The city of Toronto continues to be in the throes of some tough marketing days for it's pro and semi-pro sports teams.

And it isn't just that we are in the depths of a recession right now that sees a lot of NHL teams not selling out every night. It is common place. About the only places that sell out regularly are Madison Square garden in New York for the Rangers and the Air Canada Center for the Leafs.

Toronto is a city whose hunger for a winner is almost at a deafening roar.

When the Toronto Nationals won a lacrosse title, they should have been headline news in the Toronto newspaper. Afterall, there have been few championships lately for the CFL's Argos, MLB Blue Jays, NLL's, Toronto Rock (who used to win regularly), NBA's Raptors, NHL's Leafs and AHL's Marlies.

Fans want to see a winner and they have been treated to a precious few lately.

If any team can capture the sporting public's imagination with an exciting run, they could be front page news on the sports' pages for weeks.

If Toronto F.C. can capture a Major League soccer playoff spot in just their 3rd year of existence, it would be one of those major sports stories.

Incredibly, with their weekend 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake, they are still alive after blowing so many leads in the dying moments of games this season.

Stay tuned.

Wayjoy

The media in this city is a joke. If it's not Leafs, Raptors or Jays, they don't care. They would all rather pound the mainstream crap down our throats than acknowledge there's actually a sports scene going on outside the big 3.

Who cares about the Media. TFC has tons of support from a massive and diverse group.

"First step to receiving help is helping yourself."

"Looking at what you are not doing is just another way of doing nothing."

Winner or not the Maple Leafs lead the entire 30 team league in franchise worth. If you are into money that's a real winner! And success isn't always in how many championships you have although I think we sit 2nd in that category. The fact that you are considered the "Nations Team" speaks volumes.

Perhaps the members of this forum could band together for an LFL franchise.
That is the recently formed Lingerie Football League. There are already 8 teams & the lineups are all winners.
WEX could do player interviews, Mr. Lewis media relations...SMC the MC... build the franchise,they will come.
Toronto TARTANS perhaps?

"The media in this city is a joke. If it's not Leafs, Raptors or Jays, they don't care."

Kind of like that here in Kigston with the Whig Standard, CSTR . If it is not the Fronts or the Queen's U. football team, there is not as much coverage.

"TFC has tons of support from a massive and diverse group."

They sure do, Matty . And I am one of them.

"The fact that you are considered the "Nations Team" speaks volumes."

I am just not certain who coined that phrase, Dukester . The Toronto media?

"Lingerie Football League. There are already 8 teams & the lineups are all winners.
WEX could do player interviews, Mr. Lewis media relations...SMC the MC... build the franchise,they will come.
Toronto TARTANS perhaps?"

I like it, Hanson .

Wayjoy

You can blame the media for an awful lot like spiking the Leafs fortunes this year for an example. But they did not phrase the "Nations Team". The Leafs have the largest fan base from coast to coast than any other. I think that is undisputable. Even the Sens fans would have to agree.LOL

"TFC has tons of support from a massive and diverse group."

That may be true but they cannot be taken for granted. I was at the game nine days ago when they blew the lead so late against the San Jose Earthquakes and there was a lot of booing at the end and a lot of talk about how bad they are. People will still go but they need to actually achieve something soon to cement that fanbase.

I seem to remember a celebration after each of the Rock's championships and it was headline news last time the Argos won.

As far as the Nationals, I was happy. They should get the Nationals on Rogers next season. That would be a start for letting the general public know there is an field lacrosse team in the city.

As for the media. I would not blame them, they report/print what sells.











Support Our Troops !


Go Leafs !
Go Jays !
Go Raptors !
Go Argos !
Go Rock !
Go TFC !
Go Nationals !


WEXDOG is a Cowboys Fan ! 3-2
09,11,01
Lest We Forget
11,11,11

"That may be true but they cannot be taken for granted. I was at the game nine days ago when they blew the lead so late against the San Jose Earthquakes and there was a lot of booing at the end and a lot of talk about how bad they are. People will still go but they need to actually achieve something soon to cement that fanbase."

I still beg to differ. The fan buses that go down out of town games are absolutely ridiculous. I all see a lot of people who are not fans of soccer who have become huge supporters of TFC.





"First step to receiving help is helping yourself."

"Looking at what you are not doing is just another way of doing nothing."

Hey Hanson, how much does it cost to put an expansion team together? I'd chip in if I can be the locker room attendant, hand towels to players stepping out of the showers and whatnot.

Wayne, here in Kingston I disagree. Yes, they do give the Fronts and Queens U football a lot of exposure, but after all those are the big tickets in town. In the summer they give the Ponies a great deal of exposure.

It is getting embarassing to talk about this town as having anything to brag about. We suck!

I don't know why ... but numerous efforts to fix the franchizes here seem to fall completely flat.

Wayne has it right Dean, the coverage in the local rag is not very good. It is in large part due to the fact that the newspaper is no longer locally owned and this corporate ownership group has cut the staff to the bare bones. When the Whig was owned by the Davies family, the editorial staff was second to non in the country and the commitment to reporting local sports was very good. From minor hockey to the elite levels of all sports there was in depth game and league coverage, interviews with players and staff and tons of pictures. There are archives available that attest to the way it used to be.

I have had conversations with some people involved with the Whig about the lack of coverage and was told flat out that unless someone calls in a score or story, they just won't know about it. They don't have the staff to go out to the events and dig up the stories. Major events such as the high school football championships are covered but often the better games and stories that surround them happen in regular season games. The readership will unfortunately not ever find out about such events however.

The change in the way people get the news today has contributed to the decline in the quality and quantity of reporting as well. The internet is now the preferred way by which people get their news and information. I predict that the Whig standard will soon either fold or go into a tabloid format much like the corporation's other papers (Sun).

The Whig did give extensive coverage to the Vees last spring during their playoff run with reporters riding the bus with the team and have accurately reported on the current edition of Robinson's troops but I don't think that their sports reporters have attend many games. This is sad because having an undefeated hockey team in the city is significant. The Queen's University football team is also undefeated by the way.

The Globe's Jeff Blair has an interesting story today on the collapse of TFC and of Toronto sports' teams that follows the theme of this thread;



Jeff Blair

Published on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 11:11PM EDT Last updated on Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 1:03AM EDT

J.P. Ricciardi is gone, but lucky for Mo Johnston, he can still get up every morning and thank God that he has Brian Burke and Bryan Colangelo to provide cover.

I dont know how else the man keeps his job after Saturday. Do you?

Toronto is not a picky sports city any more. The teams combined are what? 1-16-1 this month, not including the Raptors preseason? No significant pro franchise has made the playoffs since the Raptors lost in the first round in 2008. The Argos last appeared in 2007 first-round loss and the Maple Leafs in 2004. The Blue Jays have been shut out since 1993. Even the Buffalo Bills have caught the Toronto disease until recently.

But even in this bleakest of sporting autumns, the stuff you hear about the poisonous atmosphere around Toronto FC is remarkable. And youd be hard pressed to find a more devastated group after it was embarrassed 5-0 by the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Saturday.

Yeah, yeah, the 16 goals leaked by TFC in the last 15 minutes of matches this season suggests they blew a playoff spot long before their final game of the season. Point taken. Still, to come out in the biggest game in the three-year history of the franchise and stink this badly? Against a poor team? Thats unacceptable. Thats unforgivable and totally worthy of making somebody pay other than Chris Cummins, who looked Saturday like a guy who needed a hug more than a new contract and sounded like hed take the hug over the contract any day.

Gutted was the word used repeatedly in the TFC dressing room. Rookie Sam Cronin said pointedly that the team needed a culture change and a psychological overhaul. You dont get that out of Luke Schenn. Dwayne De Rosario, meanwhile, said: I want to see more heart on this team. How do you teach that? You tell me. I could have came in here and kicked everything down but whats that going to prove. Ive done it many times and theres been no response. Been there and done that.

Cummins came as close as any coach Ive been around to publicly telling his bosses to shove their job. Listen, I was asked to come in and do a job until the end of the season and thats what Ive done, Cummins said. Ive made mistakes all the way, the same as everyone else. Will I be here next year? Listen, theres a fair chance I wont be. My familys back in the U.K. and I need to be near my family. They came out with me when I first came out and unfortunately there was things promised me that I didnt get at the end of it.

Cummins wouldnt reveal the nature of those promises, but he doesnt strike anybody as a guy whod pull something out of his butt just to make a point. (Strategy included.) Mostly, he seems like a decent guy put in a situation for which he would have been wholly unprepared even if he wasnt having his legs cut out from under him.

TFC is a cozy little niche money maker for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and in players such as De Rosario, Cronin, Julian de Guzman, OBrian White and when he isnt throwing his arms in the air in exasperation Amado Guevara, this franchise isnt exactly bereft. Yet time and again, TFC has been done in by a lack of a commanding defender.

Burke hasnt been able to find a goalie, Colangelos backcourt has been soft, Ricciardi ran through an entire 25-man roster in search of a shortstop during eight years and Johnston hasnt been able to find that defensive stopper. It has crushed this team, and while the savvier segments of this extremely engaged fan base seem to have seen through Johnston, the words of MLSE executive vice-president and chief operating officer Tom Anselmi suggests Mo wont go. In other words: Enjoy that new grass field in 2010!

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, yeah, Anselmi responded when he was asked whether Johnston would be returning.

You know, its Year 3, said Anselmi, as TFC slinked out of its dressing room. First year? Twenty-something points. Next year? Thirty-something points. Third year? Thirty-nine points, lots of good young players and something to build upon. So that part of it is good but this didnt feel good at all tonight.

No it didnt, and thats on Mo Johnston. Hes the guy who established this culture and psychology. Is he the one to change it? Doubtful. Extremely doubtful.

"The media prints what sells?" What a cop out. There's so much more going on with the world of sports that it really wouldn't kill them to add a page or three. There IS more to life than Leafs, Jays and Raptors.

On a side note, it seems that one of the better teams in the city is the Toronto Junior Canadiens. 11 wins in 18 games isn't bad.

POSTED: 10-05-2009 02:11 PM ET | MODIFIED: 10-05-2009 06:08 PM ET
Reading Lands Lingerie Football Team For Upcoming Season


The Sovereign Center in Reading is already home to one indoor football team. But another team that will take the field inside the arena later this month is guaranteed to be unlike any most football fans have seen before. The Lingerie Football League will bring its New York Majesty to Reading for the upcoming season. The Majesty will take on the Philadelphia Passion in their home opener on October 30.

"There are no more passionate football fans than right here in Pennsylvania," said Mitchell S. Mortaza, founder and chairman of the Lingerie Football League. "We are incredibly fortunate to have not one but two teams playing in the state of Pennsylvania."

Philadelphia's team actually plays at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey.

Mortaza says opening night at the Sovereign Center will feature a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere. Festivities will begin at 5:00 with kick-off following at 9:00.

"The LFL has the nation buzzing with its blend of edge-of-your-seat football and the Friday night party atmosphere," said Zane Collins, Sovereign Center general manager. "We could not be more honored that the league chose Sovereign Center as the official home of the New York Majesty." League officials say they're hoping the proximity of the Sovereign Center in Reading and the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton will make for an "incredible rivalry" between the Majesty and the Passion.

Each team in the league plays only four games during the regular season. The Majesty's other home game will be against the Chicago Bliss on November 20. They'll go on the road against the Miami Caliente in Sunrise, Florida on November 13 and the Tampa Breeze in Tampa on January 15.

Photos courtesy: Lingerie Football League, LLC

For those who don't believe we could have an instant winner:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/story.html?id=2192141