2017 Toronto FC season (aka the 2017 MLS Cup clinching thread)

[An Observer]

The NBA, NHL, and MLB seem to be able to run a 7 game series on very short notice...and I suspect are bigger media events than the MLS final...and have roughly at minimum the same amount of travelling team/staff as MLS.  I find that hard to believe the MLS needs 11 days to sort out accommodation and other logistics.

[harrycoyster]

39 minutes ago, An Observer said:

The NBA, NHL, and MLB seem to be able to run a 7 game series on very short notice...and I suspect are bigger media events than the MLS final...and have roughly at minimum the same amount of travelling team/staff as MLS.  I find that hard to believe the MLS needs 11 days to sort out accommodation and other logistics.

I don't really know enough about event planning to say one way or the other. But it isn't a question of whether they need 11 days, it's a matter of if they can do it in under a week. 

[Jith12]

Allen Chapman was announced as the ref for MLS Cup. He's reffed 4 of our games this season.

[Gian-Luca]

14 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Just asking, but I wonder if they need to have a few extra days to set up logistical stuff like accommodations because the final isn't at a pre-determined location?  That would be the only reason to have that long a wait.  If not, then they are doing a good job of making the final an afterthought for any neutral MLS watchers.

They need the extra days in order to kick the season ticket holders out of their seats. It is happening again this year to me and even worse as this year we are being thrown to the east side of the stadium (my seats are on the west side) - at least last year we we shuffled to somewhere else on the same side.  It is a bad omen for me as I have yet to see the team I am cheering for win the handful of times I have sat on that side 

[Ruffian]

17 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

They need the extra days in order to kick the season ticket holders out of their seats. It is happening again this year to me and even worse as this year we are being thrown to the east side of the stadium (my seats are on the west side) - at least last year we we shuffled to somewhere else on the same side.  It is a bad omen for me as I have yet to see the team I am cheering for win the handful of times I have sat on that side 

Happened to me also. My seats are on the West side and I am now on the East side. Basically same field location though.

[Grizzly]

What is their reason for kicking season ticket holders out of their seats? Who do they need those seats for?

[Ivan]

Me too.  Apparently, MLS takes over the stadium and can do what they want with the seating plan.  Looks like this year we are all kicked to the other side.  Only the supporters section remains intact.

 

By the way, tried to get extra tickets at the 12:00 noon window and looks like the game was sold out in less than 5 minutes.

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

What is their reason for kicking season ticket holders out of their seats? Who do they need those seats for?

MLS Corporate sponsors and their buddies is my guess. The irony is that when MLS Cip was held here as a neutral site game in 2010, we got to sit on our regular seats for that game

[Grizzly]

47 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

MLS Corporate sponsors and their buddies is my guess. The irony is that when MLS Cip was held here as a neutral site game in 2010, we got to sit on our regular seats for that game

I would be super angry about that if I were you. It sounds like the culprit here is MLS or does TFC have a say in this? Does this happen in other cities when the MLS final is played there?

[Ruffian]

23 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

I would be super angry about that if I were you. It sounds like the culprit here is MLS or does TFC have a say in this? Does this happen in other cities when the MLS final is played there?

Apparently the final is an MLS event and not a Toronto FC event.

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

I would be super angry about that if I were you. It sounds like the culprit here is MLS or does TFC have a say in this? Does this happen in other cities when the MLS final is played there?

I am not sure but I am assume it does. I can't remember when lack of a neutral site for the final started (2013 with KC?) but it hasn't been very long so there will only be a handful of other past examples to go by that we can check with US fans about. I am pretty sure it's the league that's doing this though not TFC. At half time last year we got the results of a whole bunch of US-based promotional competitions including one where a player got to win a car for having the most accurate shot or something that none us had seen during the half time show the entire year and the crowd was very non-plussed as it was the first we'd heard of the competition the whole year. I don't think TFC had much to do with it, if anything.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Okay, I can accept that, the delay before a final, allowing for arrangements and even away travel, you need more than a week. Fair enough. 

So the argument is fair, but it does not resolve the real problem: by now most MLS fans are already fully into NFL and who qualifies for bowl games or are fully into their Euro footie teams.

[Blackdude]

1 hour ago, Gian-Luca said:

I am not sure but I am assume it does. I can't remember when lack of a neutral site for the final started (2013 with KC?) but it hasn't been very long so there will only be a handful of other past examples to go by that we can check with US fans about. I am pretty sure it's the league that's doing this though not TFC. At half time last year we got the results of a whole bunch of US-based promotional competitions including one where a player got to win a car for having the most accurate shot or something that none us had seen during the half time show the entire year and the crowd was very non-plussed as it was the first we'd heard of the competition the whole year. I don't think TFC had much to do with it, if anything.

It was in 2012 with LA. 2011 was in LA, but it just happened that LA was the host all along.

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Blackdude said:

It was in 2012 with LA. 2011 was in LA, but it just happened that LA was the host all along.

So by a quirk, MLS Cup has only been held in 4 different cities this decade. Toronto 3 times, LA 3 times, KC once and Columbus once.

[Saviola7]

What if an MLS cup finalist is also in the World Club Cup? Presumably they would be forced to move it up no?

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 4/12/2017 at 10:46 PM, Ruffian said:

Apparently the final is an MLS event and not a Toronto FC event.

A Champions final is the same, and cup finals played in different cities in a single nation are the same too: the relevant organizer "controls" the stadium, local fans do not normally get their same seat.

 I went to a Spanish cup final at Camp Nou a few years back, Barça vs. Bilbao, no one sat in their regular seat, everyone had to request separately, seats were designated randomly (you only requested price range which gave you a general area) and a good part of the stadium was reserved for Atleti fans.

The key is that if TFC gets a quantity of tix to sell, they do so in an ethical and coherent way, selling to regular season ticket holding fans first, then opening up to others after that priority window was left open a day or two.

[Free kick]

On 12/4/2017 at 4:46 PM, Ruffian said:

Apparently the final is an MLS event and not a Toronto FC event.

This is a problem. It was a problem last year and having attended it, it was noticeble.  For the worst.  

[Ruffian]

13 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

A Champions final is the same, and cup finals played in different cities in a single nation are the same too: the relevant organizer "controls" the stadium, local fans do not normally get their same seat.

 I went to a Spanish cup final at Camp Nou a few years back, Barça vs. Bilbao, no one sat in their regular seat, everyone had to request separately, seats were designated randomly (you only requested price range which gave you a general area) and a good part of the stadium was reserved for Atleti fans.

The key is that if TFC gets a quantity of tix to sell, they do so in an ethical and coherent way, selling to regular season ticket holding fans first, then opening up to others after that priority window was left open a day or two.

 

13 hours ago, Free kick said:

This is a problem. It was a problem last year and having attended it, it was noticeble.  For the worst.  

@Unnamed Trialist explanation seems reasonable. As long as they give the fans who were there for every game a chance to be at the final. My only disappointment is that the people in my section that I have cheered with for many seasons may not be there to cheer with if Toronto FC does win this game.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

 

@Unnamed Trialist explanation seems reasonable. As long as they give the fans who were there for every game a chance to be at the final. My only disappointment is that the people in my section that I have cheered with for many seasons may not be there to cheer with if Toronto FC does win this game.

As a fan of a team that plays lots of finals, let me say: it is the luck of the lottery, and most of us at Barça accept it. Everyone goes into a lottery, except the privileged types who know someone and can get an invite (I actually know a high level exec but would not ask that favour of him), and then, when you go to a final, you find yourself with a whole new bunch of people in a new section, and many who you regularly sit with are not there. 

The alternative is of course going into the second market, or to scalpers, which will always exist, and paying more. Perhaps risking sitting in the wrong supporter section, which does happen. You usually have to be willing to pay 2-5 times more than face value to get such seats. 

[Free kick]

On 12/6/2017 at 10:07 AM, Ruffian said:

 

@Unnamed Trialist explanation seems reasonable. As long as they give the fans who were there for every game a chance to be at the final. My only disappointment is that the people in my section that I have cheered with for many seasons may not be there to cheer with if Toronto FC does win this game.

What i was referring to when i said that last years final was the the worst experience ever was that the staff abandoned their job and the result is that they let too many people into the supporters sections.  It got so over crowded, that it was dangerous.  Also there were way too many people i had never seen before inthe supporters sections.   I have been going down there since since the very beginning and after all this time faces look familiar.  

[Club Linesman]

Looking forward to a great experience today and a big TFC win!  Wife scored some tickets for me last night and a Merry Christmas indeed!  Let's go Reds - lets destroy the Sounders!  

[Gian-Luca]

Osorio to start in a 4-4-2 for the final, Ricketts is on the bench and that is it- no Edwards who is dressing-roomed (for want of a better word), Cheyrou takes his place on the bench. Only one reserve striker for TFC in Ricketts, quite the risk if Altidore can’t go the distance - not sure why in a 442 you would put both Zavaleta and Hagglund on the bench when Morrow can play there if you get two guys injured and Edwards can play left back or midfield 

[dyslexic nam]

TFC with some chances....

Gio missing by inches.  Grr 

 

[harrycoyster]

Switch to the diamond brilliant from Vanney so far. Seattle overrun in midfield and their dangerous fullbacks are pinned back.

[dyslexic nam]

Endless chances with none converted.  I am liking this less and less as things go on.  Man I don't want to go to penalties again.