Toronto FC is a Canadian professional soccer club located in Toronto, and the first non-American team in Major League Soccer (MLS). The club's first regular season match was April 7, 2007 at Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, a 0-2 loss to Chivas USA. Although they did not make the playoffs, Toronto FC was a financial success in its inaugural season, selling out every home game in the 20,522-seat BMO Field and capturing media attention.
The name of the club was officially announced on May 11, 2006 by the team's owner, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE). The "FC" in the team's name is the conventional initials for Football Club, but in official media and documents the team has only been referred to as Toronto FC, never Toronto Football Club. Larry Tannenbaum, chairman of MLSE, stated at the team name's unveiling that "I think the way we spell it is 'futbol'."
The announcement followed an online consultation in which the public was invited to vote on the name during a limited period. The voting options were "Toronto Nationals," "Inter Toronto," "Toronto Reds," "Toronto FC," and "Toronto Barons." MLSE's strategy in choosing "Toronto FC" following this process was based on two reasons. Firstly, over 40 percent of the online vote supported the simplified Toronto FC name during the consultation. Secondly, MLSE hoped that with this fairly generic name the new club would earn a more organic nickname from the Toronto fans rather than having one imposed upon the club. This processed has slowly occurred over the course of the club's early history with Toronto FC widely referred to simply by the initials "TFC" or the "Reds" (after their home kit color) by several media groups and members of the Toronto FC staff. The official team colors are Collegiate Red, White, Dark Onyx, and Light Onyx.
Richard Peddie, CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. has stated that he and the ownership would be content with between 13,000-15,000 fans per game at Toronto FC home games; however, this range has been exceeded. The club capped their season tickets sales at 14,000 on March 15, 2007, setting a league record. For the 2008 season the cap was raised and Toronto FC announced that they have sold 16,000 season tickets.
The fans have been called enthusiastic, but sometimes rowdy by North American standards. The Toronto FC front office sent an email to season ticket holders in 2007 asking fans to refrain from throwing objects on the field, or running onto the field. This was in response to the celebrations seen during the club's first victory, coming in a MLS match at home to Chicago Fire.
Toronto FC are owned and managed by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., who are also the owners and operators of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a National Hockey League team, the Toronto Raptors, a National Basketball Association team, and the Toronto Marlies, an American Hockey League team. Along with owning professional sports teams as well as Leafs TV and Raptors NBA TV, the company is also involved in real estate and property management, owning sports venues such as the Air Canada Centre and managing the General Motors Centre and the Ricoh Coliseum. Tom Anselmi, the COO and executive vice-president of MLSE, is regarded as the team's president, while the general manager duties are held by Director of football (soccer) Mo Johnston. Paul Beirne is Director of Business Operations.
Toronto FC's opening match against Chivas USA was broadcast on Rogers SportsNet. On April 11, 2007 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced it too had secured rights to broadcast some of the team's matches, along with The Score. The CBC carried 14 regular-season games in 2007, including the home opener and the MLS debut of David Beckham at BMO Field on August 5. Rogers SportsNet employs Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest for the play calling while James Sharman and Paul James call the games on The Score. On CBC, Nigel Reed and Jason DeVos handle the broadcasts with Mitch Peacock performing the sideline role for the national broadcaster.
No radio arrangements have been announced to date.
