City of Toronto excitement level
Any Ideas on how MLSE should drum up excitement for this team?
I know the opener is pretty much sold out, but I don't feel any excitement from the media or the general Toronto population.
I mean the Jays are killing it in ticket sales and TV, and they have 150 games to go. The media is all over the Jays recently.
I think they might release a promotional video in the next few days, something similar to this one from last year.
The Jays also have the longevity (40 years) and sustained success in the past. (1985 through 1994 have carried through for the most part to now)
Where as TFC is still new, and they have had a history of not succeeding. To the general public of Toronto (and not us soccer supporters) that doesn't necessitate their entertainment dollar to be spent of TFC consistently. The home opener with the 're-opening' of BMO Field is a novelty and why the game is sold out (for the most part).
If TFC and the Jays carry the success through the summer (meaning both are within touching distance of first place), then you will see more of a split in the local sports media (not TSN or SN, as they have other things to push, i.e. CFL, World Cup of Hockey and Euro 2016).
Toronto FC,#CMNT & #CWNT, Scotland, Heart of Midlothian FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC
"The Harder the Struggle, The Greater the Reward" - @OsoJ92AWAY DAYS - CHICAGO August 2017, MONTREAL March 2018
Just keep on winning.
This. We win, they'll come along. We're growing pretty well and pretty consistently the last couple years for such a new franchise. If we make a deep playoff run people will sit up and take notice and the media will push the product! I'm only watching Raptors and Jays games because they're in the playoffs, otherwise I wouldn't give a damn. Haven't watched the Leafs in ages but I'd watch if they made a good push. We're the die-hard TFC supporters, we just came out of the worst years and stuck with them through hard times (people used to make fun of me for liking TFC since they sucked so bad, but now they respect them), the only way is up! I want us to be the next local team to win a Championship, that'll open the floodgates of support. Also, the next TV deal should bump up the salary cap, that's when you'll see the level of quality explode along with the coming players in our Academy pipeline.Originally Posted by RealG-TFC
Last edited by mistercorporate; 04-25-2016 at 03:11 PM.
I was talking to some parents of my son's soccer team on the weekend and the conversation turned to BMO Field and the Argos. They were all excited and some were buying season tickets now that it was at BMO so I have heard of some excitement in the City of Toronto for an upcoming season home opener...it just wasn't for the TFC season. None of my close friends and family are avid TFC supporters at all so it is only me that is excited along with you fine folk.
To be fair, you're from Ajax. Oshawa is the CFL heartland, they get more people searching for Argos info than in all of Toronto according to Google Trends. Parents and grandparents from Oshawa-Ajax are the CFL diehards lol, Toronto couldn't give 2 f*%ks.
same thing at work and out at kids sports, Parents i talked about BMO Field are excited about the Argos first game. Alll soccer focus is if LCFC can hold on and champions league games. ML$E has work to do.
Last edited by Onyx; 04-25-2016 at 03:27 PM.
Best answer! If you look at Jays a few years ago they were drawing 13k to many games. Winning changed everything for them.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Point taken I am not from Toronto but I always consider topics on Toronto in my mind as GTA topics I guess but you are right there is probably a difference once you are out of Toronto proper. I don't know anything about the Argos demographics because I don't pay attention to the CFL much. I always assumed it was equally supported across the GTA but I had nothing to base that assumption on. Going back to the topic of TFC excitement, what shocks me a bit is that none of the parents for my son's soccer team follow MLS or know anything about TFC. How the hell do they devote so much time and money into a sport for their kid if they have no interest themselves? I find it really odd that way.
I'd like to see TFC go full bore after millennials in the city - its a downtown club playing night games. Italian superstar. Liberty Village. TTC and bike accessibility. Diverse team. Diverse crowd. Beer, other stuff.
I think that's more the focus with the night games but we'll see.
And as the profile of MLS raises so will interest in the team.
TFC has there supporters, we can sell 15k-25k, even 50k for a game at the sky dome. Our attendance at games is good, but our TV ratings are low compared to other sports. MLS is still a a niche market. It has grown hugely over the years to where MLS once was, it has some teams that have fantastic support and good attendances, but still we are more of a niche market. Even tho Soccer is widely played, it is much smaller scale of those who support a soccer club team, and even smaller a MLS club (Many people in the GTA and I assume across North America like Soccer, but only actually watch Euros/World Cups, or leagues like Premiership or Champions League.
I have worked at a few different places over the years since 2007, I have worked with a bunch of guys who only knew stuff about Baseball, Hockey, and Football (Or Raptors if they were doing well), soccer tho was never mentioned and looked at as a girls sport. They had no clue about any leagues or even knew about Toronto FC. I have worked with guys who like Soccer but only really know anything about big Euro Clubs, they didn't really take the time of day to give Toronto FC a chance. And I have worked with a few guys who take Toronto FC very serious and attend many games. As a whole tho, its shocking how little many people know about Toronto FC or MLS even tho I see tens of thousands on game day and the fact that it may not be as represented in the News Paper as Leafs and Jays, but still they are in there and even on front page from time to time, how do they not notice???. Over the years I have learned tho that who cares, sure I would like to see the league grow, but it's not the biggest deal if its not as popular as Baseball or Hockey in this city. In some ways I like it better that we are a more niche market, we all know we have the best atmosphere in this city, I have a blast at home games and fantastic away journeys (no other fans in this city have away sections exc. like TFC do). Its kind of cool when you know we are having a party and we don't need the whole city to know it!
Last edited by james; 04-26-2016 at 04:40 AM.
Soccer has been the most played sport in the GTA for decades.....yet it is often hardly ever taken serious as a professional sport. To often it was a rather affordable sport for kids with an activity that gives them good excercise. It was often a sport you play as a kid, but when you get a bit older you play competitive in sports like Hockey or Baseball. Soccer is mostly not a sport parents push there kids as hard to be the most competitive the can be, compared to Hockey, Football,Baskebtall and Baseball.
It is weird, but Soccer as a pro sport is really low across North America despite its huge popularity playing as kids. It is very common that parents don't know a thing about soccer clubs and all the leagues around the world. And it probably use to be even worse a few decades ago, I would say more people know about Soccer Professionally then they ever did, but it still has a long way to go.
Last edited by james; 04-26-2016 at 12:12 AM.
Makes sense, but too much sense to a point that MLSE wouldn't do it. lol
Last year was our first hint of success, give it some time.
What really needs to be done is to get people age 19-22 involved, get them 5 years before they have consistent disposable income.
Something I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins do when I lived in America was called "Student Rush" where they held back a few hundred seats and sold them to students day of for like $15.
Anyway in the future when the hype train is going full force people will look back at times like these as the good ole days.
So my son's team had a classroom session last night to go over tactics. It was run by the head of our local club. He was mentioning to the players about some of the great players with great footwork and one of the coaches threw out "and what about Giovinco?" and the head of our club said "no...he plays against Mickey Mouse players in a Mickey Mouse league". There is part of the problem. A leader of a possible feeder club puts down MLS in front of their top players. Guess I am expecting too much of common folk in the GTA if people who work every day with soccer and our youth have that attitude.
I think overall excitement for the Reds throughout Toronto and beyond is something still in development. While I do believe there has been improvement, the interest in watching games beyond types like us and a handful of casual viewers when not in the stadium just is not there yet when considering TV ratings.
Even when you look back at say the first three seasons, 2007-09 with all the buzz that was going around TFC that was making their games and BMO Field something you had to attend it still was very much an in-stadium experience. Was there a lot of discussion on the roster makeup, who was starting where and what, no, not at all. I really did not think a majority of those attending the games though too much about it outside of the two plus hours they were down at the stadium.
Now with what Seba is doing there is potentially for something to really happen, especially if they get into the playoffs and get on a run. The city is a big event town and it BMO can get that vibe of being a place that is something you must experience, it could get special. The Jays playoff run, the Raptors the last few seasons despite their recent flaws proves this. It going to take time and I think we can all agree we will always be here to some extent anyways, it’s getting the rest of the city to the party that will be the challenge.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
I'm going to play devil's advocate to some of the defending going on here. We all have heard the validity of the teams history being so young or short but ever since Defoe we saw an example of how well they COULD market if they care to.
While $$$ spent on a name like Defoe helps that marketing campaign having a golden boot winner could come close. Same exposure could garner similar or better results.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Yeah the marketing definitely did die down after the Bloody Big Deal became the Bloody Big Mess. Tim L even said after that they would be keeping it more low key in terms of media hype and letting the play on the field do the talking. I guess they are sticking by that still but I think enough time has passed and we know Giovinco is no Defoe now in terms of his stay at TFC. I think Giovinco is the perfect poster boy for MLSE to market the team. Great player, great attitude, role model for the kids and has some good looks that would lend itself well to marketing. People love the multicultural stuff in Toronto too so they could play up the Italian part too. My son likes some of the great players but when asked who he wants to be like he says Giovinco. When he pulls off a nice move or goal in his games he says "Dad, did you see me pull a Giovinco on that guy". I love it.
I agree with most on here though. The core fans are here already and will always be here and the rest will come and go depending on the winning or losing I think. As we bring up our kids around it the roots will deepen but that will take some time.
To OG's point, I think that is what they will do. The "pop up shop" on Queen West is a sign of that. Millennials love that sort of stuff. That market is the one that has the most potential for longevity. They have disposable income, are typically urbanites and they grew up with soccer.
FYR is also correct. They drummed up a ton of attention with Defoe. Everyone in the city, hell most of Canada knew about him. If they could market Gio the same way, combined with going after the millennials BMO could be rocking again.
MLSE is toallty capable of going all out marketing Seba and splashing him everywehere in everyone face but as stated the Defoe situation have had them back off such actions in recent times. But I do believe Seba is at the point where they could be comfortbale reconsidering this position and they could go a long way in exposure.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Moderator
That's what I'm thinking as well. TFC's marketing is slowly starting to settle into it's own niche, one that is trying to appeal to as many demographics as it can, but focusing somewhat on the young urbanites like you mentioned. The Pop-Up store definitely smacks of catering to them but there's also a few subtle nods elsewhere online, with certain items of merch, etc.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
The desire of soccer leaders to piss on somebody else never ceases it seems. Nor the inability to understand that a doable and attainable goal for most players is a local league (PDL or USL), where they will be playing against Mickey Mouse types this guy disdains.
And yet if a kid out of their program ever made it to USL, they'd be taking the glory.
Soccer in this country is so fucked.
*********
Thankfully guys like this are not the market focus.
The marketing has to avoid the gatekeepers that guys like this represent. Pitch the quality, the atmosphere and the event. People will show up, slowly.
Last edited by OgtheDim; 04-26-2016 at 09:44 AM.
As a person that fits the millennial category, things like the pop-shop are an absolute must. A lot of my peers follow sports teams because they are hip and trendy, a la raptors and Jays right now. Things like the "We the North" and Drake endorsement make it cool to follow the raps and people respond.
I personally don't know how I feel about plastic campaigns like that, as I would consider myself more of a football purist, but that is essentially how a lot of teams are attracting fans and creating "buzz".
The Jays and Raptors players have done a series of articles, I can't remember on which website, about how much they really, really, really love this city. Having one of the guys on our team do one of those wouldn't hurt I don't think.
The pop-up shop is a really good idea too. I'll stop by for sure.
Moderator
By winning. Fans the the media returned to the Jays because of last season - making bold moves, and having them pay off.
The Raptors are also absorbing a lot of attention right now, due to being in the NBA playoffs.
TFC have the additional uphill struggle of being a soccer team, and not one of the "major" leagues (as perceived by the general public).
Win, look good while doing it, and the rest catches up eventually.
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
Yeah, not being the top league in its respective sport also gives MLS and TFC that extra uphill battle for sure. Big following where I'm from for Premier league and stuff, but it doesn't translate over to TFC.
TFC will always face an uphill battle in terms of exposure because of the indifference exhibited by the media, and the apathy of Euro snob type football supporters in this city.
That being said, I agree that creating a culture of winning will go a long way towards increasing awareness within the local sports landscape, improving dismal television ratings, and cultivating a larger fan base moving forward.
This is a generational challenge. The anti-soccer crowd in this city still exists and they completely ignore TFC as if it were arena football.
Most of the Sportsnet/TSN commentators don't care about us because they are born and breed hockey/football/baseball fans. Lots of them also ignore the Raptors to a lesser extent.
The years will pass and soccer will continue to grow in Toronto. If we win a cup or two along the way, it will speed up the process.
I truly believe if TFC made a playoff run and made it to MLS Cup, the city would get into it.
MLS Cup: LA Galaxy vs. Toronto FC at BMO Field this December would make people pay attention, whether they want to or not.
When Leiweke said soccer could become the number 2 sport in the country, he wasn't joking, it could be.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote