Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Franchises

Toronto FC Seen As Big Winner In MLS' Offseason With Giovinco, Altidore Signings

Toronto FC "has won" MLS' offseason "for the second straight year" with yesterday's signing of Serie A club Juventus F Sebastian Giovinco as a Designated Player, according to Kurtis Larson of the TORONTO SUN. Three days after signing F Jozy Altidore as another DP, TFC introduced Giovinco, who is "expected to be the highest-paid player in the league" after agreeing to a deal worth US$7M annually and "marketing money over five years." Giovinco "will join Toronto FC in July after he finishes the Serie A season" (TORONTO SUN, 1/20). The CP's Neil Davidson noted TFC "opted to forgo props to highlight the Giovinco acquisition -- unlike the double-decker bus parked outside the unveiling last January of now-departed" F Jermain Defoe. But TFC GM Tim Bezbatchenko called the Giovinco signing a “historic moment” and “turning point” for the league. Bezbatchenko: "This is a moment in time for Major League Soccer where we have never gotten a player, that I can remember, from a top team in a top league who’s willing to come over aged 27." Davidson noted U.S. players like TFC MF Michael Bradley "have returned to MLS in their prime." Global stars "have tended to come over in their autumn years, although there has been a trend of late to up-and-coming international players coming to MLS." Bezbatchenko said that while Defoe’s stint in Toronto "was just one season, it turned heads." Bezbatchenko: “I think what this organization has done in the past year has put the league on the map. Right or wrong, Jermain Defoe helped put this club and the entire league on the map. And I think people sort of took notice. Including players in Spain and France and Russia, in Italy. I’m getting calls regularly from players I never thought would be possible a few years ago when I was working at the league office.” Davidson noted off the field, Giovinco offers MLSE a "chance to connect with the sizable Italian community in Toronto." MLSE Chief Commercial Officer Dave Hopkinson: "So far today we've sold and renewed almost another thousand season seats." TFC ranked second only to the Sounders in average attendance last season "despite its poor record" (CP, 1/19).

SIGN OF THE TIMES: ESPN's Dan Thomas said the Giovinco deal is a "slightly different signing than maybe we've seen in the past." ESPN's Steve Nicol added this deal "is a first" because Giovinco "could have gone to any league in the world." Nicol: "He's in his prime and he's coming to play in the MLS. Everybody in the world knows that MLS has grown ... but this signing is a real, bona fide star in his prime coming to the MLS. That's huge." Thomas added, "I've seen some people concerned with the amount of money that's suddenly being thrown around at these players in MLS." But Nicol added, "If you want the best, you've got to pay for the best. In order to get a player like Giovinco, you have to cross his palm with silver. They've done that, but of course you've got to remember ... Toronto has never gotten to the playoffs before. What it has done now is put a lot of pressure on them and the coaching staff" ("ESPN FC," ESPNews, 1/19). In Orlando, Paul Tenorio writes it "should not yet be billed as a transformative transfer," but the Giovinco deal has the "potential to be one of the most important" in MLS history. Giovinco signing with MLS in his prime "is a first for MLS, and it could be the start of a greater movement." But there are reasons "to pause before declaring it the best signing in MLS history." One is that Giovinco "has to show a willingness to treat MLS as a serious league" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/21). SI.com's Liviu Bird noted as TFC currently has four Designated Players on its roster, F Gilberto "seems to be the odd man out." He "played a pivotal role as the team’s second-leading goalscorer" behind Defoe in '14, but his is the "most dispensable -- and easiest to move within MLS -- of the four DP contracts" (SI.com, 1/19).

HISTORY NOT REPEATING ITSELF? In Toronto, Josh Rubin noted it was "only a year ago that Bezbatchenko was front and centre as the club lured" Defoe, but that era "came crumbling down last week." Bezbatchenko said that he "understands if fans are a little gun shy." But he insisted that this time "is different." There is a "buy-in from a player who wants to be here, and more importantly, is in the prime of his career" (TORONTO STAR, 1/20). The CP's Davidson wrote Defoe "got homesick after less than a year in North America and wanted out." But TFC's signing of Altidore is "seen as a major boost if for nothing else that he wants to be here -- and is being paid a lot to do so." MLSE President & CEO Tim Leiweke said, "We ended up with a guy who wants to be here and a guy who's very predictable." Leiweke said that Altidore "has a five-year deal worth less than" the reported U.S.$30M. Leiweke: "That number not only it's not correct, it's not close" (CP, 1/20).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/01/21/Franchises/Toronto-FC.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/01/21/Franchises/Toronto-FC.aspx

CLOSE