Soccer craze sweeps through city

Toronto FC gaining success on the field and with fan base

Soccer fever has hit the city of Toronto! When Toronto’s newest team joined Major League Soccer in May of 2006 the dream of many Canadians was answered.
Since Toronto FC is the only non-U.S. team out of the 13 clubs in the league, they have received a lot of recognition from cities all over Canada.
As the season continues to progress, Toronto FC is exceeding the expectations of their fans as they went from a terrible start of losses (0-4) to a record of 4-3-0 at home. The team is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., which is the same organization that owns other successful teams in Toronto such as the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It seems that every Canadian wants to be a part of MLS history as Toronto FC continues to grow in popularity. Since the very beginning of what promised to be a breakthrough season in Canadian sports, tickets have been extremely hard to get a hold of.
Toronto FC sold out in season tickets for the 2006/2007 season as a total of 14,000 season seats were sold in the matter of five months. Those who are looking to buy season seats for next season will have to be put on a reserved waiting list since the demand for tickets is so high. For an incredibly young franchise the response to the team has been far more powerful than could have been imagined and the display of jerseys, flags and cheers at the BMO Field when it’s game time shows the dedication of the fans.
BMO Field is Toronto’s newest sporting facility, located at Exhibition Place, and it is the home field for Toronto FC as well as other Canadian National Teams. The stadium seats 20,000 people.
The field will also be used this year for the FIFA Under-20 Championship meaning that TFC will have six away games until returning back to Toronto to take on Aston Villa FC on Wednesday, July 25, at 7 p.m.

Publication Date: 2007-06-24
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=7425