Some TFC season-ticket holders won’t have usual seats for MLS final

Success can come at a cost, as Toronto FC has learned.

Celebrations over making the MLS Cup final have been mixed with blowback from some season ticket-holders unhappy that while they can buy tickets for Toronto’s Dec. 10 championship game at BMO Field against Seattle, they won’t be the seats they usually call home.

“Hey @torontofc 10 years of being a season tickets holder and this is how you repay me!!,” one supporter tweeted.

On the heels of Toronto’s wild win over the Montreal Impact Wednesday to advance to the MLS Cup final, season ticket-holders got an email from the club containing good and bad news.

“Toronto FC will be hosting MLS Cup and we couldn’t be more excited! We will play the Seattle Sounders on Dec. 10th at BMO Field. Please note that this is a league event and therefore will operate differently than our other playoff matches this season. What this means, is that we cannot guarantee your season seat location but you will get an opportunity to purchase the same amount of seats you have in your account before we go on sale to the public.”

Toronto FC has some 18,700 season ticket-holders.

Major League Soccer, which had no comment on the ticket issue, has taken over some of these tickets to use for sponsors and other clubs. Seattle will also get an allotment high in the east stand, where travelling supporters are usually housed. Supporters groups, the hardcore fans easily identifiable in the stadium’s south end, were able to get their regular season tickets.

A spokesman for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the soccer club, said league-run events are a challenge.