So a 20, 000 soccer stadium is going up in Toronto, and a 10, 000 seat soccer stadium is going up in Montreal. Interesting.

There are still a lot of question marks about the stadium ever being built at York. If the Under 20 tournament is the success here that FIFA hopes it is, it already seems the final will be on temporary grass at SkyDome, which was filled to the rafters twice last summer for exhibition soccer matches. For the Argos, there decision was one that was fiscally prudent, and at least here we have an example that building a new stadium is not the only solution for a sports team. Consider that it was the Argos who really pushed the idea of moving out of Rogers Centre to provide a better venue to fans.

So what happens now with Toronto's....the Maple Leaf's bid for a MLS expansion team? I was under the assumption that the new 20, 000 seat soccer stadium would be their new home.

York has to decide whether or not to go forward. Then they have to decide to seek replacement for the 20 million the Argos are pulling or scale down from 25k to 20k and scale down other features. MLSE won't fill the gap. It's up in the air.-------Montreal draws 10k for minor league soccer. Charleston has their own stadium (private). Rochester will have one open later this year (public). Atlanta is building a small one (private). Vancouver will build something (very wealthy owner). Some teams are developing stable, profitable situations. Right now none have little to do with MLS though Rochester might become a serious candidate.

One would have to think that in a city as large as Toronto with such an ethnic populace that loves soccer, $20 mill could be found for this stadium. Or maybe the soccer people are too frugal compared with their Montreal counterparts who seem to see the light and wish to invest in their community with a sport that is close to their heart.

In Montreal they already have a team that averages 9k per game. The minor league team in Toronto averages less then 2500 with owners who apparently don't have the same kind of deep pockets. Montreal is building a minor league stadium that I have heard little about being expandable for MLS. Toronto was set to get a CFL stadium that could double as a MLS stadium with a completely different ownership group coming in. Two totally different situations. Toronto hasn't justified a need for a minor league stadium though MLS might draw ok. Montreal isn't building a future MLS stadium as far as I can tell.

It's hard to beleive that a downtown stadium for soccer can't be built in Toronto. oh well.

well so far stadiums in LA, Chicago, Dallas, and NYC aren't downtown so it's not that hard to believe? The one in Denver will be fairly close, but again, not downtown. I'm thinking DC will have the first (Rochester has 2 more phases to go to be full ready and Charleston and soon Atlanta have minor league facilities).

Toronto is a big city, put there is no local public money for this sort of thing. So long as private finaciers are not willing to step up, stadia are not going to be built. There were matching funds based on the FIFA tournament, to come from the federal government, but that sort of money is not endless. Cynamon and Sokolovski of the Argos clearly got cold feet when they were the ones to be on the hook for cost overruns, and then Rogers lowered their season costs to play at Rogers Centre from $750k to $500k, plus incentives. Pretty hard to convince yourself to build a stadium.