This week, Montreal Impact president and owner Joey Saputo stirred the pot of controversy when he questioned if his marketing team “missed the boat totally in thinking that (the city) was a good soccer market”. He held a round-table meeting with members of the press and assessed the team’s future regarding their fan base and popularity in Montreal.
‘The buzz is not there anymore… it worries me a lot” he continued. In attempt to scare the fans into purchasing tickets, Saputo later denied any intention of selling or moving the team, as the Montrealer has been part of the ownership of the club since it’s foundation in 1993 and was instrumental in promoting the team into the MLS and building the 7-year-old Saputo Stadium.
The team plays in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final on March 3rd at Olympic Stadium but they have sold about only 15,000 tickets, 5,000 of which are from the season ticket holders.
Nonetheless, Saputo’s comments created some controversy in Montreal and the people of the city did listen to his words. Whether it was a marketing scheme or a legitimate threat to relocate or dissolve the franchise is unknown, but he certainly did grab people’s attention.
Mr. Saputo has to know one thing before making these comments; Montreal is a championship town and Montrealers love watching sports teams who win. The city is host to 41 Stanley Cup champions, seven Grey Cups from the Alouettes, while the Impact picked up some good hardware themselves with three league championships prior to their move to the MLS and nine Voyageur Cups as Canadian soccer champions. Add ’em up, that’s 60 trophies that have been won by a professional sports team in Montreal.
New York City, home of one of the best sports landscapes in the world has won 50 total championships from the four major North American sports (NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL). Montreal has more trophies if you include the CFL and the lower-division titles from the Impact, but regardless, they rank fourth in number of trophies in a city in North America, trailing Boston and Chicago. It’s safe to say Montrealers love to see winning teams.
Montrealers also don’t like watching losing teams, and Saputo needs to understand this. His squad was terrible on the field and ticket sales were horrible off of it. In their first season, the team averaged 19,000 fans a game in a 20,000-seat stadium and they were third in the highest-selling teams. They also set a record for fans at a Canadian soccer match when over 60,860 were in attendance against the L.A. Galaxy on May 12, 2012.
Finishing last in the MLS, it’s no wonder why the average attendance dropped last season to 16,000, 11th most in the 19-team league. Fans were fed up with the product on the pitch and they stopped pitching their money in to buy tickets. I for one, attended one Impact game last season, compared to the four the season made the playoffs in 2013.
As we saw in 2013, when the team started off hot and were on the best clubs in the early portion, people of Montreal took notice and Saputo Stadium was often packed with fans. It wasn’t the case in 2014, but only because of their dismal play.
And if Saputo is questioning the population’s love for soccer, he couldn’t be more wrong. According to Statistics Canada, 260,345 Montrealers were of Italian origin in the 2006 census, making it the largest ethnic group in the city, excluding Canadians and the French. 148,095 residents are descendants from English countries while 117,245 Arabs call the city home. Italy, England and Arabic countries all bolster strong soccer bases, which couldn’t be more evident in Montreal.
On any given Sunday, banter about the Serie A and the EPL can be heard around town. One can walk into a sports store and find Juventus, A.C. Milan, Napoli, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and many more kits, at any time of the year. Many people of many different origins follow other top leagues in Europe such as the French Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga. People are passionate about football in this city.
This can either work for or against the marketing team for the Impact. Most fans will originally reject the notion of attending an Impact game when they could be watching their favourite Europe squads play on TV. I’ve engaged in a fair share of debates towards the MLS vs. Serie A/ EPL/other European leagues, which league is better to watch. Of course, the talent is stashed in Europe, but the MLS is starting to gain some ground, considering Sebastian Giovinco, still in his prime, signed with Toronto FC from Italian super-giant Juventus.
When the Impact starts to win games, the European fans start to take notice of their local club and pay more attention. The Impact is covered well in both English and French newspaper, as well as TV coverage for every game.
It’s a hit-or-miss demographic. Saputo can try to go big and attract these European soccer fans towards his club, or let them be and have to suffer lower ticket sales. It’s up to his marketing team to decide what to do in order to pull this often stubborn fan base.
Until Saputo does something to resolve this issue, he has to refrain from exclaiming such harsh comments before the season started. If he continues insulting his fan base, that’s when he could have many empty seats at the Impact’s home games.
Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter @LWOSNick. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Interested in writing for us? Find out more by visiting our “Write for Us” page.
