toilet pipes will freeze if you turn them on). There was significant damage to the pipes at BMO in late March 2011 at the home opener (I think $100K or more).
So there'll either be no home games in March, or no games at BMO in March, until somebody decides to winterize BMO, which iirc is big money.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
The equation should also contain a subtraction for no Beckham, a subtraction for no champions league, a subtraction for the last shit season and the poor name our club now has.
I am torn at this move. Is this arrogance by our FO?
Pure speculation, but I don't think this is arrogance by TFC FO. I suspect there is also a nudge from MLS FO who think, hey, you guys have indoor facility to use to hide from winter. Use it. (Same with Mtl) So that the season can start early (esp with Gold Cup and international dates)
Plus wishful thinking of somehow recreate that magical night vs LA...
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
^^^^^^Very true and thanks for that. Seems a little nicer than my negative thoughts (who I blame on others!)
The night can and will be recreated, but I just see it taking a little longer. Outside of this circle no one knows who Payne is (Hassli too). The recent changes are not enough to bring in anyone new IMO.
If this means that TFC get to play a home game within the first 2 games of the season, I'm all for it. It's been far too long that TFC have had to play their first home game after 2, 3, or even 4 away games, giving TFC an almost guaranteed losing start to the season. The sooner TFC are at home, the better for the whole season.
Home field...decisive, as TO has recently enjoyed. For the sake of rivalry building (with MTL) and with your point I know see this as a good move, but am worried it will bomb and more will laugh at us. My family of "all sports, but soccer" have made this year worse for me than the FO had already.
Do people forget we can't play at BMO early in the year because, as already pointed out...its not winterized.
This has nothing to do about arrogance or trying to recreate the champs league match.
I think the price will be cheap. They saw what cheap tickets did for the LAG game at the dome. I think this will be an attempt to replicate that - create a big "event" to try and kick start some interest.
It's only a bomb if its typed up to be the "LA repeat" game, which I doubt the FO will market this game as. If it gets 20k people in ("the usual BMO crowd") then its not a bomb, its just an early season game played at another (home) venue.
It baffles me that everything is couched into the tinfoil hat theory. BMO can't be used in sub zero weather. At all. Not until its winterized and as ensco pointed out, that costs money. Its a difficult expenditure because TFC are a tennent, not the owner of said facility.
Now given the MLS is moving its schedule outward to accomodate more FIFA dates and lifting some congestion out of the schedule for CCL games and qualifiers that means earlier and later games. The MLS wants there to be home games early because grouping games with all the unique challenges each team faces with their stadium (LA has 2 teams sharing, Seattle and NE have NFL teams playing there, we have racing, the X and other things that interfere with access - god knows what other teams deal with there). Bunching home games means extended road trips and that can have a big impact on things.
It leaves us with few options, I know they only want to play at BMO, the skydome games are not cheap and present challenges - turf, seating, having to use that facilities staff (who did a pretty good job last time). With all that being said, its probably something we will have to get used to for early March games if we want the home games.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
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