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Toronto may be lone 2007 Expansion team


Gian-Luca

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quote:Originally posted by Cheeta

I don't think they're playing possum. I do think they're waiting for some major structure changes to MLS itself.

Both Saputo and Kerfoot.

Maybe so. We agree though. They are interested. I would imagine that Montreal fans would be mighty issed if Toronto and Vancouver were in but they weren't.

db

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I don't think the MLS would be at all interested in any major structural changes to their league. Right now, thanks to some fancy and suspicious legal footwork resulting in a 2001 decision against the MLS Players Association, they now have a plump golden goose whereby they have a fiction of a single entity, so they can deal with the players strictly and keep salaries very low in a concerted way that does not interfere with the anti-trust legislation or collusion laws in the US (becauase it is not possible in law to collude with oneself). Although the MLS owners don't have any concerns about their structure somehow contravening Canada's even looser laws, it may not be to the advantage or fancy of potential Canadian "franchise shareholders".

I think that a possible restructuring could possibly involve setting up a related Canadian "league" with regular "inter-league" play between the MLS clubs and the Canadian entries that could allow actual independently-owned franchises in law and fact here in Canada while maintaining the current structure in the US. That is, if the MLS is not worried that such an "alliance" would somehow threaten their current golden goose arrangement with the legal system in the US. The Canadian owners then could secretly get together and make arrangements that would not be threatened by the legal and administrative regime in Canada, and openly set up their own "league" rules as well.

However, MLS may first to try out the Canadian market with a current "share franchise" in Toronto with MLSE (on the understanding things could change later) in 2007 or 2008, of course depending on whether there is a stadium to play in. By the time (or if) a suitable stadium appears in Toronto, however, there may be great stadiums in Montreal and Vancouver that will make three Canadian clubs attractive partners. A Canadian "league" of three teams may fit in well with three American MLS divisions of 4 or 5 clubs each.

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