REPORT: BLACKOUT! - Massive Toronto Fan Protest Expected at All Star Game

This Candadian Content courtesy of our friends to the north, North End Elite:

PRESS RELEASE July 10, 2008
For immediate release

TORONTO FC SUPPORTERS TO PROTEST DURING MLS ALL-STAR GAME

A coalition of Toronto FC supporters groups will stage a silent protest
during the upcoming Major League Soccer all-star game at BMO Field in
Toronto.

The groups are increasingly concerned about the possible expansion of BMO
Field to accommodate CFL football and specifically the Toronto Argonauts.
The groups feel strongly that this would ruin the unique experience that
has made Toronto FC such a successful franchise. It is not possible to fit
a CFL field into the stadium without major reconstruction.

Toronto FC's most rabid supporters will sit rather than stand during the
all-star game. There will be limited chanting and cheering. They will wear
black. Many of these supporters have pledged to boycott Toronto FC games
should the stadium be retrofitted for CFL football.

"This is not an anti-Argos protest," said Pedro Almeida, leader of the
North End Elite supporters group. "Many of our members are Argos fans. We
have nothing against the Argos or the CFL. We wish them the best of
success. But Toronto FC fans signed up in the thousands to support this
team based on the premise of it being a soccer-specific stadium with real
grass and an intimate setting. We didn't get the grass. We better get to
keep the intimate setting."

Fans around the world mock MLS soccer when they see highlights of games
being played in cavernous NFL stadiums decorated with football yardlines.

"The supporters groups are united on this," said Jack DePoe, president of
the Red Patch Boys. "The club, the players, the media, everyone has
acknowledged the contribution of the supporters groups in the club's
success. We want everyone to understand how upset we are about the
possibility of a CFL football retrofit. We won't stand for this kind of
expansion."

"This was supposed to be our national soccer stadium," said Rudi Schuller,
one of the leaders of U Sector. "But the national team players have
already made it clear they prefer to play in other venues because of the
Field Turf. Rebuilding for the CFL would further take BMO Field away from
being the national soccer stadium."

Soccer-specific stadiums has long been a key part of the league's business
plan. Seven of the league's 14 teams currently play in SS stadiums. Two
others will move into SS stadiums within the next year. The rest have
plans to build one.

For more information please contact

Pedro Almeida at NEE
almeidapm@yahoo.ca
staff@thenorthendelite.com

---------

Several observations:

If the MLS All Stars are wearing Black and the protesters are wearing black........form your own conclusions.

If the protesters also protest the All Star Game Starting XI by chanting "United! United!" while wearing black.......could Monty Python come up with something funnier?

We at MLSR fully support this protest and wish our friends to the north a successful campaign against throwball.

VIDEO: New England Supporters Silent Protest of Post-Columbus Crackdown

We received this courtesy of a reader.

The Midnight Riders (the independent Supporter's Association for the Revolution) had planned to put together a special tifo event for the nationally televised ESPN game against DC United.

We have some of the strictest security already in there, but recent events, like a non-Midnight Rider smuggling in a beer, have led to further crackdowns on the Fort, where the Riders amongst others stand.

So, in the spirit of cooperation, they asked the Revolution for permission to do a tifo involving balloons.

The revs granted permission.

However, just days after the Columbus event, and less then 24 hours they told the Riders that they had revoked their permission..

They claim the events in Columbus had nothing to do with it, but read between the lines. The crackdown has begun.

Here is video of the end of the Rider's silent protest as the Riders and the rest of The Fort break their silence.

VIDEO: Toronto FC Supporters Plead Keep BMO Soccer Specific

Yet more Canadian Content.
Toronto FC supporters have put together a rather emotional video appeal to aid in their campaign and protest to keep a Canadian Football League (CFL) gridiron team from moving in to BMO Field and altering the dimensions of it. More about it can be read in this manifesto.




MLSR would like to encourage -all- MLS club supporters to back our friends to the north in their fight to keep BMO Field soccer specific. The alternative would be bad for the league and perhaps set a bad precedent. To make your thoughts heard on the matter you may write to commissioner Don Garber by clicking here.

REPORT: More on Houston Dynamo Stadium Movement

We have another update here from a Houston resident and writer for the Houston Offside:

Hi there,


I write for the Houston.theoffside.com Dynamo blog and have heard many rumblings of this and I see it happening and have been contacted by other fans in the area about this.

Basically every Dynamo fan in Houston is asking “You’ll give public funds to a (Horribly)losing franchise for a stadium, but not to a two time champion team?”

Expect something big to come from the sea of ORANGE!

We look forward to it, keep us posted!

REPORT: Toronto Supporters Plan Massive Protest (UPDATE)

In a story first alerted you to and which we touched on here at MLSR last week, and one which we've been closely tracking ever since, a new development has occurred.

We received the following email yesterday evening and from what we are hearing there should be a truly massive All Star Game protest against the Argos, a Canadian gridiron team, moving into BMO Field:

from Name Withheld to "MLSRumors@gmail.com" date Tue, May 13, 2008 at 8:52 PM subject Toronto FC Fan Protest planned for MLS All Star Game mailed-by gmail.com

hide details 8:52 PM (11 hours ago)

Reply

Hello:

This message below has been posted on all of the Toronto FC supporters groups website message boards this evening. The post details plans to collectively use the upcoming MLS all star game in Toronto to protest the possibility of the Canadian Football league's Toronto Argonauts possibly moving into, and ruining, BMO Field.

__________________________________________________


"We", all the Toronto FC Supporter Groups, believe is time we turn our concerns into actions. The possibility of BMO Field losing its SSS label and being shared with the Argos is a very real possibility and something that we are aware that could become a reality.

So no longer in our minds this is something that we can forget, dismiss and move on, we need to take actions, and not only during one game but actions during the season and off season. Actions that will ensure we have done all possible to avoid this scenario.

I want to be clear, TFC, BMO Field Staff and more so the Argos are not the enemy, we are protesting the possibility of our BMO Field will no longer be a SSS in seasons to come. For some this may be an Anti-Argo movement, but we don't want to look it just as that.

During these protests we encourage everyone to join in and participate, but we also ask you to keep the banners civil, clean and classy. You don't achieve much with vulgar language, it shows poorly on you and on what we are trying to achieve.

Enough talk and on with the action...


Protest - Start Point

Protest Date: All-Star Game

Protest:

- Everybody wears black. We are asking all TFC Supporters to wear a black tshirt for this game.
- NO Supporter banners, only "anti-argo" or anti-pigskin football banners.


Why the All-Star Game?

Well, no game will have more media exposure than all-star game, not only that something like this would get coverage over the media not just in Canada but USA and also would put some pressure on the City of Toronto, and MLS in general.

Most people are not willing to do anything during a TFC for many reasons that there is no point on illustrating, so an ALL-STAR game is also the best way since TFC is not directly involved. So is not like we are turning our backs on the team.


This is just the start, we will keep everyone posted of other initiatives that will be happening during the season...one protest, one game, is not enough to get our voices heard and solve our issues...so this is the beginning.

We need you in order to make this happen...so we are asking you for your support!!!!!

We at MLSR have pledged our full support to this cause, as we have in the past to the Sons of Benin seeking an MLS club of their own, the Sounders supporters in alerting them to the fact that the name Sounders initially was not an option and helped them retaining their historical name and most recently to the Houston Dynamo Supporters seeking a home for the champions, as well as a group of San Diegans seeking better MLS coverage.

We believe that in this league we as fans of the sport, have a fair amount of power if exercised in the right way, we've seen in time and time again with groups such as the highly successful Screaming Eagles and Barra Brava in DC and Sons of Ben in Philadelphia.

Supporting these causes however is what truly makes a fan, into a supporter.

As part of our support we have asked that this group send us any email addresses of officials who should be contacted there in Toronto. And we have also asked that the protesters send us any banner artwork or slogans they are working on.

If you feel strongly about this issue we urge you to write MLS Commissioner Don Garber here at this address.

REPORT: San Diego MLS Coverage Protest Update

Thanks to one of our readers we now have an update regarding the San Diego protest we reported on recently:

comment below posted @ original story linked at bottom of this page / by the author

Alfred Sikes (FCC Commissioner from 1989-92) called for "a commitment to the public trust" when he criticized television news coverage. By law, broadcast news must serve the public trust. Broadcast licensees do not enjoy the same First Amendment rights as other forms of mass media. In the case of television, this is because they use the airwaves free of charge. The signal of a local broadcast television station can reach everywhere within the region, so therefore, any TV set up can theoretically receive their signal.
Also, residents in the viewing area have the capability to view the station's news programming free of charge, with 100% saturation.

All of these factors and others compel a local broadcast news department to serve the public in good faith.
That means they must offer a variety of news programming that generally serves the entire population residing in their viewing area.
They must be receptive to viewer feedback, allow input of the community, and keep public files which include all aired news content.

The virtual absence of pro soccer news on XETV's news at 10 over an extended period of time, the reduction of pro soccer news by the station in a gradual way over the past 22 months to almost zero week-to-week, its status as news with the least soccer news in area, and its status as a station and news provider in a region with very high interest in the sport ARE ALL REASONS for the citizen actions.

It seems evident in a convincing way that the station - though repeatedly cautioned over time - has severely violated the public trust.
There will be a number of formal complaints filed, and as a last resort, petition for station's license revocation may also be considered.

Link

REPORT: San Diego Group Plans to Sue TV Station Over Lack of MLS/Soccer Coverage

They are mad as hell, and they aren't going to take it anymore.

Over the years many soccer fans have complained about a lack of MLS coverage in their local media. This has been especially true in areas without an MLS club of their own. People often complain on internet message boards about their local media but one group in San Diego stopped talk and now is taking action. Could this be a side-effect of the Beckham-effect?

According to this report, individual TV viewers as well as a local coalition of grassroots pressure groups comprised of soccer aficionados and Hispanics are banding together to fight what they believe to be the discriminatory anti-soccer stance of local FOX affiliate, XETV. They seem to be questioning the basis of XETV's license to broadcast by questioning the FCC's granting them the right to broadcast in the public trust, when the station in question (XETV) seems to be at odds with the community standards:

"Viewers and other San Diego citizens are now openly questioning this station’s news policies, which simply do not gel with the local community’s interest, the public trust, or viewer interest. There are likely many legal violations, and they are ignoring viewer requests."


"Hispanic groups are organizing legal actions against the station claiming discrimination; it is quite possible the station is violating California State Law, as well as local and Federal regulations. I am not enough of an expert to know about Mexican law, but since their transmitter and ownership are in that country, they may be in violation there, too."

"The Televisa-owned station is losing its FOX affiliation in August; their cross-border contract expired, and the network affiliation is switching to Tribune-owned KSWB."

"There is no reason why the station - regardless of affiliation in past, present, or future times, is not covering this pro sport of great local interest among all segments of the population, and is not covering the local L.A. teams, and the world’s best-known athlete - who plays here."

Should such a lawsuit succeed, it would be a potentially potent tool supporters groups and other soccer fans could use it in their own communities to seek better coverage.

There are some legal precedents for such a challenge being successful in the form of historically African-American radio stations which served a community being bought out by new owners who subsequently changed their format to one in which a judge felt the community was under served by. These station were then forced by law to provide news coverage and community affairs programming serving the community in which they were based or risk losing their broadcast license when it came up for review and renewal.

There was also a case in Nashville, TN where a country station changed its format and was pressured into switching back by street protests.

We at MLSR applaud their actions and wish them the all the best success in their case of persuading XETV to provide better MLS and international soccer coverage.

STADIUMS: BMO Field To Be Expanded, Toronto FC to Share With Canadian Gridiron Team?

Time for some Canadian Content.

Toronto FC fans have taken pride in their bare-bones soccer specific stadium and European-like atmosphere and have been very vocal in telling long time fans of the league that Toronto, and Canada were different than the cities south of the border in that it respected the sport more.

However, one has to wonder just how true that is when there are serious discussions underway to bring the scourge of gridiron markings on a soccer pitch to Toronto. This was supposed to be a city much different from American cities.

If the following report is true then it looks like the North American sports reality may have hit the European dream squarely in the ankle in a late sliding tackle from behind.


This comes to us from a Canadian source:

Hey guys, I just though I'd let you know that there may be a major fan protest against a plan to bring CFL Football to BMO Field. The Toronto Argonauts want to move in.

So we did a little investigating and found the following when we contacted Toronto FC:

The Toronto Argos, a Canadian Football League team have proposed to expand BMO Field if they moved in, in a $40-50 Million Canadian Dollar plan which would add a partial roof and up to 10,000 seats. This seems similar to the plan we were told about last year. The seats behind each goal would be made mobile so as to accommodate the larger CFL field and then moved back for Toronto FC matches.

Here is audio of the CFL Commissioner talking about the possibility of playing games at BMO Field including playing a pre-season game there next year.



What remains unclear is whether there would be the scourge of football lines on the pitch during Toronto FC games as we have seen with MLS teams playing in NFL or college football stadia.

It is interesting that a team in the CFL, a much older more established league is asking to use what essentially is an MLS stadium to play their games in. Who would control scheduling in such a situation when the stadium does not belong to Toronto FC but the city of Toronto?

We were all led to believe Toronto was somehow different, more "European"and a "true football paradise" even ESPN bought the myth, but in reality Toronto is no different fromany other city in North America.

If you took out the word Toronto you could substitute any other city for the sentiments expressed on this forum.

What do you think? A step forward for Toronto FC and MLS or two steps back?