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Hey MLS fans...


RJB

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This article was posted by another poster in the Kevin Pipe thread. I was suprised to see that no one noted this comment:

"The first big soccer event at the new stadium will be the 24-country world youth championships in 2007. A year or two later, Toronto could land a Major League Soccer team."

How is it possible that putting all our eggs in the basket of an MLS team that won't be around until 2009, our best solution? I guess that will set us up nicely for the next round of qualifying for the South African World Cup... er... I mean wherever the 2014 Cup is held.

This is an admitance that nothing will be done in time to save our chances for 2010. I'm disgusted and appalled. I'm embarassed.

And nothing will get done about it.

Why does nobody care?

Soccer 'theatre of dreams'

CSA boss Pipe `ecstatic' about site

Argo owners hoping to land MLS team

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1098136210290&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064

JIM BYERS

SPORTS REPORTER

The Argos are getting most of the ink, but soccer teams will likely be the prime users of the new stadium at York University.

The stadium has long been the centrepiece of the Canadian Soccer Association's plans to host the 2007 FIFA world youth championships. But CSA chief Kevan Pipe outlined an ambitious initiative yesterday to bid on the 2010 Women's World Cup and the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournaments, and to stage a Gold Cup, the CONCACAF region championship.

The 25,000-seat stadium also will be home to the Toronto Lynx of soccer's A-League.

But that's not all.

Pipe said Argonaut co-owners Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon are leading a group that hopes to land a Major League Soccer expansion franchise, an idea endorsed by MLS commissioner Don Garber.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Pipe told a news conference yesterday. "This is a world-class facility and it will be the theatre of dreams for Canadian soccer for decades to come."

Pipe said he was thrilled there's no running track around the field — as had been planned for the downtown Varsity site — because it means fans will be less than seven metres from the sidelines.

"They'll be able to take in the game like never before," he said.

The CSA talked two years ago about building a soccer stadium at Exhibition Place. They then joined with the Argos at the proposed Varsity site at the University of Toronto. Now they're at York, but Pipe said the location was never a critical issue.

He also conceded there was a great deal of concern from FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, when the U of T backed out of plans to rebuild Varsity three weeks ago.

"There were some interesting discussions," Pipe said with a smile. "But they're very happy with what we've got here."

The first big soccer event at the new stadium will be the 24-country world youth championships in 2007. A year or two later, Toronto could land a Major League Soccer team.

"We've met regularly with the MLS people, including one meeting very, very recently," Pipe said.

Sokolowski and Cynamon confirmed their interest in owning a team but didn't discuss details, including how they'd pay the hefty $10 million (U.S.) expansion fee.

Garber said yesterday the league will expand from 10 cities to 12 next year and that another round of expansion is set for 2006 or 2007.

"We're very interested in pursuing expansion to Toronto," he said. "We've had preliminary talks and we hope to have more."

MLS operates in several of the biggest U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

This article was posted by another poster in the Kevin Pipe thread. I was suprised to see that no one noted this comment:

"The first big soccer event at the new stadium will be the 24-country world youth championships in 2007. A year or two later, Toronto could land a Major League Soccer team."

How is it possible that putting all our eggs in the basket of an MLS team that won't be around

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The South African WC is in 2010, not 2014.

And there is nothing in that article that says the CSA is putting all of their eggs in the MLS basket, at least not in the one possible team that could be coming to Toronto eventually.

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