Not real rumour about them not being around next year, but just thougth I would throw the question out there.

I would imagine so. The owners have been willing to keep the team afloat for a long time now and there haven't been any indications that they intend to stop. (Please understand I have no inside information but am just putting out the common wisdom.)

There has been this weird wibe around this year I would not be surprised if the team was gone.

That is what I read over on the Ultras board.

Hopefully Toronto can finish off the season with a few wins, but I am not going to hold my breath.

Judging by the poor crowds this year (by Lynx fans accounts not the phony numbers the club releases) perhaps this will be the last year. I don't think they can keep attracting sponsors year after year with small crowds and a team that has no chance of winning being run the way it is being run. Add to that the fact that everyone keeps saying Toronto is a front runner for an MLS team and there really is no reason to keep the Lynx around.

Perhaps they can join the CPSL.

I don't think Toronto is a front runner for MLS. I believe it would be a lock with a stadium and MLSE as the owners. With the stadium getting the axe, though, where would the team play?

As I have said before, as long as the Hartrells (sp?) are willing to bankroll things there is no reason for the team to fold.

The CPSL has too many teams in the GTA as it is. (Although I suspect there may have been a bit of a mocking tone to that last comment. )

Whenever Garber talks he always says Toronto is the front runner for MLS. Thats where I get that idea from.

No I wasn't mocking with the CPSL comment. Seems to me that the Lynx would be a perfect fit with the CPSL budget wise and stadium quality wise. I'm not too sure about the CPSL logistics regarding how many teams they can handle in the GTA region though.

Todays game in Toronto they announced the crowd as 1,800 but from reports from people at the game the 2,200 seat grandstand was half empty which would put the crowd at around 1,100.

Seems the fans have already given up on this team. Can't blame them really.

I wasn't at the game so I don't know what size the actual crowd was. I can say, however, that the grandstand fits a lot more than 2200. I believe the actual figure is about 3500. If it was half full then the announced 1800 would be accurate.

Either way, however, it is a very small crowd.

Krammerhead,

Going back to your other comment, despite the fact that the Lynx are a poor team in the USL D1 I suspect they would dominate the CPSL. Their attendance (at it current level) would be much higher than the other CPSL teams. Imagine something like the Whitecaps dropping into the PDL division along with Abbotsford or perhaps into the PCSL.

The CPSL is not yet a great league and is neither fully Canadian (as in national in scope) nor fully professional (in that the wages are too low). I give them full marks for effort, though, and for knowing where they want to be. They have a solid core of teams, have set up an Open Cup, and are slowly expanding into major centres in Ontario and Quebec.

They need fewer teams in the GTA and they need teams in a few other cities (notably Kitchener, Ottawa, and a couple of Quebec centres). They also need to develop better relationships with the USL teams.

All that being said, its a move in the right direction. It would not be an appropriate home for the Lynx, though. What the Lynx need to do is stay where they are but improve to the point where they are truly viable there.

Numerous reports I've heard from people in Toronto is that the granstand area is just 2,200 seats. According to the match report from Rocket Robin:

The Lynx themselves state that the stadium can accomodate up to 5,000 people. That includes all the people that sit/stand on the grassy areas around the pitch. But the grandstand itself, seats only 2,200.

Well you are under the assumption that the Lynx would still retain all their players. Of course they wouldn't. As it is now the Lynx can't afford all the players they have on their roster. A drop to the CPSL means having to start over with a nearly new roster. The CPSL is more in line with what the Hartrells can afford.

Of course if there is never any MLS Toronto the best thing for the Lynx is to find new ownership. Toronto is a huge city, surely they could find an owner who has the money and knowledge to put a decent and more professional team on the pitch.

I agree. A modestly rich (say a couple of hundred million or so) owner who wants to support the team could do wonders with a USL D1 franchise in Toronto. Ownership is, in my mind, the major different between the Lynx and the Whitecaps or Impact. Sure it would take a little while for a new owner to improve things in Toronto to that level but it could easily be done given money and two or three years of logical, concerted effort.

It's too bad, really. Given the media concentration in Toronto, Canadian soccer would benefit tremendously if the Lynx were doing what the Impact are.

Okay, it took me awhile but I finally found an official capacity for Centennial Stadium. The Grandstand does indeed seat only 2,200:

City of Toronto page (bottom of the page)

There are a lot of websites that claim that the capacity is 3,500 including mine. However in my case I just figured with people sitting on the grass ont he other side of the stadium I'd round up capacity to 3,500.

In case you don't want to search for it it says:

The 2,200-seat outdoor stadium boasts an internationally-sanctioned eight-lane, 400-metre track, regulation size football/soccer field, lighting for night play, an electronic P.A. and scoreboard system.

I'm curious to know how they arrived at that number. I'm not disputing that that's what the website says but I've been to more games there than I can count going all the way back to the CSL days and I don't think 2200 is accurate.

In part I think the problem is that there aren't actually any seats in the stadium. It's all benches so the capacity is highly dependent on how well you want to get to know your neighbour. I've been to CSL playoff games where there were probably 4000 people in the stands. (If you let people sit on the grass the number could be huge. The track is 400 m long and, let's say, 5 m wide. At 4 people per square metre that means the track alone could hold 8000 people (standing). )

But back to the grandstand, even without serious crowding I suggest that 2200 is a low number for its capacity based on my personal experience.

Before I found that number I asked on Voyageurs about the capacity of the stadium. One reply said he thought is was anywhere from 2,000-2,500. David Bailey had a good response:

There are now published reports out about the on-again off-again Toronto soccer stadium being back on. This time it will supposedly be located at Downsview (former air force base).

We'll see if this third go at it does come through. If it does, however, it would probably mean MLS in Toronto and the end of the Lynx.

Even if its true, they want start the MLS team there until 2007 at best.
Still time for Lynx to go for it!

Go for what? Last place?
heh

If MLS is indeed coming to Toronto, the Lynx may as well pull the plug now or try and rebuild somewhere else... Hamilton, Kitchener, Windsor, London... or maybe Winnipeg.

Lynx to go away??? No, please no!!! we still need a good joke around to keep things interesting. Who else are we gonna laugh at VB???

As I've written elsewhere, I think Kitchener would be a good place to try. Especially if Kitchener USL-D1 was the reserve team for the Toronto Blizzard of MLS.