Soccr

In the summer of 2007 Canada was hosting one of the biggest soccer tournaments in the world, the u20 Men’s FIFA World Cup. It was the first time that Canada was the host of a major soccer competition. Many argue that after hosting this event, soccer started exploding in Canada. The general secretary of the CSA also shares this view; in an interview he says Montopoli acknowledges 2007 (when Canada hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup) as an important year for the sport in this country, calling it “the jumping off point”. We set FIFA attendance records with 1.2 million people coming through the gates, which I think surprised a lot of people in our country (SOURCE APA). Part of the success after hosting the World Cup has also brought professional soccer into Canada through the MLS and there have been multiple expansions in Canada. Moreover, the success with hosting the men’s U20 World Cup has allowed us to bid for bigger tournaments. Canada recently won the bid to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup while also hosting the U20 Women’s World Cup in 2014 (SOURCE). These two huge events will surely attract many Canadians to come watch and attend the games. Furthermore there will be increased media coverage of the games. Hosting these huge international events really allows soccer to grow from the grassroots level because of increased media coverage and also multiple parents bringing their kids to attend soccer games. Appendix A shows proof that Montopoli’s statement is accurate as there is an increase in soccer registration around the country following the 2007 World Cup.

MLS Expansion

As mentioned earlier, in 2007 soccer started to explode in Canada and that same year also Toronto was the first see to have a team in the MLS. Many were unsure o...

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...ight on Galaxy and MLS in every continent on the planet. We have tried to measure the media coverage and put a dollar value on it, but that is just impossible due to the global appeal David has. His type of impact is invaluable and immeasurable (SOURCE). TFC has followed a similar approach having acquired 3 players in the transfer period for a cost of $100 million dollars. They have acquired Jermaine Defoe from Tottenham Hotspurs who has played in the EPL and also an England international player (SOURCE). These star players have tremendous impact on the league and also on the team, as more fans want to attend games. The MLS still has a long way to go before players in Europe and around the world would make them a first choice destination but the league is slowly growing and we can thank players like Beckham and Henry to add the media coverage it desperately needed.