IMPACT NEEDS TO BOOST ITS RELEVANCE, MLS BOSS SAYS
Montreal will only get an All-Star Game when games sell out more consistently
As Montreal celebrates its 375th anniversary this year, it would have been nice to have an MLS All-Star Game at Saputo Stadium as part of the festivities.
But that won’t happen, and MLS commissioner Don Garber explained why Tuesday morning during a news conference at the Impact’s Centre Nutrilait practice facility.
“We need more relevance for this team,” Garber said. “It’s not just a soccer club. There are three professional sports teams in this city. I want this team to be as important as any other professional sports team and that means it’s integrated as part of what is important in Montreal. If there’s going to be a big 375th anniversary celebration, we want this club to be a big part of that.
“I believe this team should be selling out every game,” Garber added. “We have to figure out what we need to do to get that to happen. When I look at similar size cities where we’re able to sell out and be deeply relevant, we have all the elements in place here in terms of what the owner is doing, what the team brand represents, what its media partners and what its corporate partners are doing. I turn on my television and I want to see a sellout every game. And that’s the north star. Deep relevance.”
The Impact will never come close to the Canadiens when it comes to importance or relevance in Montreal, but you can make a very good argument that the soccer club passed football’s Alouettes and moved into second place last summer while advancing to the Eastern Conference final before losing to Toronto FC. Game 1 of the conference final attracted a sellout crowd of 61,004 to Olympic Stadium, but it turned out to be another sign of how Montreal has become more of an event city and a Canadiens city than a sports city.
The crowd for the Impact’s game against the Columbus Crew last Saturday at Saputo Stadium was generously announced as 17,506 — more than 3,000 less than a sellout. The Impact haven’t helped themselves this season when it comes to attracting fans, losing 3-2 to the Crew to drop their record to 2-4-4 and they now sit in last place in the 11-team Eastern Conference.
But last season, the Impact only attracted a crowd of 15,027 to Saputo Stadium for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Red Bulls before really capturing the city’s attention while coming within one victory of advancing to the MLS Cup.
“I think we’ve built a fan base that matters here and that fan base comes out on big events,” Garber said. “CONCACAF games, certainly the playoff games. Seeing that fan base come out more consistently would be something that I would say I’d like to see the team do better at going forward. But in terms of the super positive things, it’s a terrific brand. I mean this is one of the better brands in professional sports in my opinion. It represents the character of the city, it’s got a uniqueness to it.”
Garber praised Impact president Joey Saputo, calling him a “very special owner” with a commitment to soccer at the MLS level and the youth level with the Impact Academy as well as being a “great corporate citizen.” The commissioner called Saputo Stadium a “wonderful building,” added that Centre Nutrilait is a model practice facility for the other 21 teams in MLS and said Impact midfielder Ignacio Piatti is one of the best players in league history.
But it still wasn’t enough to bring the All-Star Game to Montreal this season as part of the city’s 375th anniversary celebrations. The Impact was promised an All-Star Game at some point when it joined MLS five years ago, but this year’s game will be played Aug. 2 at Chicago’s Soldier Field with the MLS stars taking on Real Madrid. Garber said that game is a partnership between the league, the city and the Chicago Fire, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel playing a key role. There will be a wide variety of events throughout Chicago, including concerts and grassroots soccer programs.
Garber said he has never met Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who doesn’t hide the fact he’s a huge baseball fan with a goal of bringing the Expos back to the city. Garber said he’s looking forward to the opportunity to one day meet Coderre and sell MLS to the mayor.
“We’ve committed an All-Star Game to Montreal when they came into the league,” Garber said. “The All-Star Game is going to come here. It’s not an if, it’s a when, and the when needs to happen in a way that’s good for the city and it’s good for the Impact and it’s good for everything that we’re trying to do for the sport in this region.”
Unfortunately, there’s still work to be done — both on and off the field.