Getting the (foot)ball rolling

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Inaugural home game of Toronto’s newest professional sporting franchise, Toronto FC. As someone who attends a considerable amount of my limited personal funds on attending live sports, I’d have to say that this was in terms of value for my money, maybe the greatest event I’ve ever been to!

Of course I’m not just writing this to gush about a soccer… sorry, football match. It’s actually to point out that what FC has seemingly done, right out of the gate, is recognize that they are a niche brand in this town and they’re going to have to cater to that niche audience to survive. That audience profiled in a nutshell? International, knowledgeable and rowdy.

Judging by the 20,000 plus who showed up Saturday, it seems like they’re off to a great start…

There really wasn’t one thing that outshone another in the gameday experience, it all sort of worked together effortlessly. It begins with a brand new stadium, BMO Field, which will serve not only as FC’s home stadium, but also a new venue for Canada’s National Teams. The stadium offers great sightlines, plenty of restrooms and concessions, and a terrific outdoor atmosphere for game day – a key for any knowlegdable fan.

To satiate the international flavour of the Toronto crowd, concessions featured everything from sushi to kobe beef burgers, roasted corn to footlong hot dogs, and souvlaki to sausage. Topping this all of was the grandiose presence of one of the premiere brands in international soccer – Carlsberg (available in a pail-sized containers to put the large beers at the ACC to shame).

To hook in the ’soccer hooligan’ in all of us, before the match had even started, FC had seeded the crowd with some beer-fueled revelers who seemed to have a different “TFC” chant every time I caught my breath. Through a little persistence (and a few adult beverages of my own) I quickly found myself singing along to all of them – along with a few thousand others. Adding to the spectacle was another clever move by the home team. All 12,000 seasons ticket holders in attendance (myself included) were sent a red Toronto FC team flag in the mail which served as their ticket to game 1. With 12,000 red flags, countless jerseys bought at concessions, and a chorus of original battle cries, we in the crowd felt immediately like we’d been supporting this team for decades – in spite of scarcely knowing any of the player’s names!
Really, the only aspect of the experience which seemed to fall short was the product on the field – an expansion franchise which, in spite of valiant efforts in its four games to date, has yet to post a goal… let alone a win.

So the groundwork has been laid and the FC game staff have everything set in motion to give its target audience a winning experience every time a fan comes to BMO Field. It seems the only thing poised to trip them up is if the team on the field can’t produce an effort to match!

Tweet this! Or... Facebook it!

blog comments powered by Disqus