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My "Toronto as International Soccer City" idea


Guest speedmonk42

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Guest speedmonk42

It was an off the cuff statement, however I don't think this is crazy as it sounds.

To be an officially recognized ethnic group in Toronto I think you need at least something like 50 000 people. In TO there is more than 150 of them. It is also not just TO, you could count in Montreal, Ottawa and a few U.S cities for pulling people into unique games.

Where else on the planet will get anyone to watch a Trinidad vs Honduras game? Iran vs. China.... who knows...

I think the Gold Cup held in TO, Montreal and Ottawa would slaughter any U.S attendance numbers.

From my experiences at the U20 cup in Holland, I can say it sure isn't going to be any European cities if Amsterdam is an example of one the '50 of 70' cities in Europe.

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Guest speedmonk42

Sure but would they go to the games?

I don't know.

People in Amsterdam just couldn't believe I would bother going to the U20's. Even more so a complete idiot that I had gone to see Canada. Not a single person in the tourist info centers there even knew the tournament was on. They had no idea what I was talking about.

Not only is there elitism about the game, but a schizm between those that support it and those that don't. When it came to soccer it was black and white which people often made clear.

People here are a lot more flexible I find and almost no-one has their personal identity wrapped up into a football club/country. That, as many will point out is a 'lack' of soccer culture, but that I think will be a good thing in the long run which could allow us to capitalize on the diversity, even shape things around it.

This is again is just speaking off cuff which I hate to have to qualify.

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quote:Originally posted by speedmonk42

I think the Gold Cup held in TO, Montreal and Ottawa would slaughter any U.S attendance numbers.

This *might* be possible (BTW, isn't the CSA pursuing 2009?), but Toronto would need a much larger ESTABLISHED soccer infrastructure for the "International Soccer City" claim to carry any weight. This means the MLS team needs to be a proven success, and we need better facilities than your choice of either a 20,000 seat concrete bowl or the Dome - both likely to use Field Turf instead of real grass.

The world's "International Soccer City" needs to have atleast one top-class SSS with natural turf that is large enough for major exhibitions (ex ManU vs Barca, or Real Madrid vs Juve), or even World Cup games (a joint Canada-US bid the next time it's North America's turn? Unlikely eh?). Toronto does not have this, and nothing like this is planned. Maybe if Toronto got a Summer Olympics (far off now with Vancouver 2010), then there would be a new 60-80K stadium with an annoying track.

I would support a "International Soccer City" promotional campaign if it's goal was to get more soccer infrastructure built, but for now I think London might have the title.

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quote:Originally posted by speedmonk42

It was an off the cuff statement, however I don't think this is crazy as it sounds.

To be an officially recognized ethnic group in Toronto I think you need at least something like 50 000 people. In TO there is more than 150 of them. It is also not just TO, you could count in Montreal, Ottawa and a few U.S cities for pulling people into unique games.

Where else on the planet will get anyone to watch a Trinidad vs Honduras game? Iran vs. China.... who knows...

I think the Gold Cup held in TO, Montreal and Ottawa would slaughter any U.S attendance numbers.

From my experiences at the U20 cup in Holland, I can say it sure isn't going to be any European cities if Amsterdam is an example of one the '50 of 70' cities in Europe.

I fully agree, could u imagine Jamaica vs. Mexico in Toronto?

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Guest speedmonk42

KAS

I totally agree with you. The infrastructure is not there, but the new stadium will be a first step.

Remember that what is in London exists after much more than a century of soccer.

What I am really trying to say is there a huge market that could be capitalized on in ways most other national associations would/could never think of. us vs them in the Canadian soccer vs immigrant sense should be dropped. The CSA has faced numerous challenges in getting our team to play here, a stadium is just one of them. However, given the opportunity to fill that stadium, connect to different communities and make some money, why does Canada have to be the team that plays?

People say we have to "come back down to earth", but really I expect to see MORE vision from people on this board. We should be the last people on this planet toning down what might be possible.

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quote:Originally posted by speedmonk42

To be an officially recognized ethnic group in Toronto I think you need at least something like 50 000 people. In TO there is more than 150 of them.

Um, 50 000 people times 150 groups = 7.5 million. There are not 7.5 million people in Toronto.

Besides, this whole multicultural BS is greatly overhyped. 60% of people in the greater Toronto area are of British/Irish descent. When it comes to the Gold Cup, there is maybe 5% of the GTA that is from the Caribbean and Central America (about 200 000 people maybe and that's at the high end).

There are many more Caribbean/Central Americans in Florida and California than there is in Toronto.

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Guest speedmonk42

Um, 50 000 people times 150 groups = 7.5 million. There are not 7.5 million people in Toronto.

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Yeah some number in that must be wrong. I guess was smoking too much crack when I read it.

I am not really all that big on the multicultural sell to the pro teams. If you are going to do it, it has to be more than a name. You can just appropriate a name that has meaning to a large group of people unless you have a reason for doing so.

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maybe they count everyone a few times like...

"my grandfather was from xxxxxxx

my other grandfather was from yyyyyy

my grandmother was from zzzzzz

my other grandmother was from aaaaaa"

well more likely from no more than two different countries but they are probably trying to make a multicultural point.

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Guest speedmonk42

What even probably more likely is that some wanker somewher gets more funding based on the numbers being higher.

I mean really what is the point of 'officially' recognizeing a group only based on numbers. If you have less, what would it mean anyway.

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