Reds ready to grow their brand
Attendance, increased TV ratings a platform for MLS club to further increase reach
Toronto FC hosts the Montreal Impact in the most important game in franchise history Wednesday night but, win or lose, the Reds have already put up stunning numbers.
TFC averaged 26,583 spectators at BMO Field this season, 13.4 per cent more than last year. And when these teams played the first leg of their Eastern Conference final, more than one million viewers tuned in on TSN and RDS.
Even though the club has been more popular, TFC president Bill Manning says that, from a business standpoint, 2016 is less a high point than a platform. From here, Manning says, the club — making just its second Major League Soccer playoff appearance in its 10-year history — can turn a windfall into sustainable financial success. But only if the winning continues. “This is not something we want to be a one-and-done,” Manning said. “Our plan is to be good for a while, and I think our fan base will continue to grow.”
For years TFC’s off-field performance outstripped its on-field record. In 2013, Forbes valued the franchise at $121 million, fourth in a league that contained 19 teams at the time. That season the club averaged 18,131 spectators at 20,000-seat BMO Field, and finished 17th overall.
But a $220-million investment in the stadium and star players have propelled TFC to two playoff berths while driving franchise value even higher. This year Forbes valued TFC at $245 million, third-highest in the league. Experts say this year’s deep playoff run will make next year’s franchise valuation even more impressive.
It has already made the club more visible. While TFC’s most-watched regular-season match on TSN drew 164,000 viewers, its home-and-away playoff series against New York City FC averaged 229,500.
“If TFC makes the final, the halo effect will carry over into next year,” says Vijay Setlur, a sports marketing instructor at York University’s Schulich School of Business. “Season-ticket sales (will increase) . . . but the real anchor is strong, continued on-field performance.”
Franchise values are climbing across the league, from an average of $96 million in 2013 to $180 million in 2016, according to Forbes. MLS also set a new attendance record this season, with games drawing an average of 21,692 spectators.
Observers attribute the league’s growth to the high-priced, high-profile players populating MLS since David Beckham arrived in 2007, and to millennials who consider soccer a viable alternative to more mainstream sports.
That trend is also at work in Canada, where Montreal saw a 16.4 per cent attendance increase over 2015, and where the Vancouver Whitecaps grew attendance by nine per cent. McMaster University management professor Nick Bontis says those numbers reveal more than a passive migration to soccer by younger fans.
Soccer’s large participation numbers, Bontis says, hadn’t translated into financial success for a Canadianbased outfit until Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment helped create TFC, bringing big-time sports business expertise to Canadian pro soccer.
“You can thank the Maple Leafs and the Raptors for helping build that intellectual capital that now Toronto FC benefits from,” said Bontis, who teaches strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business. “It (also) has to do with financial backing. When you raise the standard for . . . operating budgets, you bring economies of scale to the game.”
Manning says the club’s next challenge is to close the gap between tickets sold and spectators in seats.
It won’t be a problem Wednesday night — all 36,000 seats (30,000 permanent and 6,000 temporary) have sold out.
In 2015, Manning says, only about 75 per cent of fans who bought tickets actually came to games. He says BMO Field’s new canopy helps by making fans less likely to skip games over bad weather.
But he says winning will help even more.
“There was a lot of built-up frustration but now our team is really delivering,” Manning said. “We have our niche of fans in the marketplace and I think we’re in a growth mode.”