TORONTO ā Toronto FC knew the magnitude of their achievement when they rushed the field in celebration after their draw with Hondurasā CD Motagua.
The result Tuesday in Tegucigalpa gave them the preliminary-round series win and their first-ever berth in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage ā but most importantly, a chance to play some of the best clubs in the confederation.
Now if only the fans buy in, too ā literally.
Each game against Mexicoās Cruz Azul, Ćrabe Unido of Panama and Real Salt Lake will write a new chapter in the clubās history. But chances are a less-than-capacity crowd may be at BMO Field to witness them. Itās a scene evident in venues across the 40-nation confederation: empty seats for CONCACAFās signature club team championship.
Entering its third year, CCL emerged from its smaller predecessor, Championsā Cup, as part of the confederationās attempt to strengthen its premier club championship by rebranding it similar to its higher-profile UEFA counterpart. In a short time, the 32-team tournament has made great strides, not only on the field, but off the field in corporate partnerships, broadcast coverage and viewership.
Fan education, however, is still a work in progress.
āItās something we continue to work on because itās a new tournament, so itās obviously something we canāt expect fans to know about right away and to necessarily know who some of the teams are and what the tournament means what the tournament entails,ā said Benjamin Ramirez Spencer, CONCACAFās manager of media relations. āA lot of it is focused on digital efforts.ā
Toronto FC, who have sold out each of their MLS home matches since their inception, have found CCL matches a tough sell.
For the first leg against Motagua, 60 percent of season-seat holders renewed tickets, which werenāt included in the season ticket package. Even many among the 19,000 on the season seat waiting list didnāt bite at the opportunity.
The announced attendance was 18,891 ā roughly 3,000 shy of a sellout at 21,800-seat BMO Field. But that number included an unknown number of TFC ticketholders who were given free passes to the match if they couldnāt make the TFC-Galaxy matchup on June 26 due to the G20 Summit.
āOur challenge with the Champions League is that itās still not a very well known and understood entity,ā said Paul Beirne, TFCās director of business operations. āJust the fact that the tournament exists is still unknown for a lot of people. So thatās been the focus of our communication over the last several months, to try to make people aware.
āThe other thing is the awareness of the opponents,ā Beirne added. āIf I said CD Motagua to a lot of people, they donāt who it is, they donāt know where theyāre from. Once you say Honduras, and you say Amado Guevara, and you say five guys on their starting lineup played at the World Cup, then that starts to get their interest. But itās just a lot of messages to have to communicate.ā
More indoctrination will be necessary between now and the first match at home Aug. 17 against Cruz Azul, and Beirne says getting the message out is the key to turning fans onto the CCL.
āItās all about communication. Most of our communication has been electronic, whether itās outbound e-mails or using our digital content vehicles like GolTV Canada, TFC TV, our the website,ā he said. āWe have a very deep relationship with a very small community of people that are fond of TFC, and thatās who weāre speaking to.ā
For fans recently turned onto the sport, education takes on a different for.
āThe Toronto market is used to buying a season ticket once a year, and you go to all the games and thatās that,ā said Beirne, who received MLS Executive of the Year honors in 2007. āThe whole notion of multiple tournaments, while itās second nature for people that are deeply engaged in international soccer, is not second nature for the mainstream, and thatās why we have gone through this education process.ā
On the flip side, Toronto FC may be a victim of their own attendance success.
āPeople still think you canāt get a ticket to TFC and thereās still confusion in the market about season tickets being extremely scarce.ā Beirne said. āAll of our games appear to be sold out, yet here we have a game that has tickets available. The demand is for season tickets, but not necessarily for one game.ā