Impact Soccer

I read a bit of bad news today from Gerry Dobson's soccer blog. It looks like Major League Soccer may be putting Montreal and Vancouver towards the bottom of the list for future expansion candidates. Take a look for yourself:

November 16, 2007

Major league expansion

I remember attending the MLS Cup final at the Home Depot Centre in Southern California a few years back. In those days the commissioner's annual news conference was more like a conversation.

It consisted of a dozen or so journalists sitting around casually in a small room chatting with the man himself. My how things have changed.

This year's affair was held in a much larger room on the top floor of the National Press Building in the heart of Washington. Dozens of people in attendance. Wander around and you never know who you might see. Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is here. And oh, isn't that former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein?

Don Garber spoke for 45 minutes this year and covered it all. Let's start with expansion. With Seattle joining in '09, the league wants another eastern team to continue to keep the east-west balance in play. It looks like either Philadelphia or St. Louis. We had been hoping for Montreal of course, but it has become apparent that the new 13,000-seat stadium (expandable to 17,000) might be too small. Heck, at 20,000 the commish hinted that BMO Field might be too small, at least for Toronto.

It appears as though the ball is in Impact owner Joey Saputo's court. Find a way to expand, and you might get one. But something probably has to go wrong in both St. Louis and Philadelphia for that to happen. Vancouver meanwhile is slowly moving from the front burner to the back burner. If they don't get that stadium built soon, they'll be turning the stove off completely.

Here's another topic to discuss. The league is addressing Toronto's personnel handicap, perceived or otherwise, with respect to Canadian content and expects to make an announcement soon on what constitutes a domestic player. No details yet, but look for some movement to help Toronto.

The playoff format will be massaged slightly for next year. Unlike this season when the top two teams in each conference automatically qualified for the post-season, next year it’s the top three, plus the next two teams with the best records regardless of conference.

And we're not the only Canadian media here anymore. GOLtv and Larry Millson of The Globe and Mail have made the journey as well. The winds of change continue to sweep through the sport and this league, and it’s terrific.

Am I the only one who sees a problem with Don Garber's logic? Kansas City is playing at some bush league baseball park for 2 years while their new stadium is getting built (and good luck to the Wizards if they think they'll fill it), New York is stuck at Giants Stadium filling only a quarter of the seats and making do with NFL gridiron lines on the feild, and the new franchise in San Jose is making do with Buck Shaw Stadium - a facility with capacity for only 8,400 fans at the most.

Sure, Vancouver isn't looking in good shape at the moment, but the new stadium in Montreal should be enough to trump most other MLS franchise contenders. 13,500 seats is a lot more than the New York Red Bulls and KC Wizards fill on average.

If Saputo and the fans in Montreal really want into the MLS - I don't see a good reason why they can't.

I think you're overreacting.

I'd be worried for Vancouver, but Montreal is in good shape. Garber mentioned the MLS initiated talks with the Impact last week.

The stadium is small right now but has been conceived to be expanded to 17,000. I'm sure we can reach 18,000 in like 3 months time when we decided to expand.

good point standard man. lets see what they decide.

The stadium issue mentioned here is a non-issue, as Mpenza explained.

I do think we're behind Philly and Saint-Louis, though. We need to capitalize on our existing base if we're to overtake one of them.

One last word on capacity: Garber was mentioning how BMO is too small for TFC, but not that 20k is too small for MLS. Colorado's stadium is 18k, and RSL are also building small.

Mpenza a écrit :I think you're overreacting.

I'd be worried for Vancouver, but Montreal is in good shape. Garber mentioned the MLS initiated talks with the Impact last week.

The stadium is small right now but has been conceived to be expanded to 17,000. I'm sure we can reach 18,000 in like 3 months time when we decided to expand.

Actually a few guys on the RPB forum have helped eleviate my fears. Apparently the blog was more to light a bit of a fire under Saputo than anything else.

So I've stopped worrying for now.

Vancouver has always been an "iffy" prospect for me as well. Getting the stadium even considered by their city council took a lot of arm-twisting. It's gonna be a while before any ground is broken, I'd reckon.

During the MLS press conference to announce that Seattle was joining, Joe Roth (majority share holder of the new franchise) mentioned that Don Garber allowed him to chose between Seattle, Vancouver and Portland. Although, Roth did not pick Vancouver, it does demonstrate that the league is legitimatly considering Vancouver as a candidate.

Furthermore, troughout the same conference there were strong hints that the MLS wants to acquire a part of the Asian market, thus I would not be suprised if both Portland and Vancouver obtained a team within a few years.

3kuyt a écrit :Although, Roth did not pick Vancouver, it does demonstrate that the league is legitimatly considering Vancouver as a candidate.

Or rather that it was legitimately considering ROTH as a candidate.

Well, as a fan my heart is still going out for Montreal to be considered for the MLS. Not wanting to jump on Vancouver's recent misfortunes, but I'll take a 8-hour rail trip from Toronto Union to the heart of Montreal over a cross-Canada journey anyday.

I'm very confident that a Toronto/Montreal derby would blow any other MLS rivalry out of the water. Even a Toronto/Vancouver one would pale in comparison - and remember, they absolutely HATE us out on the West Coast.

Cashcleaner a écrit :I'll take a 8-hour rail trip from Toronto Union to the heart of Montreal over a cross-Canada journey anyday.

Man.... where is that train going before it reaches downtown Montreal? Thunder Bay?

It's been a while since I last took VIA. Hmmmm, 6 hours then?

In any case, it doesn't take much to move between both cities.

Best option is to drive, the train although more comfortable is indeed close to 7 hours and relatively expensive.

Dammit, what country do you guys live in?
Toronto-Montreal by train takes more or less five hours, five and a half if you're really unlucky. Some trips take just over 4 hours...

Mpenza a écrit :Dammit, what country do you guys live in?
Toronto-Montreal by train takes more or less five hours, five and a half if you're really unlucky. Some trips take just over 4 hours...

I must be VERY UNLUCKY since Ive never had a trip between montreal-Toronto under 6 hours and Ive done my share of traveling.

Well, I guess we won't put you in charge of organizing the supporters' trip to Toronto then... we don't want to visit Windsor

Check VIA Rail's site for details if you don't believe me. The longest trips take about 5 hours and a half, the shortest are 4 hours and 15 minutes...

Mpenza a écrit :Well, I guess we won't put you in charge of organizing the supporters' trip to Toronto then... we don't want to visit Windsor

Check VIA Rail's site for details if you don't believe me. The longest trips take about 5 hours and a half, the shortest are 4 hours and 15 minutes...

I did check and your right, as I said I must of been very unlucky.

Your right, transport logistics are not my speciality, although if I do prefer driving then taking the train.

Well, there's always the option of going with a charter bus. That's what we usually do for away games in Columbus, Chicago, New York, and DC. It's probably the second least expensive way to go - by car obviously being the cheapest means.

But why go by car if you can drink and have fun on a bus?

You could also take a plane. Porter Airlines.

Real-TFC a écrit :You could also take a plane. Porter Airlines.

I never actually thought about that until really recently. I think you still need a passport though, even though it's an internal flight. Either way, there's loads of options available.

Impact Soccer

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