Montreal to have an Impact on MLS?

Posted on 5/10/2010

Bienvenue MLS!  Don Garber made official last week what many have known within league circles would just be a matter of time and that is naming Montreal the third Canadian franchise to enter Major League soccer in 2010.  Toronto FC opened Canada’s doors to MLS and the league certainly has taken notice.  Vancouver will kick-off their inaugural season in the league next year after many successful years in the NASL, A-League, USL, and USSF Division II.  Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo has to be a very proud man today.  To take this franchise from the brink to slowly building back the team, brand, watching attendances grow over the years at Claude Robillard Stadium, moving to Saputo Stadium and now finally the icing on the cake; Major League Soccer! 

Joey Saputo and Don Garber shook hands over the expansion deal on Thursday, May 6. (MLS)

If you’ve ever been to Montreal you feel a different vibe in the city from the moment you arrive.  Some say snobby, I say culture, passion for food, arts, music and certainly sports.  It does have that European feel right here in North America.  No doubt the organization and fans of the Montreal Impact will continue to cultivate the soccer culture in Montreal and with that said it can only benefit soccer as a whole in Canada.  The after-shocks of this announcement will be felt for years to come not only in Montreal, but for our entire soccer nation. 

I have never doubted the talent or ability of Canadian soccer players.  People who don’t think there are enough, in my mind, have just not been around the game enough.  When I say talent I mean talent that needs to be developed as in any professional sport.  Vancouver Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi attributes Canada qualifying for its only World Cup in 1986 to players having a top league domestically and at the time it was the North American Soccer League.  With Youth Academies in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver it may not happen overnight, but now younger Canadian soccer players know soccer can actual be a profession right here at here at home. With the new CBA in MLS new players will actually start to make a little bit of money too.  Although soccer claims to be the highest participatory sport in the nation I would also suspect it has the largest drop-out rate right around a person playing the sport turns 13 or 14 years old.  That may now all change as players start to understand they have so many more options in the sport.

After a slow start Toronto FC are starting to play together as a team and would love nothing more to start climbing the Eastern Conference Standings in search for their first play-off berth, but if they do not manage to get there one might ask, “who will be the first Canadian MLS team to make the play-offs?”  Certainly the Chicago Fire set the bar that is going to be next to impossible to beat, winning MLS Cup in their first year and more recently we’ve seen how another club who made the jump from the old USL faired in their first season in the Seattle Sounders.  Having that framework for a team around for years I think makes for a much more successful start in MLS where Toronto FC basically had to start from scratch.

The first year of the Canadian Championship was an eye opener for the rest of Canada on the progress of soccer in Montreal.  Winning the Championship, earning a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League Group stage and nearly getting through to the semi-finals was outstanding for the club and maybe even better was the close to sell-out crowd at Olympic Stadium.  The addition of 7,000 seats at Saputo Stadium will make it another tough house to go into and earn three points and what is even better is the rivalry we’ve seen grow between Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto in NHL and CFL now make it to soccer.  Every bit of this announcement is not only good for soccer in Montreal, but for soccer in Canada as a whole and it will not doubt be a financial success which is exactly what the league wants to hear too.  Congrats Montreal and we’ll see you in 2012.