Toronto FC president see bright future for franchise on and off the field

TORONTO — While Toronto FC is enjoying its most successful season on the pitch, the MLS franchise won’t make money this season.

But the bottom line has been boosted by the current playoff run and team president Bill Manning believes the financial future is bright with season tickets and sponsorships on the rise.

“It all reflects back to your product on the field. You’ve got to have a good product and you’ve got to win,” Manning said in an interview.

Toronto FC is finally delivering on both counts.

The push provided by Toronto’s designated players — Michael Bradley, Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore and Jermain Defoe, before them — has come at a massive cost. Collectively Bradley, Giovinco and Altidore make north of US$18 million this season.

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Former CEO Tim Leiweke led the way on upgrading both the team personnel and BMO Field, with owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment investing an additional C$150 million in the stadium.

“I’ve really dug into the history of the team and it really hit a bad part in 2012 and in 2013 even,” Manning said. “They had to do something to resurrect the team because the failings on the field had affected the business very negatively.

“And this was a franchise that was actually very healthy financially and it just failed, it failed on the field. And then that really negatively affected the business.”

Things were so bad in 2012 when the team finished last in the league with a 5-21-8 record, that the team rolled back prices to 2007 inaugural season levels in a bid to prevent season ticket-holders from abandoning ship.

Today’s numbers are encouraging, however.

The team finished a franchise-best 14-9-11 record this season and has gone deeper into the post-season than ever before.

Season ticket renewals are at 87 per cent, compared to 72 per cent at the same time last year. Manning believes the final figure will be more than 90 per cent — compared to 84 per cent last year — which will put the franchise among the league leaders.

Fans are also attending more games. The team tracks both paid attendance and the actual turnstile count at BMO Field. The gap between the two narrowed by 3,000 each game this season even though paid tickets were only up 1,500 a match.

Those fans are buying food, drink and merchandise, all helping to improve the bottom line. MLSE operates the stadium for the city, which gets a cut of concession revenues.

Manning says his franchise is following the Raptors’ model, with healthy group sales eventually turning into new season tickets. The team only gets about 100 walkup fans a game, Manning said.

TFC’s season ticket base is currently around 18,700. Manning believes that number will be more than 20,000 next season and he foresees a time when the team will have 24,000 to 25,000 season ticket-holders, at which time the number will probably be capped.

“I believe we’re going to be extremely successful financially. But we’re not there yet,” he said.

Manning joined Toronto in October 2015 after spending eight seasons as president of both Real Salt Lake and Rio Tinto Stadium. The team won the MLS Cup — in 2009 — while season tickets and sponsorships more than tripled on his watch.

He was named the league’s executive of the year in 2012 and 2014.

While he has been at Toronto for more than a year, the walls on Manning’s office overlooking the Toronto FC training pitches are still bare. Neat piles of documents dot his desk.

At BMO Field, Manning has some 28,500 seats to fill. There is space for another 1,500 spectators in standing-room areas. With the temporary Grey Cup seats in the south stand, Manning says TFC could draw a record 36,000 to 37,000 for the home leg of the Eastern Conference final against the Montreal Impact on Nov. 30.   

On the TV front, Manning tried to offer fans and broadcasters consistency this season with the majority of TFC home games scheduled for Saturday evenings. Those garnered the best ratings with away games and home games at other times producing lower ratings.

While he was happy with playoff audiences of more than 200,000, regular season ratings were down this year. He hopes to discuss scheduling and numbers with his TV partners in the off-season.

Manning also sees TFC merchandise sales as an “area of opportunity,” with a full-time team store a possibility.

“We’ve needed to kind of prove ourselves first, on the field,” he said.

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Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter.

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press