TGIF: The traveling MLS fan

Good morning all. As I attempt to make my recovery from my trip to Salzburg I wanted to discuss a topic that has gained some attention recently. The plight of the MLS traveling fan.

As some of you may have seen, Toronto FC has turned down an initial request by the Chicago Fire supporter's group Section 8 for 500 tickets to the Fire-Toronto FC match at BMO Field in October. Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion does a good job of laying out the situation, which is probably why I had multiple readers email the piece.

The timing couldn't have been better for me, having just attended the Red Bull Salzburg-Wacker Innsbruck match in Austria. The scene there was amazing even though it was a rescheduled match from the weekend being played at midweek on the same night as Champions League and in what had to be 20 degree weather. Despite all that, Salzburg's fans were in full voice and the Innsbruck supporter's section was visible and vocal as well.

On that night I couldn't help but think of what it will be like when the day comes that MLS fans really start traveling to more games in bunches. Obviously the size of the country prevents this from taking place in all instances, but it can happen, and is happening, more and more as the league expands. Whether it's a group of Houston supporters visiting Giants Stadium (and subsequently showering Jozy Altidore with beer after he scored the game-winner against them) or a caravan of buses like the one the Red Bulls provided for its fans to D.C. in 2006, there needs to be more traveling support and MLS needs to cultivate that breed of fan.

Seeing the Chicago-Toronto situation made me think that there may be some clubs whose leadership doesn't grasp the importance of traveling support. In the case of Toronto, how many of the suits above Mo Johnston really have soccer backgrounds? That said, I can't help but think that Mo Johnston knows a thing or two about rivalries and what they can mean.

The whole thing screamed to be written about so I have written a column for ESPN.com on the subject that should post later today. I do think it is an issue that MLS needs to focus on.

What do you think of traveling MLS fans and the road game experience? Have you traveled to an MLS match as an away supporter? What was your experience like? Do you think catering to traveling supporters should be a priority or do you think it's still something that is several years away from being an issue?

Share your thoughts on the subject, and experiences as a traveling fan, below.

Comments

[jmh]

If TFC sells out you have to cater to the home fans first. Thats where your bread and butter is.

[Ives]

JMH, there are soldout soccer stadiums all over the world that still find space to put traveling fans.

[T. Faust]

What is the best way to email the MLS officers to make our voices heard on this issue?

[Gilly73]

I think it is very important for the MLS & the teams to try and honor ticket requests for supporter's groups. It builds an unbelieveable atmosphere at the matches and can only be a good thing for growing the MLS. I would think using the formula of 5-10% of capacity for supporter's groups like they do in Europe is a good model to follow. I do understand that security would have to be increased to prevent any incidents from happening but doesn't each organization and the MLS want sold-out stadiums which provides the extra revenue for that security?

I haven't travelled to a road match yet for my beloved FIRE, however Section 8 does travel very well. Plus my wife & I are were thinking about going to Toronto this year because of how great the game was last year but now it looks like it will have to be Columbus and possibly KC.

I love when DC United supporter's come to Chicago, bang their drums, put up their banners, and try to make more noise then Section 8. When Toyota Park hosted the 2006 All-Star game vs. Chelsea the visiting section was completely blue and the game was electric.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MLS, get this one right and help all supporter's groups be able to get a fair amount of tickets to road matches!

[J]

very simple, these teams leave a certain amount of seats available to traveling fans, 2-3 weeks before game day, if tickets are not purchased, they go on sale to the general public. TFC, of all teams, should be supporting this as they are sending a ton of people to C-Bus. Now Chi-town wants to send 500 supporters to TFC and they say no room at the inn...interesting...

[Martek]

Hey, hey, hey, cool it on the Houston fans showering Jozy with beer. That was only one isolated incident!! :>

I agree with you wholeheartedly. The prospect of multiple bands of traveling fans is a great one, and you guys in the east are perfectly positioned to create such a scene. Now that Philly will be in the league, there are no fewer than four MLS teams in screaming distance from Boston to DC, so Amtrak Saturday Soccer Shuttles looks like it can be a real possibility.

Here in Tejas, Frisco is a dismal 4-hour drive from Houston (I know you easterners sometimes don't appreciate the scale of distances here in the west), but even so Dynamo supporters frequently take over the pizza box. And that is exactly what happened last September in the 3-1 Dynamo win (made famous by Ricardo Clark administering a little frontier justice to the Lil Fish). A comparatively few Candystriper supporters often make the trip down here as well and we welcome them because it's always fun to see their faces when the game is over.

THIS is the passion that makes this game so much durn fun! So shame on the Canadians for screwing with this, and good for everyone bringing attention to it.

[TFC Fan]

I as a TFC fan would welcome more opposing fans.... though MLS soccer is such a hot ticket in Toronto what does everyone expect?

[GoNYforDCU]

I agree this is a major issue. At Giants Stadium or RFK there's probably no limit, but as smaller stadiums continue to go up this kind of thing shouldn't happen. Who can be emailed about this?

[Il Consigliere]

Toronto FC has capped its season ticket sales just below 17,000. That means there are 3,000 seats available for non-season ticket holders to every match. How difficult is it to give a block of 500 tickets to the Chicago fans from this 3,000? I think it is foolish and short-sighted. TFC will still sell the other 2,500 tickets, and most likely to TFC supporters. I also doubt MLS teams will follow the lead of the NY Giants and GB Packers, which is to sell the whole stadium out to season ticket holders...so there should always be seats available to non-season ticket holders and traveling supporters...The number of tickets for traveling supports would change due to the opponent b/c not every club is going to send a thousand supporters to an away match...

[sublicon]

There should be a designated section for home support if it comes to that. Away support of this magnitude in Toronto will probably only happen with Chicago and maybe New England. That said, we've seen the shameful antics of Toronto supporters in their own house in the past. Maybe its an issue of their FO not trusting their own fans to behave.

[J]

this is in no way a fault of TFC, this is a league issue, one they were not prepared for. I'm not young enough to remember, but back in the NASL days, did fans travel this way? Do they travel this way for other sports in American? College sports, maybe, not professionally. We have silly discovery rules, why not address the actual fan experience.

Cheers

[Will]

As a New England fan, we see lots of traveling groups (RBNY, DC, TFC, even C-Bus) and i have been to games in NJ and DC.

Having away support raises the level of both supporters. You need to step up your singing game, because you don't want to be out-sung. Visiting fans really help both fans create a great atmosphere.

[MetroTard]

Yeah us easterners can't appreciate a four hour drive to Boston or DC. Whatever.
Anyway, kudos to all media/bloggers for keeping a spotlight on this one.

[Bob S]

I hope Toronto can solve this problem and get this issue somewhat resolved. I'm not suggesting Toronto will have problem filling the stands in the near future but if you can please as many "customers" as possible then its always a good thing. A few years down the line and poor treatment could mean a lot less money from the Northeastern supporters going to Toronto. Why go if the opponents FO is trying to ruin the situation?

Hell if I were Section 8 I'd consider sending 500 to Columbus or KC just to send Toronto a message if they can't fix their ways.

[gaucho]

Like you said, except for Galaxy/Chivas, geography is a problem. Innsbruck to Salzburg, according to Google Maps, is only 185 km away (~110 miles), and Europe has a vastly better train system than the US. Fans traveling to this matchup have the advantage of not necessarily needing to stay overnight.

But wouldn't it be sweet to see 500-1000 opposing fans show up for these matchups:

LA/Chivas v. San Jose
Dallas v. Houston
Any of DCU/Philly/NYRB/NE
Chicago/Columbus

These are all cities within 400 mi of each other, pretty doable by car/bus in one day. I think that once you get much above 400 mi it gets really tough, outside of say an MLS Cup. Maybe as the league continues to grow in popularity and longevity, guys who grew up say in Jersey but now live in the DC area will make for a larger contingent of the away fans.

[MEDNUS]

You are Correct Ives TFC should hold 500 seats for away supporters. But with 17,000 season tickets in a 20,000 seat stadium they should also think of expanding BMO field!!!

[rmiller]

I think they should have to give a certain amount of tixs to away supporters because I know as an NFL Steelers fan that the away team will get there hand on some tixs. You would rather have them together than start trouble with them all split up.

[danboleo]

the only road game I've traveled for was the Chivas USA debut against DCU at the HDC. besides me, my wife, and brother- and sister-in-law, there were about 3 other DCU supporters in our section. it was pretty sad. sadder still was the fact that Chivas didn't sell out the HDC in their opener.

[kpugs]

Not being rich, I watch almost every single away game on TV. I missed the trip to DC and have been to New England for a game.

The country being as big as it is, it is too damned expensive. You can be sure I'd be at every single game if I could. It's just not feasible for me. As I've said in a few recent posts this is why I'm so pumped about the team in Philly.

That's why the Premiership is great...couple hours on a train from Manchester and you're in London.

[OSsington Mental Youth]

Defo gotta say im disappointed with the TFC FO for this

[Modibo]

Here's something I don't get: jmh and TFC Fan seem to be arguing that TFC is right to sell the tickets because, well, they need to sell the tickets. It's not like Fire fans are getting FREE tickets! Or are they somehow getting cheaper tickets? Will someone please explain this... because if the tickets get sold one way or the other it doesn't seem to make any financial difference who they go to.

Now, if TFC Fan and jmh are arguing that you need to build fan loyalty in Toronto by delivering tix to your home base, well... the 500 tix to Fire fans is what percentage of the stadium? How big an impact does that have really in terms of turning away local fans? Loyalty can get you so far in tough times, but having a healthy rivalry helps sell tix to otherwise unengaged fans (eg in college football, I can miss an entire season but I'll bust my butt to watch OSU kick Michigan to finish off the season... even if the team sucks that year).

[Ranks]

This is not the first time...
the Galaxy refuse to acknowledge the Legion (Chivas supporters) request for tickets to their first home game last season, giving the Legion no option but to gather on the grass hill at the HDC and out of sight.

Yes, TFC sells out every game, but not all games are really sold out! There is always a number of tickets set aside for things like this. everybody knows that TFC season tickets caps at what? 14K?

[DCUinCT]

Supporters groups for both the home and away team are huge part of what make MLS novel in the landscape of sport in this country. The fan atmosphere keeps people shoveling ridiculous proportions of their income directly to MLS pockets. The hard core fans, home or away are the real bread and butter of the league and deserve consideration.
Plus, can you imagine how great the atmosphere would be at those games with supporters of both sides?

[Rudi]

People are stuck on TFC's season ticket number, without mentioning the number of half season packs and 5 game packages.

Add those up, and there's another 3,000 full season equivalents.

!6,000 season tickets + 3,000 Full Season equivalents leaves a little over a thousand single-game tickets per game.

I challenge anyone to find a 500-seat block of tickets within that 1100 or so available.

Should the MLS mandate a league minimum for traveling support? Absolutely.

Should Toronto be admonished for keeping "only" 100 available in the face of no league minimum and a 3 year waiting list for season tickets? Not a chance.

[Gian-Luca]

I am pretty certain that the Chicago supporters are asking for something which doesn't actually exist, which probably is why Toronto FC can't agree to the request! There is no block of 500 seats in one section that is available for a supporters group. The 3500 or so seats that are not given to season ticket holders are spread out all over the stadium, there is no way that 500 of those seats are all in the same block. I suspect the 100 seat block offered was the largest single block, and if anyone thinks that TFC should be forced to reserve different pairs of seats all over the rest of the stadium for couples of Chicago supporters, they are fooling themselves.

[Rudi]

To add to my post above, all of those 19,000 tickets were sold out at the end of November.

Section 8 requested 500 seats on January 3. You do to the math.

[seven]

Rudi raises one of the important points that has been missed so far in this discussion. Toronto has an ideal stadium for creating atmosphere, but sadly it is really too small to accomodate 500 away fans. Hopefully in 5 years the club will be looking at increasing capacity to around 30,000.
It would be great if there was a large block of tickets available for away fans & as the league's popularity increases this should be an issue the league addresses. The best way to address it is for the visiting team to commit to the number of tickets they want for their travelling supporters for each game. It then becomes encumbent on them to sell them to their fans.

[Gunner]

Well with 17,000 season and half-season packages sold that leaves 3,000 single game tickets left. If TFC give 500 to away support that's 17% of their single game tickets. Last year I went down to Chicago with TFC supporters. We took about 175-200 people. I think 200 would be an acceptable limit. 100 does suck and I'd hate to not be able to go to Chicago again this year if the same thing happened to us. I bet if a local group called the FO and asked for a block of 500 tickets they'd get rejected as well.

If you know anything about the owners, MLSE, than this would not surprise you at all. Not even real Leafs fans in Toronto can see games IN TORONTO. You couldn't even sell your baby to get into a game. And this is for a team that hasn't won a championship in over 40 years and hasn't made the playoff's since before the strike.

[Nick]

Hey Ives,

Did they give a reason for not selling Chicago fans the tickets or did they just say no?

[UnitedOne]

How about if most supporters concentrate their effort to fill their own sections and stadiums somewhat respectively first before we worry about away support?

I'm all for building a rivalry between supporters, but to me, it's all premature at this point. Should TFC cater to Chicago away supporters? Frankly, I don't have a problem either way. But bottom line is, how often are we having this kind of issue in MLS?

I see BMO as only venue that fits this issue. So in BMO, DC have their game on Wednesday this year, so I don't see DC supporters travelling more than 100. Other than Chicago and their one game, I see Revs and their supporters as maybe the other. So we're essentially talking about, at best, only 2 games out of entire MLS games from all the clubs this year that might pose this problem. Come on, are we being serious? I'm thinking maybe we're making a little too much out of this.

[Ives]

UnitedOne (and others), the point is that MLS needs to establish some guidelines before it becomes an issue. The whole waiting for something to become a problem before addressing it isn't exactly the best way to do business.

As for this statement, "How about if most supporters concentrate their effort to fill their own sections and stadiums somewhat respectively first before we worry about away support?" Are you a fan or a league employee? What's the point of that statement exactly?

Supporters willing to travel hundreds of miles to support their team probably aren't the reason their home matches don't sell out. I'm willing to bet that those same fans make it to their home matches with regularity. There is nothing wrong with establishing some policies that allow those die-hard fans to follow their teams anywhere they want to go.

[Ives]

Rudi, it isn't about admonishing Toronto FC. It is about MLS establishing a policy that makes every team in the league have to account for traveling fans. Ideally a professional club would not have to be told this but, as we have seen with Toronto, this is not the case.

[Rudi]

Ives, I agree that there should be a league mandated minimum (and even said so at the bottom of my first post), but until that happens, I don't see anything wrong with Toronto giving home fans priority.

My comment about admonishing TFC stems from the "outrage" coming from certain people on message boards. TFC has had the 100 seat away block since early last year, so it's not like this is a new development.

[Ives]

Rudi, I do agree that you can't really get too angry at Toronto for this situation. What I do think is that Toronto was a bit short-sighted not to at least consider having a policy already in place that sets aside a block of seats for away fans (I guess 100 was a block but the number should have been higher considering more than that many Fire fans went to Toronto a year ago).

I believe that was a mistake, one that wouldn't have been made if MLS had something in place. I'm not in the business of spending a lot of time ripping MLS for what it didn't do. My concern, and the point of the piece, is to say that MLS needs to DO something going forward to cater to traveling fans.

And it isn't about priority Rudi, a basic element of the soccer experience is having a place for road fans. This shouldn't be negotiable. And if you can't get one of the 18,000 or so fans allotted to Toronto fans then tough cookies. Are you saying Celtic fans shouldn't be given a place at Ibrox because Rangers could sell it out? Or Man City fans shouldn't necessarily have a place at Old Trafford? We all know that Man U can sell every seat in the place.

It isn't about choosing one fan over the other. Seats for opposing fans should not be an option, but an established right.

[MetroFlip73]

They could at least give them the opportunity to sell 200-250 tix to ChiTown fans, not just 100.

[michael]

It's not a new issue, it's the continuance of something that should have had better foresight (league-wide). The league needs to address this, as Ives suggested, turning a blind eye to what could be a looming issue is not the best course of action at this point--no matter whether it is for 1 game or 10 games/season, as some have suggested, and is beside the point.

The fact remains that if there are a group of people willing to travel and support their team (bringing in tourism dollars to the respective towns), the FO's should be required to accomodate any reasonable request. I am not going to say, or attempt to say what sort of a figure that should be, that is for the league and the teams to negotiate. And as a caveat to all of this, it needs to be said plainly: home fans will always get the bulk of the tickets, first dibs, whatever you want to call it--so selling a fraction of capacity to away support should not even be an issue. If demand in specific areas (TFC, as case in point) is so high, those would-be fans that couldn't get in are likely to come back game after game. Away support turned away is likely to take their money elsewhere. I understand that might not effect the average fan which would confuse that for a good thing; however, anyone who is a little more saavy understands that an opposing team and an honest rivalry is only enhanced when you also play host to the opposition fan, as well.

Let's be frank, the money spent in travel and accomodation, tourism and travel is an attractive prospect to FO's and the respective team cities, and they need to be scrutinizing this a little closer than they are doing now, before it becomes a real powderkeg issue. Maybe we are quite some time away from that, but there is no reason not to head this potential problem off at the pass.

I am honestly glad that the league must be growing, and die-hard fans are willing to travel so much that this has become a spotlight issue. My only hope is that, while the league may not have planned for this, that they act accordingly, and not push this off.

[David - michfan2123]

I made my first road trip to New England for the Red Bulls 2nd playoff match. It was a lot of fun. NY-NE is a pretty friendly rivalry. This upcoming season I plan on going t o both D.C. trips and the New England one. NY-DC is not as friendly.

I wish RB @ Toronto wasn't on a Thurseday, if it was on a weekend we would travel up.

Anyway, in New England we had our own section and were seperated from everyone else. It was funny.

[Brett]

Rudi: if they have the 100 seat block, whats the harm in opening it up to 500 and then allowing those seats to be sold once the away fans to take a stab??

why not allow a block of 500 (should be sufficient) and give away teams a specific date to request the whole or part of the block, then open it back up to the public.... i work for a music venue, and we typically set aside a good size block for Fan Clubs (of musicians) and once their due date comes, whatever isnt sold goes on sale for the general public... this isnt rocket science

[Brett]

my statement isnt directed solely at TFC, but rather as a whole

[Brian]

Ives:

Why does MLS need to establish guidelines when - as of now - this is an isolated issue? Why can't MLS talk with teams about their plans before making some unilateral decision designed to solve one situation?

I have a funny feeling that some of the people saying the league is turning a blind eye to this are the same people complaining when the league steps in to solve other issues instead of letting the teams work them out.

You can't have things both ways. The league needs to guide the discussion among the teams, but I don't see where they should start dictating policy until there's more than one example of a problem.

[Andrew]

I traveled to the first leg of the NYRB-NERevolution playoff series this past year with the Midnight Riders. It was quite awesome, going into your stadium and seeing the frustration and anger and fear on RB fans faces, knowing that there was no way they'd get a win in foxboro a few days later.
RB made us sit in the upper deck though...we were the only ones up there the whole way around. Which was ridiculous. They couldnt have sat us behind the opposite goal that the RB supporters groups were behind? Stupid. For the second leg, the RB supporters who came to foxboro(which definitely numbered less than the number of Riders who went to the Meadowlands) got to sit behind the opposite goal as the Fort. The Revs FO didnt put them way up high where normal tickets arent even sold like RB did to us.

[satan's choice]

i think 100 seats is fine.
very few teams can bring large crowds.
serve the home fans first.
500 fans for a single game during 365 days ain't gonna help toronto's tourism industry.
away fans don't help the atmosphere, as the atmosphere is great at BMO Field already thanks to the home fans.
People who are throwing out numbers don't realize that they are throwing out arbitrary numbers that aren't based on reality.
If not 100, why not 1000, why not 200?
Because you can't have a policy that's uniform for each situation.
It's hard to deny TFC fans, who have a huge waiting list, in a relatively small stadium.So the limit is 100.
In Columbus, they don't sell out, so they can choose to allow more.
nothing more needs to be done.

[Brett]

brian: again, setting aside tickets is nothing new for any venue. obviously the large bulk of tickets should be offered to home fans but there should be a chance for rival fans to travel and see their team.

again, its nothing new to set aside tickets, and if they arent sold by a specific date, sell them to the public (see my original post).

this may be isolated, but it easily could prevent alot of rivalries from growing. and its not asking alot, only a few games would you have anything to worry about, the rest would be almost always TFC.

[Brett]

Satan's Choice: go to any music venue, there will be fan club tickets set aside, promotional tickets set aside, artist holds, etc...

2.5% of the stadium's capacity isnt realistic?? yes i would agree games against LA and Seattle (in the future) it wouldnt be feasible. but just like my music venue example, you offer a specific date for those fan bases, then whatever's left you open up to the public. i guarantee that TFC wouldnt have an issue of selling left overs.

again, im not pinning this solely on TFC, but rather pointing out that venues acrossed the nation do the exact thing we are talking about and dont have an issue

[UnitedOne]

"the point is that MLS needs to establish some guidelines before it becomes an issue"

I'm all for establishing the guidelines. I've already stated I don't have a problem either way, meaning I can see it becoming an issue in the future. But given the state of the league is in right now in regards to the lack of attendance in majority of the venue, how far ahead are we looking ahead here? My point when I say "How about if most supporters concentrate their effort to fill their own sections..." is not in any way to slam the fans nor the league. It's just a reality of the attendance in MLS. In order for this issue to become a reality, the stadiums need to be sold out first and foremost. And other than BMO, I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Meaning, I think people are making too much deal out of this that is all. To set a guideline for fear of it becoming an issue in the future is really not a convincing reason for me. It's like someone saying we need to set a guideline because MLS rookies will eventually make way too much money in the future. Or how about setting a guideline for expanding the stadiums because I worry that all the SSS will be packed and will be too small. Now you see my point?

[Mike]

The issue at the moment is not about having seats reserved for away fans, it is the number that should be reserved.

Toronto has set aside seats. I agree 100 is too low but what is the right number.

Everyone is comparing the situation to europe but in reality we are miles apart on this issue.

Last year 200 was the maximum number of away supporters that came to BMO and more often much less. MLSE could argue 100 is reasonable based on last year (two exceptions). Especially when it is impossible for a TFC fan without Seasons to get a ticket.

Why would Chicago supporters think they would simply get what they asked for (more than double they brought previously) when we had sold all of our season tickets and half packs by November.

I think they said "no" because they didn't have a block of 500 tickets available.

I agree it needs to be dealt with by the league and minimums have to be set in place, but 5000 people are waiting for season tickets, and only 1 or two games last year had over even 100 traveling fans, yet we want to hold 500 or more? 500 for each away game.

Its not some league wide conspiracy to keep away fans out.

TFCs number traveling to Columbus seems to be masking the actual MLS traveling numbers.

Something has to be in place and hopefully it will be dealt with by next year. The largest away support i have ever seen mentioned is 800, where the team paid for its fans to travel.

I would bet that the league average is less than 100. Chicago fans have to be realistic as well. People in Toronto are traveling to away games as their only means of getting a ticket to see TFC.

[michael]

Satan's friend--

--100 isn't enough when 500 are requested
--if few teams can bring large crowds, then why are you against limiting those that can to 100?
--home fans have already been surved to the tune of 97% or more of the stadium
--500 fans DO have a tourism impact; I'm not going to extrapolate too much, but suffice it to say, let's say that 500 spend an average of $20 on beers, that's $10,000. Not a massive economic impact, but it certainly would be revenue welcome. Aside from that, I might be more inclined to see something I like while at an away match somewhere in the city I am visiting, and want to return---residual tourism; I wouldn't rule out it's importance with such a ill-founded statment.
--you clearly don't understand the concept of healthy rivalry enhancing professional sports, in terms of enhancing the atmosphere of an opposition's stadium
--I agree too many people are throwing out arbitrary #'s, that's why the league needs to sort out a more firm reality of what should be a mandate (or suggested guideline)
--you can have a policy that is uniform, as long as it leaves room for reciprocity
--It is denying any TFC fan, it is allowing away support (in the instances that it exists) to flourish and help grow the league.
--Let's leave C-bus out of it. I hope they get more home fans to their stadium...it's an awfully sad situation as it is. Although, that is where an 'away support' cap may be the polar opposite end of the discussion currently in point.
--more not only needs to be done, it HAS to be done

[Mike]

Brett:

I agree with your statement about reserving a block of 500 but i believe it is logistically not feasible, at least this year. In future years, hopefully.

I think the estimate is there are 1000 singles going to be made available after Full and half season are sold. (Nothing has been sold to the public yet).

The 1000 will likely be scattered across the stadium in different price ranges.

The away section -104- has STH in the bottom half. the top likely does not hold more than maybe 250.

In order to make a block of 500 available they would likely have to move 200-300 STH to other locations. Not an easy task, and especially because of 1 game.

[andy b.]

I don't have any opinion about this particular situation, but I think there is a larger point here. I think as much publicity about this kind of thing as possible is probably a GREAT thing for the league. You know what MLS needs? A little public acrimony to kick start some serious rivalries. It will go a long way toward changing the perception of the league in the public at large. I mean this seriously. The general public will start to realize this is a 'real' league when teams start getting notice for doing stuff like this to jerk eachother around-- this needs to get parlayed into "Man, those Toronto fans really hate that Chicago team, huh?" and vice versa. Please don't harp on me about this post-- I KNOW this is a 'real' league with real fans who are passionate-- I'm just saying the general public is still a long way from getting to that point.

[Mike]

andy b:

i agree, rivalries are important to the development of the league.

The league need to accommodate away support.

But we cant get ahead of ourselves with the reality of MLS away support.

Telling the only team in the league to sell out every game, to not sell out every game, is likely not what the MLS wants to do at the moment.