In the end, the decision will probably come down to toilets. As in, Toronto FC will decide whether to play its home leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against L.A. based on whether they can have functional bathrooms at BMO Field on March 8 (the Leafs play both March 6 and 7 so, if MLSE has anything to say about it, you can likely mark the 8th down on your calendar).
There were problems with the plumbing last year for the home opener against Portland, which happened nearly three weeks later in the season. It’s a bit pedantic, but you can’t host an event with room for 20,000 without giving your guests a place to pee.
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So, the whole debate about whether the game should be played at the Rogers Centre or BMO Field is more of a “debate.” Without a solution to the plumbing issue, the decision has all but been made for the club. BMO Field was not designed for winter use. Why would it have been?
However, if there is a choice to be made it’s clear where the game should be played – BMO Field. And it has nothing to do with the cold weather giving TFC an advantage over the Galaxy. That’s absurd. The Galaxy have as many players from cold climates as do TFC.
No, it’s about playing the game in their home stadium – a place that is comfortable for the players, familiar to the fans and part of the (however limited) history of the club. It doesn’t matter how many cheap tickets are sold for a game at Rogers Centre, the Reds and their fans will be visitors.
Many people have a vision of MLSE papering the former SkyDome and having a big, ole’ party like Montreal had back in 2009. It’s a nice thought, but it’s a pipedream. There is no evidence that MLSE will do what the Impact did and all but give tickets away to fill the house. It’s simply not in their corporate culture to do so. There are lots of (valid) arguments as to why that’s short-sighted, but that doesn’t change the reality that it isn’t.
That means that the only way that there are 50,000 at Rogers Centre is if the excitement of a CCL quarterfinal berth is enough to make three times more people pay full price to go to a game against the Galaxy than went to the group stage games. If Beckham is in town, maybe there would be. What’s more likely is less than 20,000 people watching a soccer game at a baseball park being played on plastic grass. If you have been to an Argos game at the Dome you’ll have an idea what less than 20,000 people at Rogers Centre looks like.
Hopefully, TFC will at least put the supporter’s in the good seats to give the place some atmosphere, but that doesn’t seem all that likely (see above paragraph for reasons why).
There is some excitement about this game. There might even be enough excitement to sell out BMO Field. The idea of watching soccer in winter in Canada could, and should, be used as a marketing hook to get people out to the park. With four months to sell the tickets, it’s not that crazy to think that they could fill the stadium. If they did, then that would be every bit as special a moment as the 50,000 at the Big O was – and it would be unique to Toronto. A big crowd at SkyDome is really just the same thing the Impact already did.
BMO Field is TFC’s home. The game should be played there. Unless, of course, they can’t get the toilets working.