That's the point, they hoping the ROC hates it and Argo/Toronto fans will rub it in.

Ya I had heard the marketing department was gonna come out with something like this.
They should also have an outline of the GTA with Canada written inside of it.

I was positive it was entirely unintentional and they just didn't realize there could be anything wrong with it haha. Actually relieved it's intentionally provocative.

MLSE has hit some marketing homeruns one the years with the 'We The North' (Raptors), and 'Bloody Big Deal' (TFC).

I live in Toronto and have never seen that MLS marketing campaign. And why are they trying to sound British? Did they sign someone from there?

It's the dominant marketing angle in soccer right now, is it not? "FC" should be the first clue.

It's the easiest marketing angle for the sport in North America. A ton of people watch the Premier League on a weekly basis but only a fraction of them tune in to MLS.

This is beside the fact that a lot of people in soccer development as a whole in North America have British backgrounds.

And that is soccer's in Canada's blessing and curse.

I tuned into TSN's Games on Demand to watch Eng/Swe, only I think the second WC Game I've watched this year. All of the TSN commentators had British accents, I am sure others will disagree but to me that is a big turnoff. It might be different if any of them had some sort of greater cachet than a "Canadian" could have in that position, but they don't.

After all these years soccer still seems to be the "immigrant" game which is something (with the high younger participation rates) I though it would outgrow (my opinion only)

MLS faces the same monoliths as does the CFL. They each have their following of fans but are missing a much larger group of football/soccer "fans". I put fans in quotes because a real fan would appreciate the sport at all levels just not the most prestigious one. Most American football fans like football at all levels, high school, college, pro.

Back to a previous point, I wonder why I have had no interest in the WC this year. Lots of upsets which should make it more exciting, I just haven't gotten around to watching anything. Is this a popular or quiet WC, or is it just me who doesn't have any interest. I'm just not seeing too much at the forums I've been frequenting.

Are the commentators with those accents actually working for TSN, or is it simply that TSN bought the feed from a British network and is simulcasting it?

The RDS crew is made up of a Québécois lady (the only female play-by-play person doing World Cup games anywhere AFAIK) alongside a colour commentator guy who is a Frenchman who's lived in Montreal for decades. He still has his accent so when you're watching a game you hear both accents from either side of the Atlantic mixed together.

The in-studio team on RDS is often a mix of accents, mostly Québécois but one of the commentators this year has a pretty strong anglo accent in French.

For many years I longed for RDS to take the feed from a French network for at least the play-by-play of World Cup games, in the hopes of getting better announcers. But over time the RDS duo of Claudine Douville and Jean Gounelle have grown on me. They're OK.

RDS and TVA Sports also generally use their own announcers for Formula 1 auto racing, Tour de France cycling, etc.

It's quite rare for them to take the French networks' sound feed.

I meant the four man TSN studio crew

The TSN studio crew based in Toronto *all* have British accents?

And the actual game coverage I assume is a feed from a British network?

I mentioned a while back on another thread that the US network (ABC?) showing F1 races simply used the Sky Sport feed from the UK with British announcers.

I was surprised as US networks don't usually do that, and I'd assume their audiences are even slightly more sensitive about British accents than Canadian ones.

Wileman, Jack, Caldwell, Dunfield kinda wavers in his accent. Am I missing somebody, because I don't remember seeing Dunfield but think there is someone else.

Wileman is English, Jack is as well. Caldwell is Scottish.

Dunfield is Canadian but as mentioned his accent goes in and out.

I looked up this Dunfield guy. He moved to the UK as a teen to play soccer but he still sounds pretty Canadian in the videos I've watched.

Maybe he gets an automatic form of accent contamination from being around the British guys on the set with him. I know my accent can vary slightly depend on who I am surrounded by.

Was Carl Robinson sitting in on one of these?

That Kristian Jack sounds like he has a mixed accent. As if he moved from the UK to Canada as a teen or young adult and inherited both accents.

Maybe - I've been out of the country for a good bit of the tournament so haven't seen much of the coverage.

I know MLS had a slight break in their schedule - so he may have been around for the early round robin games

They can give away all the Toronto centric crap they can think of at games, it's not going to help this failing league in Toronto. Last years average home game attendance for the Argo's was a pathetic 51.53%, even with all the free crap.

Interested in all this "free crap" they gave away last season - what was it? :rolleyes: