Missed this yesterday from Goff. Apparently some Toronto FC fans are contemplating staging a protest at this summer’s MLS All-Star Game because they’re not happy about the idea of the CFL’s Argonauts potentially moving to BMO Field.

Now, I really like the city of Toronto. How they’ve taken to their team and supported it loudly and proudly despite little success truly defines the term “supporter.” (Some of their supporters are asshats and their sportswriters leave something to be desired, but those are quibbles.)

That said, this sentiment (expressed, apparently, on a TFC fan message board) seems to me to miss one important point:

“The Toronto FC Supporter Groups believe it 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 is this 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 no longer being a SSS in seasons to come.”

Now, I feel ya; football lines make for an unsightly pitch. It’s unfortunate.

But the Canadian government, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto put up the bulk (nearly $45 million CDN) of the money to fund BMO Field in the first place.

Sorry about your luck, but it ain’t your house. You don’t own it; the federal, provincial and city governments do (technically, the City of Toronto “owns” BMO Field). If they believe it’s in their best interests as landlords to make a deal with the Argos to play there, guess what? The Argos are going to play there.

Now, it’s your right as a taxpayer (since you’ve probably contributed at least some of the tab - some of that public money was yours, no doubt) to let your elected officials know how you feel. I’m not 100% sure that a fan protest at a game is the best way to get that point across, but knock yourself out. If you do it at the All-Star Game, the bulk of the people watching aren’t going to be Torontonians, so they’re not going to be of much help to you. While public protests at games make for nice spectacle and may make you feel better, I’m not sure how much they really sway the decision-makers.

But consider this: if the Rogers Centre was the only place in Toronto for anybody to play, and the Argos and their fans didn’t want to let “that soccer team” play there, TFC fans would bitch to the heavens about how unfair it was.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Rant, soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.